Define what growth looks like in the role.
T-Shaped Role Model helps leaders define the depth and breadth a role requires so people can see what strong performance looks like and how to grow toward it.
Bill writes about T-Shaped Role Model in chapter 6.
Get the book →People need a clear picture of what strong performance looks like before they can deliberately grow toward it.
The T-Shaped Role Model gives you a simple way to define that picture across two dimensions. The vertical bar represents depth: the specialized expertise, professional excellence, and accountability someone needs within their core domain. The horizontal bar represents breadth: the awareness, collaboration, and cross-functional capability that helps them apply that expertise beyond their own area.
Depth builds mastery. Breadth expands perspective and judgment. A strong role definition makes both visible, giving the leader and the individual a shared reference for evaluating current capability and planning growth.
The model also makes development more specific. Instead of broad expectations like “show more leadership” or “be more collaborative,” you can define the expertise, exposure, relationships, and behaviors the role actually requires.
The goal is to give people a concrete target for where they need to deepen and where they need to broaden.
Start with the role itself.
For depth, define the expertise someone in the role needs to own.
Ask:
What expertise must this person master?
What does excellent performance look like?
What would demonstrate real command of the role?
For breadth, define the adjacent knowledge and cross-functional capability the role requires.
Ask:
Which teams or functions does this role need to understand?
What relationships are critical to success?
What does effective collaboration beyond the core domain look like?
Define the role clearly before assessing the person in it.
Use the T as the basis for a development conversation.
Ask the individual to assess their current depth and breadth, then share your perspective.
Ask together:
Where are you strongest today?
Where do you need greater depth?
Where would broader exposure make you more effective?
Where are you most likely to stay inside your comfort zone?
The value comes from creating a shared view of the current starting point.
Choose one or two areas within the person’s domain where greater mastery would make the biggest difference.
Give them work that stretches those capabilities and create opportunities for feedback while the work is happening.
Be specific: What skill are they developing? What experience will build it? How will you know they’re getting stronger?
Depth grows through deliberate stretch and feedback.
Create deliberate exposure beyond the person’s primary domain.
That could include:
Cross-functional initiatives
Rotating leadership responsibility
Work with new stakeholders
Exposure to adjacent functions
Responsibility for outcomes that require collaboration across boundaries
Define what you want them to learn or contribute through the experience.
Breadth develops the perspective that helps expertise travel across the organization.
Use the T during recurring development conversations.
Ask:
Where are you deepening?
Where are you broadening?
Update the plan as capability grows and the role evolves.
A living T keeps development connected to what the role actually requires now.
The core technique stays the same — but how you apply it shifts depending on your role, your team, and your environment.
Map the T for each role before you hire. Use the depth dimension to clarify the expertise you need and the breadth dimension to identify the cross-functional awareness, relationships, and collaboration the role requires.
Share the T during onboarding so the person understands the full shape of success from the beginning.
<em>Clear expectations at entry give development a stronger starting point.</em>
A strong individual contributor may already have significant depth. Look closely at the breadth side of the T.
Identify where greater exposure to other functions, broader responsibility, stakeholder relationships, or cross-functional leadership would prepare them for the next level.
<em>Growth often requires expanding where someone can contribute, not simply giving them more of the work they already do well.</em>
Watch your footing
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PowerPlays are the techniques Bill teaches in his keynotes, workshops, and executive coaching engagements with organizations across the country.
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