Using the donut
Using the ‘donut’ to clarify roles and responsibilities
Tool
The donut is a tool that assists in clarifying roles and responsibilities. The tool was designed to support employees to better understand what was required of them within their role, identifying where they could try new things, how they could use their creativity and judgment and where their responsibilities end.
Developing a donut can assist in clarifying who you are looking for based on the core responsibilities in the position. Once the core responsibilities of a position have been established you can consider any additional desired attributes.
The donut can be used to support conversations with potential candidates providing both an overview of the position and a more detailed description of the day-to-day tasks.
Transparency around job expectations supports a culture of accountability for new employees and limits the possibility of employers, employees and individuals having different interpretations of what the job actually is.
The donut is separated into three different sections:
Core responsibilities are tasks that we expect the person to carry out on a day-to-day basis within their role.
This section falls in line with the vision and values of the organisation and any key policies that they might need to pay attention to.
The core responsibilities need to align with the position description and the appropriate job family and job level in the Workforce Capability Framework.
It provides the detail of how certain elements of the job need to be carried out and sets expectations on how the employee will be held accountability within their role.
When related to direct service provision, a donut should also contain responsibilities that reflect a balance of what’s important to the individual being supported i.e. the things that make the person happy, content, that matter to them and identifies the support they need to be healthy and safe in a way that works for them.
- Core responsibilities of the role
There are elements of all jobs where you expect employees to be innovative and to use creativity i.e. in situations where there is no right or wrong approach or where it is agreed there is scope for flexibility.
Creativity and judgement is often needed in situations where the best way to do something is unknown and will only be discovered through trying various ideas and methods.
For example a core responsibility of a manager could be:
There is an expectation that all staff members will exercise some form of innovation. Innovation is a strategic core requirement in the Workforce Capability Framework. The framework clarifies what innovation means at each standard level of work.
- Creativity, judgement and innovation
- To provide regular supervision and feedback to team members in a one-on-one environment; and/or
- To ensure that this supervision takes place in a manner that works for both manager and team member.
- Creativity and judgement in relation to supervision could be:
- How and where supervision takes place depends on the individual team member and the environment that works best for them.
This describes the point at which the person is no longer held accountable.
This can be where the person’s role ends but someone else’s begins.
When related to direct service provision, it can also be an area of an individual’s life that the staff member are not directly responsible for in their role because:
- Not your usual responsibility
- It fits better with someone else in the individual’s support network.
- The individual has stated that they do not want the service provider involved in this area of their life.
Tips
The donut can be used as a framework to commence conversations with others.
The donut provides a structure to identify core responsibilities. Using the donut can ensure a balance of responsibilities that are ‘important to and for’ the individual, while also addressing aspects of the position that are important to the organisation.
Use the information available in the Workforce Capability Framework for the relevant job family and job level and discuss how it translates into expectations on a day-to-day basis. Identify if there are particular ways in which tasks are to be carried out and whether there is be room for creativity.
You may not be able to capture every single core responsibility straight away, start with the areas that are critical to the individual and the organisation.
If you are recruiting for a direct service delivery role or a frontline manager, ensure there is a direct link between the individuals being supported, the information collated and to the core responsibilities of the role.
If you are recruiting for an existing position, review the position description in line with the capability requirements for the role, think about what the current employee does now and capture clearly what you and the individual would like to see continue with a new staff member. You could use the ‘what’s working / not working tool’ to assist you with in this process.
When capturing information around creativity, judgement and innovation, be careful not to prescribe what you want staff to do as then there will be no room for them to move. The content should link to a core responsibility but also be an area where you want the staff member to be creative in how they perform the task or what they try.
Discuss any aspects of the role which should not be included and identify where there may be a risk of the employee overstepping their role; capture this clearly in the not your usual responsibility section.
Core Responsibilities (inner ring of donut)
Consider:
- What is the employee is required to do and is personally accountable for
- The information should reflect the policies, visions and values of the organisation.
- What is ‘important to and important for’ the individual(s) that the candidate will be supporting.
Creativity, judgement and innovation (outer ring of donut)
- Identify opportunities where:
- The employee is required to use innovation
- Where there is no single right way to perform a task
- Where something does not have to be performed the same way every time.
Not your usual responsibility (outside the donut):
Consider:
- The point at which the person’s accountability ends and another person’s starts
- Where something fits better within someone else’s role.
Template
Download the donut template using the button above.
Additional resources:
- The Workforce Capability Framework.
- The disability career planner and capability framework implementation guide.
- Tools, tips and template – using the ‘what’s working / not working tool’ within recruitment
- Technique, tips and template – using ‘important to and for’ in job design and recruitment
- Technique, Tips and Template – writing position descriptions.
Definitions:
The term individual(s) refers to an individual with a disability and their family and/or circle of support.
The terms staff/employee(s) refer to paid or unpaid members of the workforce regardless of their employment relationship with their employer i.e. permanent, casual, full-time, volunteer, etc.
Intellectual property rights are jointly owned by National Disability Services Ltd, PeopleAdvantage Pty Ltd and Helen Sanderson Associates respectively. Concepts and intellectual property used with permission from The Learning Community for Person Centred Practices. ©This publication is copyright. All rights reserved.
