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July 28, 2025
You've already heard that:
It's not me, it's him...
Didn't I know it was my job to do this?
Admit it's annoying.
So what can you do to never hear it again?
How do you have clear responsibilities?
How can you be sure that no employee steps on each other's toes?
And above all, how can you make sure that certain tasks do not fall into oblivion because no one takes care of them?
If you've already asked yourself any of these questions then keep reading because I'm going to show you how to clear it all up.
When you write a RACI, you are sometimes tempted to put 2 “Rs” on the same line.
Let me give you an example:
Imagine that two people need to approve a document.
So, in the “approve the document” task you put 1 R for quality assurance and 1 R for business.
Another example:
When two operators need to do a task together, such as a line blank, then you put 2 R.
The problem is that when you do that you don't empower people.
Each operator can return the ball to the other and we go in circles.
You end up with a RACI chart which goes against the original purpose.
Instead of having clear and precise responsibilities, they are ambiguous and unclear, leaving room for a flawed interpretation that allows people to clear their customs.
In a RACI matrix “R” for “Responsible” means: the person who carries out the task.
We are talking about a single task here.
However, in the case of the approval of a document by two people, these are two separate tasks.
The business person approves the consistency of the content, while the quality person approves the compliance with standards and the law.
These are two different tasks.
In the line void example, I have one main operator and one assistant operator.
The main operator is responsible, and the assistant operator contributes,
It is “C”.
Or else, they are each responsible for a part of the machine.
The first operator is responsible for the line gap upstream of the machine, and the second operator is responsible for the line gap downstream.
To clarify all this once and for all, I am going to share with you 3 important points to show yourself courageous, define who is responsible for what and finally make clear procedures.
So yes it's hard, but it's the only way to have clear responsibilities.
The hardest example is committees, which are nothing more than a group of people who come together to make a decision.
So the task is “to make a decision.”
But since we should only haveonly one R per task in the RACI matrix, and that the others are C, to contribute, it is necessary to determine who this “R” is.
This is where you have to have the courage to go there and to empower someone to ensure that decisions are finally made.
That's the whole point of only puttingA single “R”.You can also find the content of this article on our YouTube channel, and subscribe 👍
If you are tempted to put several R's per line, it's because your tasks are not detailed enough.
As in our line void example.
Once again it's sometimes difficult because you have to know Details of the tasks to be done.
This is not always the case when drafting a procedure.
Often, rather than taking the time to do a specific procedure, we prefer to put a global task into words:” they will do well on the ground ”.
Well, I'm telling you NO.
A fleeing attitude won't work.
Once again, it will take courage to go and see what people are really doing.
You got it right.
You need 30 kilo coucougnettes to make a clear RACI matrix.
Once successful, you will still have to fight against all those who do not have your courage and who will always find a thousand reasons to put 2 R's on a line.
Of course it's always easier to leave a blur than to make people responsible.
So don't give up.
Keep being courageous because you are going to have to evangelize the people around you.
Share this content with them.
Also share it with your manager or teams who write procedures.
To find out more, you can join our free training at document simplification and improvement of training in your company.
To you immediately,