We have weekly To-Dos that require cross-departmental cooperation, and they keep getting stuck because one department head claims they are waiting on another. How do we assign accountability for joint To-Dos during the Level 10?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When weekly To-Dos require cross-departmental cooperation, they frequently get stuck because of finger-pointing. One leader claims they could not finish the task because they were waiting on information or action from another department head. To solve this, you must strictly enforce the EOS rule of single accountability. Every To-Do on your weekly list can have only one name assigned to it. There is no such thing as a shared To-Do. The person whose name is on the task is entirely responsible for its completion, regardless of dependencies. If a task requires input from another department, the assigned owner must proactively drive the collaboration. If the other department head fails to deliver, the task owner must drop this to the short-term Issues List before the meeting, rather than waiting to use it as an excuse during the review. By assigning only one name to each To-Do, you eliminate the gray area of shared responsibility. This forces leaders to communicate and collaborate outside of the meeting, ensuring that tasks are completed on time and the team maintains its ninety percent completion standard.