Role Gaps: The Hidden Coordination Problem
Definition
A role gap occurs when a coordination function that the meeting type explicitly requires fails to appear in the transcript. It is a structural diagnosis, not a personality critique. The system identifies that specific work needed to happen for the meeting to succeed—and it did not.
A leadership team convenes to make a product direction decision. Six people are present. The discussion is energetic. Several directions are proposed. The group converges on a path forward. Two weeks later, the decision unravels. Stakeholders surface objections. Implementation reveals constraints no one raised. The team reconvenes.
The standard explanation is that the wrong people were in the room, or that the group needed better communication. But the transcript tells a different story. Everyone who needed to be there was there. What was missing wasn't a person. It was a function. No one in the room performed the work of stress-testing the decision before it closed. No one surfaced the risks. The Challenger function was absent.
This is a role gap. Not a missing attendee. Not an interpersonal failure. A specific type of coordination work that the meeting required—and that no one performed.
How role gaps work
Every meeting type has a structure, whether the participants recognize it or not. Growth Wise classifies meetings into types called Arenas—Decision Forum, Ideation Session, Status Sync, and others. Each Arena has a set of coordination functions that are invited: functions that need to appear in the conversation for that mode of work to succeed.
A Decision Forum invites the Challenger (to test risks) and the Sensemaker (to ensure shared understanding before closure). An Ideation Session invites the Initiator (to introduce directions) and the Connector (to link threads). The system analyzes the transcript, identifies which invited functions appeared, and flags the ones that did not.
When an invited function is absent, the system uses the gap to explain what happened structurally. If a decision closed without the Challenger function present, the diagnosis is specific: the decision was not stress-tested. The risk is fake agreement or downstream rework. The gap connects the missing function to the observable outcome.
The seven coordination functions
Growth Wise tracks seven roles. These are defined as observable contribution functions—patterns of behavior that can be identified in a transcript, independent of who performs them.
Initiator
Introduces a new topic, direction, or momentum. Creates the opening that allows the group to move.
Sensemaker
Clarifies, connects, and synthesizes differing points of view so the group shares a single mental model.
Challenger
Stress-tests assumptions, surfaces risks, and offers alternatives. This is idea-level rigor, not interpersonal conflict.
Harmonizer
Repairs observable tension and restores conditions for continued work. This function is only relevant when tension is actually present.
Detail Driver
Grounds the discussion in specifics, constraints, facts, and feasibility. Converts abstract direction into concrete terms.
Connector
Links people, threads, or context to create coherence. "This connects to what Design said earlier." Brings prior context into the present conversation.
Finisher
Closes loops. Summarizes, transitions, parks topics, or forces commitment. "So, who is owning this?"
How these differ from organizational roles
The distinction matters because it changes what the diagnosis means. When organizations think about "role gaps," they typically mean the wrong people were in the room. The VP of Engineering wasn't present for a technical decision. The customer success lead missed the roadmap review. The gap is an attendance problem.
Growth Wise roles work differently in three specific ways.
They are situational, not permanent
An organizational role is fixed. You are the VP of Engineering every day. A Growth Wise role is momentary. You act as the Sensemaker in a specific ten-minute segment, then shift to the Finisher when the group needs closure. If a leader gets stuck in one mode—always Initiating, never Finishing—the system flags that as a coordination pattern. The rigidity itself becomes visible.
They are functions, not people
The system does not track who performs the function. It tracks whether the function was performed. If a junior analyst provides the Challenger function in a room of executives, the system records the role as present. If the CEO is in the room but stays silent during a moment that required stress-testing, the role is absent. Seniority is irrelevant. Hierarchy is irrelevant. The question is whether the work happened.
Role vs. Title
They are relative to the Arena
An organizational role has duties defined by a job description. A Growth Wise role has relevance defined by the meeting type. The same behavior can be invited in one Arena and suppressed in another.
In a Decision Forum, the Challenger role is invited. Stress-testing is essential to durable decisions. Without it, the group risks closing on something that hasn't been examined. In an Ideation Session, the Challenger role is suppressed. Critical evaluation during divergent brainstorming kills the generative process. The behavior is identical. The structural appropriateness is opposite.
This is why the diagnosis is structural rather than personal. The system does not say "you should have challenged more." It says "this meeting type required the Challenger function, and it was not present in the transcript." The gap belongs to the meeting, not to any individual.
How role gaps cause decisions to reopen
Role gaps increase the risk of decisions reopening by producing fragile closure—a situation where a team agrees verbally, but the structural work required to make that decision durable was not performed. The agreement looks like closure. It does not function as closure. When specific coordination functions are missing from a Decision Forum, the decision often collapses during execution.
Each missing function produces a different failure mode. The connection between gap and consequence is specific, not general.
Four paths from role gap to decision reopening
Missing Challenger → Fake Agreement
In a Decision Forum, the Challenger is invited to stress-test assumptions and surface risks. Without this function, the group often drifts toward polite consensus over rigor. The decision closes with apparent alignment, but the trade-offs were never actually accepted. When the suppressed risks emerge during execution, the team is forced to re-litigate the choice.
Missing Sensemaker → Divergent Interpretations
The Sensemaker synthesizes differing points of view into a single shared mental model. Without this function, participants leave the meeting believing they agreed while holding different interpretations of the outcome. This creates fragile alignment. The decision reopens the moment two people try to execute it and discover they are not on the same page.
Missing Finisher → Vague Commitment
The Finisher closes loops by forcing specific commitment: decision, owner, next step, timeline. Without this function, the meeting ends in a conversation that feels productive but lacks a decision-made signal. The system flags this as partial or absent closure. Because the specific "who does what by when" was never locked in, the topic drifts back onto the agenda the following week.
Missing Detail Driver → Feasibility Failure
The Detail Driver grounds abstract agreements in specific constraints and facts. Without this function, teams make conceptual decisions—"We should launch in Q3"—without validating budget, technical debt, or capacity. The decision hits a reality wall during execution, forcing the team to bring it back to the table for scope adjustment.
Each gap produces a different structural consequence. The system maps the gap to the consequence, which maps to the observable pattern in subsequent meetings: decisions that reopen, action items that drift, alignment that dissolves between sessions.
The diagnostic sequence
The system follows a consistent logic. First, it classifies the meeting into an Arena. Then it identifies which coordination functions the Arena invites. Then it analyzes the transcript for evidence of each invited function. Where an invited function is absent, it flags a role gap. Where the gap corresponds to an observable outcome—a decision that didn't close, a topic that drifted, an agreement that appeared but lacked substance—it connects the two.
The result is a structural explanation. Not "the meeting went poorly because the team doesn't communicate well." Rather: "This was a Decision Forum. The Challenger function was invited but absent. The decision closed without stress-testing. The observed pattern—decision reopening in the following week—is consistent with this gap."
The explanation is falsifiable. It identifies a specific missing function, a specific meeting type that required it, and a specific outcome that followed. It does not speculate about intentions, relationships, or competence.
Summary
A role gap is a structural diagnosis: a coordination function that the meeting type required was missing from the conversation. Growth Wise tracks seven observable coordination functions—Initiator, Sensemaker, Challenger, Harmonizer, Detail Driver, Connector, and Finisher—that are situational (not permanent), functional (not tied to people), and Arena-relative (the same behavior can be essential in one meeting type and counterproductive in another). When an invited function is absent, the system maps the gap to the observable outcome: decisions that reopen, commitments that dissolve, alignment that fractures between sessions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a role gap in a meeting?
A role gap occurs when a coordination function required by the meeting type fails to appear in the conversation. It is a structural diagnosis, not a personality critique. For example, if a Decision Forum requires the Challenger function and no one performs it, the system flags a role gap—regardless of who was in the room.
What are the seven coordination functions?
Growth Wise tracks seven observable contribution functions: Initiator (introduces direction), Sensemaker (clarifies and synthesizes), Challenger (stress-tests assumptions), Harmonizer (repairs tension), Detail Driver (grounds in specifics), Connector (links threads and context), and Finisher (closes loops and forces commitment). These are situational behaviors identified in transcripts, not permanent titles.
How do role gaps differ from missing attendees?
Role gaps are about functions, not people. A meeting can have every senior leader present and still have a role gap if no one performs a required coordination function. The system tracks whether the work happened, not who did it or whether the "right" people were in the room.
Why does the same role matter in one meeting but not another?
Each meeting type (Arena) invites specific coordination functions. A Decision Forum invites the Challenger because stress-testing is essential to durable decisions. An Ideation Session suppresses the Challenger because critical evaluation inhibits divergent thinking. The same behavior is structurally necessary in one context and counterproductive in another.
How do role gaps cause decisions to reopen?
Role gaps produce fragile closure—verbal agreement without the structural work to make decisions durable. Each missing function creates a different failure: a missing Challenger leads to fake agreement (suppressed risks resurface during execution), a missing Sensemaker leads to divergent interpretations (people execute different versions of the same decision), a missing Finisher leads to vague commitment (no clear owner or timeline), and a missing Detail Driver leads to feasibility failure (conceptual decisions that collapse against real constraints).