Role templates and core roles

A role template is a role you define once and reuse. Nestr uses templates for two jobs: as core roles that every new circle receives automatically, and as a starting point when someone proposes a new role. Both live in the same place, and a template becomes a core role by ticking one checkbox.

Where templates live

Open Workspace settings, go to Applications, and find Default circle roles under Self organisation. Click Configure. You need admin rights, and the Self organisation app has to be on.

The list starts with four templates that come with Nestr:

• Circle lead: holds overall accountability for the circle's purpose.
• Facilitator: runs the circle's meetings.
• Secretary: keeps the governance records.
• Rep link / Delegate: represents the circle in its parent circle.

The checkbox in front of each one is what makes it a core role. Ticked, the template is added to every circle you create from then on. Unticked, it stays available to apply by hand but no new circle gets it. Existing circles are not changed either way.

Adding your own template

1. Click Add custom role template.
2. Give it a name, and a purpose if you have one.
3. Add the accountabilities and domains the role should start with.
4. Tick the checkbox if every new circle should get this role.

Create as many as you like. A template you use only in proposals is just as valid as one that seeds every circle.

Your own fields on a template

If your workspace has added custom fields to the Role label, those fields now appear on the template as well, in the same place they appear on a real role. Set a value on the template and every role that comes from it carries that value.

This covers fields defined on the Role label for the whole workspace. Fields scoped to a single circle or to a parent, and fields belonging to other labels, are not carried by templates. See Custom fields for how to define them.

A template value reaches a role at three moments:

• when a role is created from the template, including the core roles a new circle receives and roles created through a governance proposal,
• when you use Apply to all roles using this template,
• whenever you edit the template, for roles that follow it.

The template is the source of truth for these fields. Clearing a value on the template clears it on those roles too, so a per-role value that differs from the template is not something to rely on for a field the template carries.

Keeping roles in step with a template

Each template has a switch: Roles created from this template follow it. With it on, new roles stay linked, and a later edit to the template reaches them without any further action.

For roles that already exist, use Apply to all N roles using this template. Nestr asks you to confirm first, because it is thorough:

• roles that were edited by hand are updated too,
• accountabilities and domains that were added to a role are kept,
• accountabilities and domains that were changed are reset to what the template says.

Using a template in a proposal

When you propose a new role, the role editor has an Apply template dropdown in the top right. It offers three things:

• any role template defined in this workspace,
• a copy of any existing role in your organisation,
• a cross-link of a role from another circle into this one.

Applying a template fills the proposal with its name, purpose, accountabilities, domains and field values, and you can edit any of it before proposing. See Tensions and governance proposals.

One thing to know: the role editor inside a proposal does not show custom fields, so you cannot set them there. Values from the template are still applied to the role when the proposal is enacted.

Related

• Building your org structure for creating roles and circles, and assigning people to them.
• Custom fields for defining the fields a template can carry.
• Rights management for the circle admin rights a role can grant whoever fills it.