RACI Charts: A Blueprint for Accountability and Clarity

You’ve heard of racy photos and racy novels, but have you ever heard of RACI charts? They’re not the same – I assure you! No, RACI charts serve as matrices to align employees, or roles, to a company team, project, or process to help it run smoother. They help provide clarity for your people and build a strong culture of accountability in your MSP. Employees look for clarity in their job roles. RACI charts provide it.

If you’re not using RACI charts, then I highly suggest you do. We do very successfully at IT By Design in many departments. For us, they allow our teams to reduce steps in a project’s process to execution. Because these charts historically began as project management tools, they effectively track the performance of each team member in a department or project, clearly showing who is accountable for specific deliverables.

What does RACI stand for? It’s an acronym for who is . . .

Responsible (this is the individual who actually executes the job and gets it done)

Accountable (the individual who is most accountable for the project being completed)

Consulted (not team members, but outside helpers and approvers)

Informed (individuals not on the project team but who need to know the status or just an FYI)

Creating a RACI chart

Though RACI charts can simply be Excel sheets, they could be time consuming to create. However, they’re highly effective tools if executed well. When developing a chart, ask yourself, “What is the outcome that I’m looking for?” If it’s for an important team task with a specific due date, then the desired outcome might be a hard deadline. When you know your expected outcome, then build the chart to align with that objective.

For individuals, RACI charts are a blueprint to clearly outline their responsibilities, helping them to move forward. For teams, RACI charts allow your cross-functional teams to collaborate more effectively.

There are four basic steps to building a RACI chart:

Step 1 – Identify all of the project roles; basically, you define the functional roles

Step 2 – Identify all of the project tasks or deliverables

Step 3 – Assign all of the roles and tasks. Every task or deliverable should have a “Responsible” resource or multiple resources. But I suggest you have only one role or name assigned to be “Accountable”. Let’s be clear: Being responsible for a task is different than being accountable for it.

Step 4 – Make certain you have unanimous agreement with the individual or team; be sure that everyone is aligned with their roles and responsibilities.

Buy-in by everyone involved is vital. If the involved parties and higher-ups don’t accept it or understand it, then it’s going to be useless. Take the time to make certain that all your team members are educated on it and that you have the executive sponsorship to help make sure that the process is supported from top to bottom.

Benefits of RACI charts

So what kind of benefits can you expect from using RACI charts in your MSP?

• More engaged employees because of less confusion around job roles and less stress
• Less frustration with management and unnecessary “red tape” as the charts eliminate that
• Time savings during meetings thanks to less questions regarding project status and responsibilities
• Alignment with organizational strategy

Training is key to RACI success

As with any process, training your employees on RACI charts is paramount to their success. Do this by first creating a standard operating procedure (SOP) that everyone can follow. It’s critical that they understand the process and the objective of the charts. Don’t proceed until they do. Once you have achieved that, then you’ll see the flow of the process and the desired outcome come alive.

As with any process, sustaining the success with using RACI charts requires regular review and alterations. Create checkpoints to make sure that the process is being followed and that it’s producing the desired output. Ask yourself, “Is the process accurate and effective?” If not, make the necessary alterations.

A good rule of thumb: Review your process annually or quarterly if it’s new to your business. Be sure to remove any employee who has left the company and, of course, make sure that your team has access to their respective RACI charts. I recommend that you house them in a central depository, such as SharePoint.

Possible issues with RACI charts

So far, so good, right? Yes, but you can encounter some issues with RACI charts. As I noted earlier, they can be time consuming to create. Here is one that you can use as a template. Missing a step in the chart devalues it, so be certain that employees strictly follow the chart. Poor execution of a RACI chart is the top issue that organizations face with these charts.

Make certain that your team understands the terms “Responsibility” vs. “Accountability”. They are not the same! “Responsibility” regards the individual or team that does the work to complete the task. “Accountability” regards the individual, manager, or supervisor who must get the task completed. That person is like a symphony conductor who gets everyone to play their part and make beautiful music together.

When you have multiple teams running, your RACI charts will provide you with a greater understanding how individuals and teams work with one another and what the goals are for each of them. This creates clarity they need and want and contributes to a strong culture in your MSP.