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 due to finger-pointing. One leader claims they could not finish the task because they were waiting on information or action from another department head. This creates a gray area of shared responsibility, leading to delays and missed objectives.

To solve this, you must strictly enforce the EOS rule of single accountability during your Level 10 Meetings.

• 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. This means they are accountable for ensuring it gets done, even if it requires input from others.
• If a task requires input from another department, the assigned owner must proactively drive the collaboration. They need to communicate, follow up, and get what they need from their counterparts. This promotes stronger leadership and communication skills across the team, which is vital for any Integrator's success. Learn more about assessing leadership readiness in an internal candidate by checking out [promoting internal Operations Manager to the Integrator seat](/qa/promoting-internal-operations-manager-integrator).
• If the other department head fails to deliver, the task owner must drop this to the short-term [Issues List](/qa/using-accountability-chart-to-stop-blame-in-ids) before the meeting, rather than waiting to use it as an excuse during the To-Do review. This ensures that problems are brought to the team's attention promptly for collective problem-solving.

By assigning only one name to each To-Do, you eliminate the ambiguity 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. This disciplined approach to accountability is a hallmark of effective [Level 10 Meetings](/qa/should-integrator-facilitate-level-10-meetings).

Related questions

• [When an issue is dropped to IDS, my leadership team immediately starts pointing fingers at other departments rather than taking ownership. How do we use the Accountability Chart to stop the blame game during meetings?](/qa/using-accountability-chart-to-stop-blame-in-ids)
• [How do we review our weekly scorecard in under five minutes?](/qa/how-to-review-scorecard-under-five-minutes)
• [Should our Integrator facilitate the Level 10 Meeting?](/qa/should-integrator-facilitate-level-10-meetings)
• [My leadership team seems more concerned with protecting their departments and checking off boxes than looking at the big picture of the business. How do we shift their mindset to enterprise-first?](/qa/shifting-leadership-mindset-to-enterprise-first)