Transversal roles allow you to invite a role (or circle) from one circle to work in another. It takes its origin in one circle and is simply invited to participate in another circle.
Who can use Transversal roles?
All decision-makers/core members of a circle may decide to add, edit or delete a Transversal role.
A Transversal role is created by the inviting circle that needs a skill it does not have.
💁♀️ Example: The Marketing circle needs the skills of the Designer role, which exists in the Product circle. In order to allow that, the Marketing circle can decide to invite the Designer role to participate in their circle by inviting it. It's the inviting circle (Marketing) which decides to add the Designer role as a Transversal role, the original circle (Product) is not involved in this decision.
Rules and permission
What roles can be added as Transversal roles?
All roles in the organization can be made Transversal roles, except if they are configured as Core role. This means that Elected roles, Main roles or roles created from a role template can be defined as Transversal roles.
Transversal roles cannot be set up as Leader, Rep or Assigner roles within the circle they're invited to.
Circles can be invited to participate in another circle as a role.
Who can be assigned to a Transversal role?
Only the members assigned to the original role can be assigned to the Transversal role. These members are invited to work in the circle in which the Transversal role has been created. It means they can participate in the operations and governance (decisions, meetings) of the circle: they become core members of the circle.
📌 Notes:
When a Transversal role is created, the members from the original role are not automatically assigned to it: it is up to the circle to assign the members of their choice (from the ones assigned to the original role).
If only one member is assigned to the original role, this members is automatically assigned to the Transversal role.
If a member is removed from the original role, they are also removed from the Transversal role.
If a member is assigned to the original role, they won't be assigned to the Transversal role.
When a Transversal role is created from a circle, any member of the circle can be assigned to the transversal role it was created from.
What can members of a Transversal role do?
Members assigned to a Transversal role automatically become core members of the circle, which allows them to:
Add or suggest evolutions to the circle and the roles it contains (proposals)
Participate in circle meetings
Participate in the decision-making process both in and outside of meetings
Create, edit and delete Metrics, Checklists, Projects, Actions and OKRs for the circle and its roles
Take on additional accountabilities in the circle
Transversal roles attributes
A Transversal role keeps the same characteristics as in the role it was created from. The Name, Purpose, Domains, Policies, Accountabilities and Custom Fields (if applicable) cannot be changed.
However, the circle in which the role is invited can add new governance information specific to the functioning of the Transversal role in the circle. The circle may decide to add Domains or Accountabilities to the Transversal role to specify its missions and scope in the circle.
This can be done by editing the Transversal role the same way it would be done for a non-transversal role.
By doing that, the Accountabilities or Domains would show as “additional” ones:
What happens between the original role and the Transversal role ?
If the original role is edited or deleted in the original circle, the Transversal role will also be edited or deleted in the circle in which it's invited.
If the original role is extended into a circle in the original circle, the Transversal role will be deleted from the circle in which it's invited.
Also, the bridge between the two circles (original and inviting) is limited:
The circle which invites the role to be transversal cannot edit the role's information in the circle it originates from.
The original circle cannot remove the Transversal Role from the circle in which it's invited.