Role Functions & Skills

The different hats a role wears, and the skills each one demands.

Steps
2
Last edited
Jul 13, 2026
Created by
Nova

About this process

Breaks a role into its distinct functions — the separate "hats" it wears — and maps the skills each one requires. For every function you capture what it involves, the skills or competencies needed, and how strong they must be. Use it when a job clearly does several different things, so the requirements are grounded in real responsibilities rather than a generic wish list. It sharpens the competencies you set on the Job Scorecard.

The process in detail

2 steps
  1. 1

    Role Functions & Skills

  2. 2

    Tips: The cascade: mission → functions → skills → proficiency

Read the full text
1. Role Functions & Skills

Four columns, 4 sticky-sized rows (add or remove to land at 3–5 functions):

🌴🌵Core Function (the hat) — one distinct area of the role. Name it as a noun.

e.g. Campaign management · Analytics · Team leadership.

Key Responsibilities — what that function actually involves day to day.

Formula: [Verb] + [what] + [scope] — e.g. Plan & run multi-channel campaigns end to end.

🧑‍🚒👩‍🚀🧙‍♂‍Skills / Competencies Required — the specific skills that function demands (this is what feeds the main scorecard's Competencies section).

e.g. Project management, copywriting, marketing ops.

💫 Level / Priority — how strong they need to be, or how critical the function is.

Use a simple scale: Essential / Desired, or Expert / Proficient / Working.

2. Tips: The cascade: mission → functions → skills → proficiency

The core idea is that each layer derives from the one above it, so nothing is arbitrary.

Start with mission — the single reason the role exists. Then break that into functions: the three-to-five distinct areas of work the role holds, the different "hats" it wears. A good test for a function is subtractive — if you removed it, would the mission fail?

Functions are about the role, and they're fairly stable over time.

💫From each function you derive skills by asking one question: what must a person be genuinely good at to do this function well? This is the discipline that keeps you honest — a skill only earns its place if it's demanded by a function. If a skill doesn't ladder up to one, cut it. Skills are about the person.

Finally, set proficiency: how deep the person must be in each skill. The key insight is that not everything needs expert level — you match depth to consequence. Reserve "expert" for skills where mistakes are costly or the function is central; "working knowledge" is fine everywhere else.

Three lenses to get the skills right

Head, Hands, Heart. 🤯❤️🤚 Every skill is one of three kinds: cognitive judgment (head), technical craft (hands), or interpersonal character (heart). Most roles need all three but weighted differently, and the reason a technically brilliant hire often fails is a missing "heart" or "head" skill nobody scored for. Check that you've covered all three, not just the obvious technical ones.

•Teach vs. Select. Some capabilities you can train on the job (teach); others are closer to traits and values and have to be hired for (select). Be lenient on the teachable ones and strict on the un-teachable ones — this is the real logic behind "hire for attitude, train for skill." It also tells you where to set a high bar in interviews and where to relax it.
•Depth and shape (the T). People are rarely evenly good; the strong ones are "spiky." A well-matched person is deep in the function that most defines the role — the vertical of the T — and broad enough across the others to collaborate. So decide which spike matters most before you evaluate anyone.

Two principles that keep it from bloating

1.Weight everything toward the core. Usually one or two functions generate most of a role's value (the 80/20); load your skill requirements and proficiency there rather than spreading effort evenly across peripheral functions.
2.And watch for the wish-list trap: a role that needs to be expert at everything isn't a role, it's two jobs badly merged. If your skills list has no shape — no priorities, no teachable/select split — that's the signal to redesign the role, not the scorecard.
New Board
  • Add text...
  • Add text...
  • Add text...
  • Add text...
Use this process
Capabilities
Fully editableAdapts as work changesAdd more sessions anytimeAI can be assigned
N
Created byNova·Official process
Last edited Jul 13, 2026·2 steps