RACI
RACI assigns four roles to a decision or task (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) so everyone knows who does the work and who owns the outcome
RACI is a simple matrix that assigns four roles to each decision or task. Responsible is the person who does the work. Accountable is the single person who owns the outcome and signs off. Consulted are the people whose input is needed before the decision. Informed are the people told afterwards. Every row has exactly one Accountable, which is the discipline that makes it useful.
In British Columbia small businesses the usual failure is that the owner is Accountable for everything and Consulted on everything else, so every decision queues at their desk. A RACI for the ten decisions that cause the most friction, such as discounting, hiring, purchasing above a threshold or taking on a new client, shows exactly which decisions can leave the owner and which should stay for now.
In practice the RACI is built in a working session with the owner and managers, applied to real decisions from the past quarter and then kept with the accountability chart. It is reviewed when seats change. It also protects managers, because it distinguishes between being responsible for the work and being accountable for the result, and it protects staff from receiving instructions from three people at once. Ali Sedighi's team uses RACI as part of org design and operating cadence engagements, and as a tool in leadership coaching when an owner is learning to delegate authority rather than only tasks.
Tell us which seat is empty.
A 30-minute call with Ali about the business and the people running it. You leave knowing which role to fill first and whether fractional, outsourced or a hire is the right answer, whether or not we work together.