Since we rolled out our Accountability Chart, our department heads have turned their five roles into defensive walls. Whenever someone is asked to help across teams, they claim that task is not in their five roles, and managers are treating the chart like a strict bureaucratic org chart. How do we kill this silo behavior?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An Accountability Chart is not an organizational chart, and it is never a job description shield to hide behind. An organizational chart outlines hierarchy, vanity titles, and who reports to whom. The EOS Accountability Chart clarifies who is obsessively accountable for specific business outcomes.

When leaders use their five core roles to say that is not my job, you have a Core Values failure and a fundamental misunderstanding of EOS principles.

The five roles under each seat define primary accountability, not exclusive activity. Accountability means you are the single neck on the line to ensure that outcome is achieved, whether by doing the work, automating it, or collaborating across departments. It does not mean you are forbidden from helping a colleague solve a company issue.

Address this behavior directly in your next quarterly session or Level 10 Meeting through IDS.

Review your Core Values. Healthy leadership teams share an enterprise mindset: the company wins or loses together. If a department head lets a project crash because helping fix it was not listed among their five roles, they are putting their ego and departmental silo ahead of the enterprise. That is a Right Person issue.

Make it explicit that every seat on the Accountability Chart carries an unwritten baseline responsibility: supporting the vision of the V/TO and executing cross-functional quarterly Rocks. If an issue requires cross-team effort, solve it through IDS in the Level 10 Meeting and assign clear to-dos. The Accountability Chart exists to eliminate confusion and speed up execution, not to build bureaucratic fiefdoms that strangle collaboration.