# Write The Role Charter Before Hiring

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/role-charter-before-hiring · Last updated 31 October 2026

You are staring at a job ad for an operations person, unsure whether the work belongs with a person, a system or you. Ivanka Menken uses the Role Charter Test inside Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, to define what the work must solve in 90 days and over 18 months, then sort it into system work, founder work and person work. You leave with a charter and a written reason to hire, delay or automate.

## A job ad for a role you have not defined

- You are about to hire for a role you have not defined.
- You cannot tell which tasks should move to AI or a system.
- You are still the person every exception lands on.

**THE MOMENT:** You are writing a job ad for an operations person because every exception still lands on you. The ad is a list of tasks: invoices, scheduling, supplier emails, the client questions nobody else answers. Halfway down, you wonder whether half of it should be software, and whether the other half is really yours to keep.

### THE JOB AD, AS IT STANDS

- Title: operations person
- Content: a list of today’s tasks
- Problems the role must solve: not written
- Which work a system could carry: not sorted
- What stays with you: not decided

## Hire for tasks as they appear

The founder had tried hiring for tasks as they appeared. Each time, the new person took the routine work and the exceptions drifted back. Within weeks, the role had shifted and the founder was the integration point again, now with a salary on top. The hire solved today’s list and left the problems underneath it untouched.

## The ad listed tasks, not problems

Ivanka read the job description and noticed it listed tasks, not the problems the role had to solve. There was no line on what must be different in 90 days, or what the role should still be fixing in 18 months. Without that, nobody could tell which tasks a system should carry, which a person should own, and which belonged with the founder.

## An undefined charter, not a hiring problem

The diagnosis was an undefined charter. The founder could not see what should move to a system, what a person should own and what stayed with them, so every hire inherited a moving list and every exception came home.
The reframe: the hiring decision gets easier when you stop asking who to hire and start asking what the work must solve. Once the 90-day and 18-month problems are written, the work sorts itself. Repetitive work goes to a system. Judgement stays with you. What is left is the shape of the role, if there is one.

> Stop asking who to hire. Start asking what the work must solve.

**The cost of staying stuck:** Hiring without a charter can spend the first 90 days to 18 months of a role on work that should never have been hired for.

## The tool: Role Charter Test

The Role Charter Test starts from the work you are about to hire for. It asks what that work must solve in the next 90 days and over 18 months. Then each part goes to one of three places: a system, the founder, or a person. The charter ends with one decision, hire, delay or automate, and the reason for it.

It is a one-page charter: the problems for 90 days, the problems for 18 months, the work a system can carry, the exceptions that need your judgement, any person-shaped work left over, and the decision with its reason.

It replaces the job ad written from today’s task list, the hire that inherits every exception, and the AI tool bought before anyone decided what it should carry.

### What goes on the page

1. In 90 days: the problems this work must solve first
2. Over 18 months: what it must still be solving
3. System work: the repetitive parts a tool can carry
4. Founder work: the exceptions that need your judgement
5. Person work: what is left that needs a human owner
6. The decision: hire, delay or automate, with the reason

It sits inside Letting-Go Mentoring, next to the Step-Out Log and the Commitments-Kept Scorecard. The charter is written in a session and the first handover from it is reviewed in the next. It is structured coaching, not a done-for-you hiring service, and there is no separate checkout.

## The job ad, tested against a charter

In the session, Ivanka took the work the founder was about to hire for and ran it through four questions. What must this solve in the next 90 days? What must it solve over 18 months? Which parts are repetitive enough for a system? Which exceptions still need your judgement? Together they wrote a charter that split system work, founder work and the person-shaped work left over. Before the next session, the founder moved one repeatable task to a system.

### The questions

- What must this work solve in the next 90 days?
- What must it solve over 18 months?
- Which parts are repetitive enough for a system?
- Which exceptions still need your judgement?
- What is left that needs a person?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: The operations hire, before the ad goes out.
2. The numbers: 90 days and 18 months, written as problems.
3. The story: Why every past hire handed the exceptions back.
4. The commitment: One repeatable task moved to a system first.

Before the next session, the founder moved one repeatable task to a system, kept the judgement calls, and noted what still came back to them.

## A charter and a decision with a reason

By month 6, the founder can point to a written charter for the next role or system, a clear line between system work and founder exceptions, and a hiring or automation decision made for a stated reason.

**BEFORE**

- Job ads written from today’s tasks.
- Every hire inherited the exceptions.
- AI tools tried with no owner for the output.
- The founder stayed the exception handler.

**BY MONTH 6**

- A written charter for the next role or system.
- System work and founder work split on one page.
- A hire, delay or automate decision with its reason.
- Fewer exceptions landing on the founder.

The programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, one handover each fortnight, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.

## Define the work before you hire for it

Ivanka Menken built Letting-Go Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses who became the bottleneck. She asks what the work must solve, then keeps you to one handover at a time.
This fits if you are about to hire, or buy a tool, because every exception lands on you. It does not fit if you want someone to recruit for you. The decision in front of you is one charter. Write what the role must solve in 90 days before you write the ad.

> Helps founders lead with clarity and integrity by modelling vulnerability, emotional intelligence, and grounded decision-making. Creates an environment where leaders can openly explore challenges and grow without fear of judgement.
>
> R.W., founder

## Who fits, and who does not

### It fits

- You are about to make a first operations hire.
- You are weighing a hire against an AI tool or system.
- Every exception still lands on you.
- You will write the charter before the job ad.

### It does not fit

- You want a done-for-you hiring fix.
- You want open-ended coaching with no written commitments.
- You want a recruiter to find the person.
- You already have a defined role and only need applicants.

### Investment

**AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, 6 months.** The Role Charter Test is part of Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is not sold separately.

Included:

- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- One handover each fortnight
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6
- The Role Charter Test for each hire or automation call

Three founding places in total, shared across all 1:1 mentoring, are available at AUD $1,000/month ex GST, in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=role-charter-before-hiring)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=role-charter-before-hiring#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)

## Questions about Role Charter Test

### Should I hire or automate first?

Neither, until the charter is written. Define what the work must solve in 90 days and over 18 months, then sort it: repetitive work to a system, judgement to you, the rest to a person. The answer usually falls out of the page. Ivanka Menken works through it with you inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### What belongs in a role charter?

The problems the work must solve in the next 90 days, the problems it must still solve over 18 months, the work a system can carry, the exceptions that need your judgement, any person-shaped work left over, and the decision with its reason. Ivanka Menken writes it with you on one page inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### Which work should the founder keep?

The exceptions that need your judgement: pricing calls, a new kind of client, a decision with real money or reputation attached. Routine work and repeatable checks can move. The charter makes the line visible, so you keep what is yours on purpose. Ivanka Menken tests that line with you inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### How does the Role Charter Test fit inside Letting-Go Mentoring?

It is one of the tools Ivanka Menken uses inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. The charter is written in a session, the first handover from it goes on the Step-Out Log, and the next session reviews what came back. Each fortnight adds one handover. There is no separate fee or checkout for the tool.


## Write the charter before the ad

If you are about to hire or automate because every exception lands on you, start with Letting-Go Mentoring. The Role Charter Test is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the programme fits.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=role-charter-before-hiring)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=role-charter-before-hiring#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)
- [Decide what AI takes over first](https://ivankamenken.com/ai-handover-step-out-log)
- [Name the revenue that pays for a hire](https://ivankamenken.com/salary-cover-test)
- [An hourly VA against a salary and its on-costs](https://ivankamenken.com/va-cost-comparison)
- [Each wave of hires earns the next](https://ivankamenken.com/hire-in-waves-plan)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka