Fast growth is exciting, but it’s also messy. Teams expand, new functions appear, and yesterday’s job descriptions quickly become obsolete.
The clarity of a lean structure doesn’t always survive growth; before long, teams face overlapping duties, missing pieces, and fuzzy lines of accountability.
That’s where role charters come in. Unlike static job descriptions, they’re designed to evolve.
A good role charter keeps individuals aligned with company goals, while giving leaders a structured way to adapt roles as the business scales.
Here’s how to make them work at scale.
In early-stage companies, roles are often broad. A marketing manager role might cover everything from paid ads to brand design.
That works when you’re ten people around a table, but as headcount grows, those broad roles start to splinter.
Without intervention, this quickly undermines performance. Research in software teams has found that role clarity is strongly linked to psychological safety and team performance.
Similarly, Gallup’s long-running workplace study shows that only 46% of employees strongly agree they know what’s expected of them, and those who do are far more engaged and productive.
As organisational analyst Josh Bersin puts it, many companies “design roles and responsibilities early on, only to find those definitions invalidated as priorities shift and automation changes the work” .
Traditional job descriptions are written for hiring, not for scaling. They list duties but rarely connect the role to outcomes or clarify ownership boundaries.
Once someone is hired, the document is often forgotten.
Role charters, by contrast:
This flexibility is why charters scale better. They act as a living contract between the individual and the organisation, helping leaders adapt roles without creating chaos.
The key is to treat role charters as living documents, not fixed contracts.
Here are three practical ways to keep them relevant:
Check every six months (or sooner in hyper-growth) that roles still align with business priorities. Ask:
McKinsey research shows that high-growth companies adapt structures and role definitions at twice the rate of peers, and that organizations with strong role clarity are over twice as likely to hold employees accountable and nearly five times more likely to be healthy.
When people contribute to defining their own role, they’re more invested in it.
Gallup notes that clear expectations combined with ongoing career conversations about progress are a leading driver of engagement.
Encourage employees to highlight blockers, evolving responsibilities, or areas where they’ve naturally taken ownership.
Keep updates simple. A good charter can fit on one page, with sections like:
This avoids turning updates into a bureaucratic process.
The danger with any process is over-engineering it.
Charters should never become 10-page documents or require multiple approval layers. Their value lies in being:
As Harvard Business Review warns, over-designed processes can slow down decision-making and reduce adaptability. This is precisely the opposite of what a scaling company needs.
Scalable role charters give you a structured way to evolve roles, keep alignment with strategy, and ensure people know exactly where they add value.
Done well, they reduce friction, prevent bureaucracy, and give employees a clear sense of ownership.
Growth will always bring change. With role charters, you can manage that change with clarity instead of confusion.
At Vestd, we help founders and leaders design share schemes that give employees not just clear roles, but a real stake in the company’s impact.
Book a call to see how shared ownership can transform motivation and retention in your business.