--- title: "Roles and Responsibilities Template and Examples" description: "The six fields a role document needs, a Word template to fill in, three filled examples, and the point where a RACI matrix does the job better." url: "https://rolebase.io/en/blog/roles-responsibilities-template" --- [Rolebase](/) ⟩[Blog](/en/blog) # Roles and Responsibilities Template: The Six Fields to Fill In The six fields a role document needs, a Word template to fill in, three filled examples, and the point where a RACI matrix does the job better. August 31, 2026 Key takeaways * A roles and responsibilities document holds six fields per role: name, purpose, decision rights, accountabilities, holder and review date. * Index the document by role rather than by person, so a departure shows exactly which roles fall vacant and which ones stay covered. * An accountability describes an ongoing activity, such as replying within five working days. A line pinned to a date on the calendar is a task, stale as soon as that date passes. * Teams skip the decision rights field most often. Name what a role settles alone and the questions stop travelling back up to a manager. * A RACI matrix covers one project and closes with it. A roles document covers recurring work and gets amended instead of rebuilt. Ask three people on a team who owns the pricing page. You often get three answers, and a fourth person who assumed someone else had it. That confusion has a measured cost. Travis Tubre and Judith Collins, both organizational psychologists, pooled the research on role ambiguity in the _Journal of Management_ in 2000 and found a corrected correlation of -0.21 between how unclear people find their role and how well they perform it. Role conflict, where two demands pull in opposite directions, came out at -0.07. Unclear expectations cost more than competing ones. A roles and responsibilities document answers the question in writing, one page per role. It takes six fields. This article gives them with a Word file to fill in, three filled examples, and the moment a RACI matrix serves you better. ## What goes in a roles and responsibilities document Six fields cover a role: * The role name describes a responsibility rather than a profession. "Paid Acquisition" can be handed to someone else. "Marketing Manager" cannot. * The purpose is one sentence saying what the role pursues and never finishes. It settles a trade-off the role name leaves open. * The decision rights list the assets and processes this role decides on alone. Anyone who wants to touch them asks first. * The accountabilities are three to seven ongoing activities written as -ing verbs, each one something the other roles expect from it. * The holder is the person carrying the role today, or the word vacant. * The review date records when someone last reread the role. A role untouched for a year means either that the work is very stable or that nobody opens the file. The first four fields come from the role format Holacracy and sociocracy both use, where the [purpose](/en/glossary/raison-detre) gives direction, the [domain](/en/glossary/domaine) grants exclusive authority and the [accountabilities](/en/glossary/redevabilite) describe continuing work. The decision rights field is that domain, under a name a team recognizes on the first read. Most documents go wrong on the wording of the purpose and the accountabilities. The article on [how to write a role](/en/blog/define-roles) covers the verbs to avoid. ## The template Write one role per page, with the person who holds it rather than about them. Field What to write Role name A responsibility, two or three words Purpose One sentence that stays true all year Decides alone on The assets and processes, listed Accountabilities Three to seven lines, each starting with an -ing verb Held by A name, or vacant Last reviewed A date A second sheet gives the team its map, one line per role. Role Held by Purpose in one line Last reviewed The Word file carries both, with three blank role pages and the team sheet, plus a filled example page you can delete. [Download the Word template](/downloads/roles-responsibilities-template.docx) ** Fill it with the holder in the room** A role written about someone gets corrected within a week. Twenty minutes with the holder brings the trade-offs out, and the definition then holds up at the first disagreement. ## Three teams, filled in ### A marketing team Field Editorial Content Purpose Readers who find their answer on our site before they talk to anyone Decides alone on The publication calendar and the style guide Accountabilities Publishing to the quarterly calendar. Briefing and reviewing external writers. Reporting readership at the monthly team meeting. Retiring pages that no longer match the product. Held by Amina Last reviewed 12 June The decision right on the calendar does the most work here. When two teams want the same publication slot, the answer already exists in writing and nobody takes the question to a director. ### A product team These three roles are filled the same way, with the accountabilities shortened for the table. Role Purpose Decides alone on Accountabilities Release Users who get new work in their hands without noticing the mechanics The release calendar and the go or no-go call Running the weekly release. Writing the release notes. Keeping the rollback procedure current. On-call Incidents that stop before a customer writes in The on-call rota and the alert thresholds Holding the pager on the rota. Writing an incident note within two days. Reviewing noisy alerts each month. Technical Debt A codebase the next hire can read in a week Twenty percent of the sprint capacity Keeping the debt list ordered. Presenting the top three items in sprint planning. Refusing work that grows the list without a plan. ### An operations team Role Purpose Decides alone on Accountabilities Onboarding New joiners who ship something real in their first two weeks The onboarding checklist and the first-week schedule Running the first-day session. Pairing each joiner with a buddy. Collecting feedback at thirty days. Suppliers Suppliers who answer within the day and invoice what we agreed The supplier list and contracts under 5,000 euros Renegotiating each contract before renewal. Keeping one alternative per critical supplier. Flagging price changes to the team. Reporting lines, required skills and salary bands belong to the employment relationship rather than to the work. The article on [roles versus job descriptions](/en/blog/roles-vs-job-descriptions) sets out where the legal boundary runs. ## Index the document by role rather than by person The reflex is a page per person, headed with their name. It produces a job description under a new name. That document breaks the day someone leaves. Sort the pages by role instead. One person commonly holds four or five, spread across two teams. Marc holds Release and On-call. Amina holds Editorial Content and Onboarding. When Marc resigns, the document shows exactly what falls vacant, so a colleague picks up On-call without waiting for a replacement contract. A role with nobody in the Held by field is useful information rather than an oversight. An empty field means the team decided this work matters and has not staffed it yet. ## A roles document or a RACI matrix Both answer an ownership question, at different timescales. Roles document RACI matrix Unit A role A deliverable Scope Recurring work One project Lifespan Outlives the project and the holder Closes with the project Next time round Amended where the work changed Rebuilt from a blank page Question it answers Who owns this area, week after week Who does what on this deliverable Run both. A RACI is still the right tool for a launch with an end date or a one-off deliverable crossing four departments. Fill three matrices for three consecutive projects and the recurring rows appear on their own, ready to convert straight into role definitions. The [RACI matrix](/en/blog/raci-matrix) article gives the grid, three worked examples and that conversion step. ## Five mistakes that leave a roles document unused ### Responsibilities written as goals "Hiring three developers by June" is true in June and false in July. "Replying to every application within five working days" holds all year, because the five days run from each application rather than from the calendar. A line pinned to a date belongs in a task list. ### An empty decision rights field Skipping it leaves the document descriptive and toothless. Every question about who decides keeps going up to a manager, which is exactly what the document was meant to stop. ### A file sitting in a shared drive Nobody trusts a document that only gets opened at the annual review. Put the roles where the team already works, next to the meetings and the tasks. ### Everyone consulted on everything A role that has to check with five people before acting has no decision rights, however the field is filled in. Cut the list to the people whose input changes the outcome. ### A role with no review date Without a date, nobody can tell a stable role from an abandoned one. Amend a role at the next monthly governance meeting after someone runs into a tension with it, and write the date down. ## From a document to a living org chart A Word file gets you started and stops being read once the roles pile up. At that point, put them in the org chart itself. A role that contains other roles becomes a team. Every role in Rolebase carries a purpose, a domain and accountabilities, plus a checklist, indicators and free-form notes. The checklist and the indicators are copied into the matching meeting steps, so the definition gets reread rather than archived. Vacant roles show up in one list. A role marked as a base role can be reused across the org chart, so one edit updates every place it appears. The [role documentation](/en/docs/circles-and-roles) covers the options, and the [features page](/en/features) shows how roles connect to meetings, decisions and tasks. ## Frequently asked questions ### What should a good roles and responsibilities template include? Six fields per role: a role name that describes a responsibility rather than a job title, a one-sentence purpose with no deadline in it, the assets and processes the role decides on alone, three to seven accountabilities written as ongoing activities, the name of the person holding it, and the date it was last reviewed. Reporting lines, required skills and salary bands belong in the job description instead. ### What is the difference between roles and responsibilities? A role is the unit. A responsibility is one line inside it. The role names an area of work the organization needs covered, such as Onboarding or Release. The responsibilities, written as accountabilities, list the ongoing activities other roles expect from it, such as running the first-day session or writing the release notes. One role carries several responsibilities. One person commonly holds four or five roles. ### How do you document roles and responsibilities? Start with the roles people already hold rather than with an ideal structure. Take one team, list the areas of work someone is already covering, and write one page per area with the six fields. Fill each page with the person holding the role, in a twenty-minute conversation. Name the holders, leave the vacant roles visible, and put the whole set where the team already works. ### Can you give an example of roles and responsibilities? An Editorial Content role has the purpose "readers who find their answer on our site before they talk to anyone", decides alone on the publication calendar and the style guide, and carries four accountabilities: publishing to the quarterly calendar, briefing and reviewing external writers, reporting readership at the monthly team meeting, and retiring pages that no longer match the product. ### How often should a roles and responsibilities document be updated? Amend a role at the next monthly governance meeting after someone runs into a tension with it. A scheduled annual review always arrives late, because the team has already worked around the problem by then. The review date field catches the roles nobody has touched in a year, a sign the work moved without the document. ## Your first three roles Pick the team where the ownership question comes up most, and write three roles rather than every role in the team. Give each one twenty minutes with the holder, using the six fields. The arguments that break out while you fill in the decision rights are the reason to run the exercise. Once the format holds, the remaining roles go quickly. [Create a free account on Rolebase](/signup) to put those roles in an org chart the whole organization can open, with meetings and decisions attached to them. The free plan covers five active members. ![Roles and Responsibilities Template and Examples](/.netlify/images?url=_astro%2Fthumbnail.Bwg0UaAv.jpg&w=1200&h=669&dpl=6aad53e90ca197000885422f) Table of contents [1\. What goes in a roles and responsibilities document](#what-goes-in-a-roles-and-responsibilities-document) [2\. The template](#the-template) [3\. Three teams, filled in](#three-teams-filled-in) [4\. Index the document by role rather than by person](#index-the-document-by-role-rather-than-by-person) [5\. A roles document or a RACI matrix](#a-roles-document-or-a-raci-matrix) [6\. Five mistakes that leave a roles document unused](#five-mistakes-that-leave-a-roles-document-unused) [7\. From a document to a living org chart](#from-a-document-to-a-living-org-chart) [8\. Frequently asked questions](#frequently-asked-questions) [9\. Your first three roles](#your-first-three-roles) Table of contents 1\. What goes in a roles and responsibilities document 2\. The template 3\. Three teams, filled in 4\. Index the document by role rather than by person 5\. A roles document or a RACI matrix 6\. Five mistakes that leave a roles document unused 7\. From a document to a living org chart 8\. Frequently asked questions 9\. Your first three roles Rolebase is the open-source platform for self-managed organizations. Clarify roles, run efficient meetings, and make better decisions as a team. [Discover Rolebase](/en) [Book a demo](/en/contact) Try Rolebase for free Clarify roles, run efficient meetings, and make better decisions as a team. [Book a demo](/en/contact) [Create an organization](/signup) ## Continue reading [![How to Define Roles in a Horizontal Organization](/.netlify/images?url=_astro%2Fthumbnail.DOm8NGmq.jpg&w=1376&h=768&dpl=6aad53e90ca197000885422f) March 6, 2025 ## How to Define Roles in a Horizontal Organization Purpose, domain, accountabilities: how to write a role that lasts, with real examples and the mistakes that hollow one out. ](/en/blog/define-roles)[![RACI Matrix: Template, Examples and Common Mistakes](/.netlify/images?url=_astro%2Fthumbnail.tMlhxmGS.jpg&w=1200&h=669&dpl=6aad53e90ca197000885422f) August 21, 2026 ## RACI Matrix: Template, Examples and Common Mistakes What each letter covers, a template to fill in, three worked examples, and the mistakes that turn a RACI into a file nobody opens again. ](/en/blog/raci-matrix)[![Roles vs Job Descriptions: What Each One Is For](/.netlify/images?url=_astro%2Fthumbnail.CFxNVsRW.jpg&w=1376&h=768&dpl=6aad53e90ca197000885422f) April 15, 2025 ## Roles vs Job Descriptions: What Each One Is For A job description serves the contract and the hiring process. A role describes the actual work. Where the line sits, and how to run both. ](/en/blog/roles-vs-job-descriptions)