{"id":5217,"date":"2026-01-13T19:10:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/?p=5217"},"modified":"2026-01-16T14:18:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T14:18:23","slug":"definitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/definitions\/","title":{"rendered":"Definitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Definitions <\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper names. <\/p>\u2014 Confucius<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

These are TRM-specific definitions of familiar concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Accountability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Accountability is a person\u2019s willingness to own the outcome of their actions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Alignment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Alignment is the pursuit of a responsibility in a way that\u2019s consistent with a higher mission or strategy.  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Cascade Effect<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Cascade Effect is the natural outgrowth of mission threads, where each supporting responsibility becomes increasingly specific and relevant to the individual who owns it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Commitment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Commitment is the willingness to put forth the effort to deliver an outcome, regardless of the challenges that may arise. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Constraints<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Constraints are limitations that shape available tactics and strategies. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Continuity of Ownership<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Continuity of Ownership is the structural requirement that a responsibility, once accepted, cannot be unilaterally abdicated, reassigned, or ignored. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Delegation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Delegation is the act of enlisting someone to help deliver an outcome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Engagement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Engagement is a person\u2019s intrinsic attachment to a larger mission. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Governance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Governance is the structure that ensures people are doing the right things, in the right way, in pursuit of the mission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Key Results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Key Results are objective, measurable waypoints that determine whether a Strategy is delivering the intended Objective.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mission Chain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A Mission Chain is the hierarchy of the activities that support a particular strategy. It consists of all supporting responsibilities that are linked by Mission Threads. Mission Chains are typically considered to be a pyramid of cascading responsibilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mission Thread<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A Mission Thread is the specific 1:1 link between a responsibility and the higher-level strategy that it supports. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Objective<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Objective describes the mission-focused goal that\u2019s the core of a responsibility. Every responsibility has an Objective.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Performance Culture<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Performance Culture consists of a pattern of actions that individuals apply when there is no otherwise-clear guidance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Performance Structures<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Performance Structures are the formal governance practices that the organization uses to pursue its mission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Responsibility<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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A responsibility is a person’s willing intention to deliver a meaningful outcome. A person will often have multiple responsibilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Responsibility Agreement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A Responsibility Agreement is the formal documentation of mutual expectations for a delegated responsibility.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Strategy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Strategy is the process that a responsibility owner intends to use as the means to deliver an Objective. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Tactics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tactics are the choices and options available for use during the execution of the Strategy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Transparency<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Transparency is the broad sharing of information to create greater Trust and Engagement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Trust<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trust is the belief that the system will work as advertised. In a performance context, it is created when goals seem achievable, strategies seem appropriate, and everyone demonstrates a focus on achieving the mission over self-interest. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Unity of Ownership<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unity of Ownership is the structural requirement that each responsibility must be owned by exactly one person.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These are TRM-specific definitions of familiar concepts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disciplines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5217"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5369,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5217\/revisions\/5369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theresponsibilitymatrix.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}