How to Define Team Roles and Improve Communication as Your Business Grows

May 11

Team collaborating around a project management board, defining roles and responsibilities for a client account

You’ve probably experienced it on the receiving end.

You’re working with an outside firm — agency, consultant, vendor, doesn't matter — and something feels off. You get an email from one person, a follow-up from someone else, and suddenly you’re not sure who to call when you have a question. Work gets duplicated. Messages contradict each other. And instead of feeling like things are handled, you feel like you have to manage this partner on top of all your other work.

That experience has a root cause: the team on the other side hasn’t defined who owns what.

At Kwedar & Co., we’ve built our operations around making sure that never happens. As we’ve grown and added new team members, we’ve been intentional about defining roles, clarifying ownership, and keeping our internal communication tight because what happens inside a firm shows up in the client experience, whether you want it to or not.

Here’s how we do it.

Slack: internal conversations only. Quick questions, quick answers.
ClickUp: home base for all project work. If it’s tied to a project, it lives here.
Email: reserved for client communication.
Weekly team meetings: a set time to review projects and work through bigger items like quarterly rocks.
Daily leadership huddles: a quick check-in to stay aligned and keep things moving.

Having everyone aligned on where things live means nothing falls through the cracks and clients aren’t caught in the middle of an internal communication breakdown.

Define Who Owns What

With that foundation in place, we turned to ownership. Specifically, making sure every project has one clear lead and every team member knows exactly where they fit.

We started using a RACI Matrix, a straightforward tool for defining roles on any project or account.

RACI stands for:

Responsible: who is doing the work
Accountable: who owns the outcome
Consulted: who gives input
Informed: who needs to stay in the loop

For our clients, this means one clear point of contact who owns the relationship and the work. Team members know exactly where to step in — and where to stay out. No duplicated effort, mixed messages, or “wait, who should I call?”

How to Build Your Own RACI Matrix

You don’t need fancy software. Start with a simple spreadsheet:

List each part of the project or key tasks down one side
Add your team members or roles across the top
Assign an R, A, C, or I to each person for every task
Align the matrix with your project management system
Keep accountability to one person per project. For us, that’s the account lead

Once it’s built, your RACI matrix becomes your guide. It shows who should be in which meetings, where ideas should come from, and who’s responsible for moving things forward.

What This Produces for Clients

When roles are clear, teams move forward. No second-guessing, no duplicated effort, no mixed messages landing in a client’s inbox.

For the clients we serve, they don’t see the RACI matrix or the ClickUp workflows. They just know their project is in good hands, their point of contact is consistent, and things get done.

Structure isn’t the opposite of creativity or relationship. It’s what makes both possible.

Define the roles, set the structure, then let your team do what they do best.

Jessica Pickard leads operations for Fort Worth PR firm Kwedar & Co.

About The Author

Jessica Pickard is the Director of Operations for Kwedar & Co. Jessica oversees operational and project excellence at KCo, ensuring seamless support for both client and business needs. Jessica has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Murray State University. She is based in Kentucky.

Jessica Pickard