Sales Leaders Rule #24: Clarity Through RACI

Companies often take on “great” initiatives only to find out that they never conferred with the right groups, never informed the right people, and end up delivering something lackluster or pointless. Worse yet, they never actually knew that they were off track until the project was complete.

Projects are a common example. Let's assume that a project has been properly scoped for your organization, the positive impact on the company will be significant, and you've got the right people on the project. That scenario might make sales leaders feel like the project can’t miss. Not so fast! There is a critical element missing. If people don't really understand their responsibilities, the purpose of what they are supposed to be doing, what are the expectations, and how their role integrates with others; then they won’t make meaningful progress.

Clarity of responsibility and purpose helps individuals understand that they are part of a bigger picture, versus just doing a small task siloed away from the rest of the company. Painting that picture helps team members engage with total conviction that their role is adequately fulfilled so that the rest of the team can accurately complete their responsibilities. There’s a cascading affect when everyone clearly understands why they are important part of the project. In order to motivate your sales force, or any team for that matter, make sure there's one hundred percent clarity on their assignment so that they feel purpose-driven and empowered.

We use an acronym called RACI for gauging clarity.

Responsible

Who's responsible for the actual work to be done? That's not the delegator or project manager, that's the person who is doing the actual work. As initiatives become more complex, all the contributors might need broken up into groups if they share similar responsibilities or are working on a team to fulfill one subset of the project.

Accountable

Who's ultimately accountable to make sure this gets done? These are typically the people guiding or coordinating the project. Ultimately the buck stops with these people and success or failure of the initiative falls to them.

Consulted

Who will be impacted by the initiative? These tend to be stake holders within the organization. These are typically users or content experts that understand the impact of a project. This group is a valuable resource that understand the ripple effect that an initiative might cause and can often highlight problems with the plan before they become a real problem. It’s imperative to keep these people in the know so that you get preemptive feedback before executing on a questionable course of action.

Informed

Who needs updates on your progress and what's going on? These tend to be one sided updates so that our project plan can be integrated with any processes that will be affected by upgrades or changes. If they hear something that is a complete disconnect, keeping them informed provides the necessary time to raise a warning and correct any gaps before rolling the project out.

What I have found is RACI not only sets a clear plan to accomplish an initiative but engages the team to get 100% of their ability as a team member. When people don't understand their role, and they don't understand what value they have to the company, it's tough to get motivated.
Miscommunication and people being left in the dark are typically ongoing challenges for any leader. Make sure your people clearly understand roles and responsibilities so that your initiatives can be successfully completed.