Design authority and support around accountability

02 · The idea

How I understand it.

Job design influences whether a capable person can deliver. Examine four features together: the resources a person controls, the outcomes used to assess them, the colleagues they must influence and the help they can expect. Broad accountability can encourage initiative because the person has room to make trade-offs. It can also create frustration when essential resources sit elsewhere and cooperation is unreliable. A manager may successfully own an outcome that extends beyond direct authority when shared priorities, access and support make collaboration possible. Review those arrangements explicitly. Specify which decisions the role can make, which require agreement and how disagreements will be resolved. Revisit the design as the strategy changes. Adding a larger target to a role creates an additional demand that the organisation must make workable.