We have several critical numbers on our weekly Scorecard that require inputs from multiple departments to execute successfully. How do we assign single ownership of these cross-departmental metrics on our Accountability Chart without causing resentment among our leadership team?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

On a healthy leadership team, there is no such thing as shared ownership of a metric. When two or more people are responsible for a weekly Scorecard number, nobody is actually responsible. To solve this, you must look at your Accountability Chart and identify the one seat that has ultimate authority over the final outcome.

Even if a metric requires effort from both marketing and sales, only one seat can own the number on the Scorecard. For example, if the metric is new customer contracts, the sales leader owns it. If the marketing team fails to deliver the necessary leads, the sales leader does not point fingers. Instead, they raise the lead volume issue as an obstacle during the Level 10 Meeting so the team can solve it together.

The owner of the number is not chess-playing the entire operation or doing all the work. They are simply the person who reports the number, explains why it went red, and brings it to the table for IDS. If a leadership team member resists owning a cross-departmental number, they do not GWC the seat. You must clearly define the boundaries of each seat on your Accountability Chart and ensure every leader is comfortable being the single point of accountability for their specific metrics.