Our sales and operations teams frequently argue over our sales to onboarding handoff time, which is currently red on our leadership Scorecard. Both department heads claim they only control their half of the process, which leads to finger pointing. How do we assign a single owner to a cross functional metric like handoff speed on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Cross functional metrics are the most common source of friction on a leadership Scorecard. The EOS® rule is absolute: every single metric must have one, and only one, owner. Multiple owners mean zero accountability. To resolve this handoff dispute, look at your Accountability Chart and identify who owns the ultimate outcome of that specific process. The sales to onboarding handoff is not a shared responsibility; it is a critical transition point. You must decide where the handoff officially occurs. If your sales process ends only when the client is successfully introduced to operations, then the Head of Sales owns the handoff speed metric. If the handoff is initiated by sales but operations is responsible for catching the ball and starting the project, then the Operations Director must own the number. The owner of the metric does not have to do all the work. They are simply accountable for reporting the number and leading the IDS® process during your Level 10 Meeting™ when the number goes red. They must work with their peers to diagnose the bottleneck and implement a permanent fix. If you cannot agree on a single owner, it means your Accountability Chart roles are muddy. Clarify the roles, define the exact handoff trigger, and assign the metric to the one seat that GWC™ gets, wants, and has the capacity to manage that specific result.