Design Roles, Layers and Cross-Functional Authority Around the Work

What it means

Consequential roles are designed before people are selected or judged. The company defines the output a role owns, the complexity of the work, the planning horizon, the authority required, the interfaces with other roles and the team accountability attached to it. Titles no longer substitute for role design. When performance disappoints, leadership can distinguish a poor fit from a poorly designed job.

What it requires

Management layers also earn their existence. Each layer should add distinct integration, judgment, context or time horizon that the level below cannot appropriately provide. A layer that only passes information upward and approvals downward adds delay without managerial value. The company should be able to explain why each level exists and what work becomes possible because that level is present.

Why it matters

Cross-functional work is explicit enough that recurring lateral issues do not automatically rise to the founder. Important decision classes have named owners, required contributors, boundaries and escalation conditions. Sales commitments, delivery capacity, financial controls, product choices and people implications can be integrated through designed interfaces. The founder is no longer the default mechanism that turns separate functions into one company.