My Integrator is constantly assigning Level 10 Meeting To-Dos directly to other department heads instead of letting them volunteer or define their own action items, which has killed our leaders' ownership of the outcomes. How do we fix this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an Integrator hands out tasks like a manager assigning chores to children, they are operating in a leader-follower model. This kills initiative and accountability. It turns your department heads into passive order-takers who feel zero ownership over the success of the To-Dos, leading to missed deadlines and weak execution.

To fix this, you must transition to a leader-leader model during your Level 10 Meeting™.

During the IDS® portion of the meeting, once the team has identified the root cause of an issue and agreed on the solution, the Integrator should not assign the task. Instead, the Integrator must ask the room, who has the accountability to make this happen, and what is the specific action item?

The department head who owns the relevant seat on the Accountability Chart must step up and define their own To-Do. They should say, I will take that, and the action item is to update the client onboarding template by next Tuesday.

This subtle shift is incredibly powerful. When a leader states their own action item and commits to it in front of their peers, they are owning the outcome.

The Integrator's role is not to delegate tasks, but to ensure that the defined To-Do is clear, actionable, has a single owner, and can be realistically completed within one week. If your department heads are sitting in silence waiting to be assigned tasks, your Integrator must wait them out. Let the silence be uncomfortable until someone steps up to own the solution.