Marcus stared at the project timeline, watching red status indicators multiply across his screen. As VP of Product at a fast-growing SaaS company, he'd just discovered why their most critical product launch was now delayed by an entire quarter.
The Head of Engineering and the Head of Customer Success had both been making conflicting decisions about feature priorities, each genuinely believing they had final authority. Engineering built features customers didn't need. Customer Success made promises engineering couldn't deliver.
When Marcus brought them together, nobody got defensive. Instead, each leader pulled up emails and meeting notes proving they'd been given decision-making authority. The Head of Engineering had notes where Marcus said, "You own the technical roadmap." Customer Success had an email where the CEO wrote, "Customer feedback should drive our priorities."
Nobody was being difficult or playing politics. They were doing exactly what they believed was their job.
That's when Marcus realized the challenge wasn't the people assigned to the project. It was that they didn't know what their respective roles were.
The Hidden Cost of Role Ambiguity
Most organizations think they have role clarity because they have job descriptions and org charts. But having those documents alone doesn't create actual role clarity.
Real role clarity isn't just about what people do, it's about who decides what, when. It's about authority, not activity. And that gap is where strategic initiatives die, talented people burn out, and momentum evaporates.
The costs show up everywhere: strategic initiatives stalling in endless meetings where nobody can actually decide. Talented people duplicating work or leaving critical gaps. Decisions made twice or not at all. Your best performers getting so frustrated they start looking elsewhere.
Role ambiguity is often the root cause behind $1.2 trillion in annual productivity losses from miscommunication. But here's what's more striking: recent research confirms that strong role clarity lowers psychological distress and change fatigue. Employees reporting clear roles are six times more likely to be engaged, resulting in higher performance and reduced turnover.
Why Role Clarity Falls Apart
Growth Outpaces Structure
What worked with 50 people breaks at 150. Roles that were clear when everyone knew everyone become murky as the organization scales.
Two years ago, "product decisions" clearly belonged to Marcus's founder. But as the company grew to 200 people, those decisions started involving product, engineering, sales, and customer success. The founder delegated authority but never explicitly redistributed it. So when each leader heard "you're empowered to make decisions," they interpreted it differently. Nobody had the conversation about where one person's authority ended and another's began.
Matrix Organizations Create Genuine Confusion
When people have dotted-line relationships, accountability can become theoretical. Project-based work means authority shifts constantly, but those shifts are rarely clearly defined. Everyone's input is valued, but no one knows whose input is final.
This isn't anyone's fault. Matrix structures exist for good reasons. But they require exponentially more intentionality about decision rights than traditional hierarchies.
Leaders Avoid the Hard Conversations
Here's the uncomfortable truth: clarifying roles means telling talented people what they *don't* own. It feels like taking something away, even when you're just naming reality.
It's easier in the short term to keep things vague. To let everyone feel empowered. To avoid potential conflict. But that short-term comfort creates long-term chaos. The ambiguity that feels generous today becomes the source of conflict and wasted effort tomorrow.
What Clarity Actually Requires
Role clarity isn't a document you create once and file away. It's an ongoing system that requires deliberate design and continuous maintenance.
Map Decision Rights, Not Just Responsibilities
Stop asking "What does this person do?" and start asking "What decisions can this person make unilaterally?"
Job descriptions list activities and outputs. Role clarity requires mapping authority and decision rights.
Start by identifying the 10-15 most critical decisions in your organization: budget allocation, hiring decisions, customer escalations, strategic pivots, resource prioritization, go-to-market decisions, technology choices.
For each decision, ask yourself:
- Who decides? The person with final authority.
- Who must be consulted? People whose input shapes the decision.
- Who should be informed? Stakeholders who need to know but don't have input.
When people know where their authority begins and ends, they stop second-guessing themselves. Speed and confidence increase simultaneously.
Navigate Overlaps Through Honest Conversation
Some ambiguity is unavoidable. Products need engineering input. Sales needs marketing support. The question isn't whether overlaps will exist, it's whether your leadership team can recognize ambiguity when it emerges and address it honestly.
This starts with upfront conversations about how you'll navigate gray areas together. What happens when two leaders both have legitimate perspectives on a decision? How will you surface conflicts before they become costly delays? Who can help arbitrate when consensus doesn't emerge naturally?
The goal isn't to create rigid protocols for every possible overlap. It's to build a shared framework for honest conversation when ambiguity shows up. Leaders who do this well learn to recognize when they're in overlapping territory and proactively bring those conversations to the surface rather than letting confusion compound.
Build Ongoing Feedback Loops to Surface Emerging Confusion
Organizations evolve. New initiatives create new decision points. Roles that were clear six months ago become murky as priorities shift.
Build in systematic ways to surface confusion before it becomes crisis:
- Quarterly check-ins where teams can flag role confusion
- Post-mortems that explicitly ask, "Was unclear authority a factor?"
- Leadership conversations that normalize saying, "I'm not sure who owns this, let's clarify"
Embrace the idea that ambiguity isn't failure. It's information. The failure is ignoring it.
Empower People to Name Confusion
None of this works if people are afraid to admit confusion or challenge unclear authority.
Leaders must model vulnerability. When you're not sure where your authority ends, say so. When you realize you've stepped into someone else's lane, acknowledge it. This isn't weakness, it's the foundation for clarity.
Reward people who surface ambiguity early. Genuinely encourage people to say, "I thought I owned this, but apparently I don't" without it becoming a black mark.
When teams get this right:
- Decisions happen faster
- Strategic initiatives launch on time
- Talented people focus on execution instead of politics
- Conflicts become productive debates, not territorial battles
- High performers stay because they can actually get things done
Moving Forward
Marcus and his leadership team spent half a day mapping decision authority. They identified every major decision point and explicitly assigned who decides, who consults, and who gets informed. They had honest conversations about how they'd navigate overlaps and established guidelines for when to surface ambiguity. They built in monthly check-ins where anyone could flag emerging role confusion.
The product launch recovered. But more importantly, they stopped losing momentum to role confusion. Decisions that used to take three meetings now took one. Projects that would have stalled launched on schedule.
Six months later, Marcus was surprised how smooth execution had become. But that wasn't the best part. It was the relief the team felt because people weren't worried about making the wrong call. They clearly knew what was theirs to decide and made those calls confidently.
How much is role ambiguity actually costing your team? Not just in delayed launches and missed targets, but in daily friction, psychological distress, and the slow erosion of engagement when talented people can't figure out where to focus their efforts?
If role ambiguity is slowing your team down, our team alignment offerings may be the solution. Book a 30-minute discovery call to explore what clarity could unlock for your organization.
Share
