RAPID Decision Roles

Definition

RAPID is a framework that clarifies decision accountability by assigning each major decision five distinct roles: someone to Recommend a course of action, someone who must Agree (with veto power), those who Perform the implementation, those who provide Input (consulted for facts), and one person who Decides (brings the decision to closure). By making these roles explicit and assigning them before decisions are made, organizations prevent bottlenecks, reduce rework, and enable faster execution.

In the Book

Paul Rogers and Marcia Blenko identify four common decision bottlenecks in organizations: global versus local, center versus business unit, function versus function, and inside versus outside partners. In each case, ambiguity over who is accountable for what stalls decisions. The RAPID framework solves this by making roles transparent.

For example, at John Lewis department stores, buyers and product developers each believed they had decision authority over product assortment, leading to conflict and missed deadlines. When the company clarified that "buyers have the D" (decision authority) on how much shelf space each product category receives, but sales staff "have the A" (agree/veto power) if space allocations don't make operational sense, the conflict dissolved. Decisions that had been stuck began moving forward. Importantly, RAPID's power lies not in the acronym but in forcing organizations to be explicit: For this decision, who proposes? Who can veto? Who executes? Who gets consulted? Who decides?

A common pitfall is assigning "the D" to multiple people (creating a tug-of-war), proliferating "A" roles (too many people with veto power), or assigning too many "I" roles (lots of people providing input but contributing little). The discipline is to keep roles minimal and clear.

Why It Matters

Organizations often believe their bottlenecks are caused by unclear strategy or insufficient analysis. In reality, many are caused by unclear decision roles. When people don't know who is accountable for what, they either escalate everything (creating waiting) or make decisions in isolation (creating rework). By treating decision authority as an explicit design choice—not something that emerges from hierarchy or tradition—organizations can remove structural friction and let good thinking drive faster choices.