A Transversal role is created from an existing role (or circle) in the organization. A role from one circle is invited to participate in another circle, to bring collaboration and skills to a team which need it.
Adding a Transversal role
The action of inviting a role or circle to be transversal in another circle comes from the inviting circle. This means that the circle needing a role which already exists in another circle will create a new role by inviting it, making it transversal.
☝ You need to be a member of the inviting circle to create a Transversal role.
To add a Transversal role:
Go to the circle page in which you wish to add the Transversal role
Click on Add Role
Click on Invite a role to participate in another circle
📌 Note: Circles can be invited to participate in another circle as a role. This means that the circle itself, will be added as a transversal role in the inviting circle, but still remains a circle at its origin.
You'll notice the Name, Purpose, Domains, Policies, Accountabilities and Custom Fields (if applicable) being the same as the original role or circle it's created from.
These characteristics cannot be modified, but you can add new Domains or Accountabilities to specify the Transversal role's missions and scope of action in the circle.
Click on + Add a domain or + Add an accountability
These extra characteristics will show under Additional domains and Additional accountabilities, only on the transversal role:
The next step in the creation of your Transversal role depends on the decision making settings set for your organization:
If your organization is set up in free decision mode, click on Validate, so your Transversal role is created in real time.
If your organization is set up in consent decision mode, you will require the circle members' consent either in a meeting or through an asynchronous proposal.
📌 Note: You can also add a Transversal role during a meeting following the same process as for adding a role in a meeting, as described in this article.
What about members?
Once the Transversal role is created...
👉 If multiple members are assigned to the original role, it will be left unassigned. It is up to the inviting circle to choose the members to be assigned to the transversal role from the ones already assigned to the original role.
👉 If only one member is assigned to the original role, this member is automatically assigned to the new Transversal role.
👉 If the Transversal role originates from a circle, any member of the circle can be assigned to the transversal role it was created from.
Depending on the member's implication in the circle, you can:
Define a Scope for members assigned to the Transversal role to clarify their function in the role.
Make transversal role holders non decision-makers / non-core member if you do not want them to take part in the operations, governance decisions and meetings of the circle.
📌 Notes:
If a member is removed from the original role or circle, they are also removed from the Transversal role.
If a member is assigned to the original role or circle, they won't be assigned to the Transversal role. That member will need to manually be added to the Transversal role by the circle in which is has been invited to.
Editing or deleting a Transversal role
You can edit a Transversal role by following the same process as for other roles, described in this article.
The Name, Purpose, Domains, Policies, Accountabilities and Custom Fields (if applicable) of the original role it's created from cannot be modified.
However, you can add or remove new Domains or Accountabilities to specify the Transversal role's scope of action in the circle at any point in time:
Click on + Add a domain or + Add an accountability
These extra characteristics will show under Additional domains and Additional accountabilities, only on the transversal role:
You can delete a Transversal role the same way as other roles, as explained here.
Deleting a Transversal role, won't affect the original role in any way.
However, the operations (projects, actions, OKRs…) assigned to the Transversal role won't be available in the original role: be mindful to re-attribute when at deletion, so they're not permanently deleted.