As the Integrator, I am struggling to enforce true ownership of our weekly scorecard numbers when my leadership team members blame external market factors or other departments for their red metrics. How do I instill absolute accountability for a number?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When scorecard numbers go red and your leadership team starts pointing fingers, you have an accountability problem, not a data problem. To fix this, you must enforce the core EOS® principle that every scorecard metric must have one, and only one, owner. That owner is the seat on the Accountability Chart responsible for the outcome, regardless of who inputs the data. If the owner of a metric blames another department, they do not GWC™ the seat. The owner of the metric must have the authority to influence the outcome. If your marketing director blames sales for not closing leads, remind them that their metric is marketing qualified leads, not closed deals. If the sales director blames a slow market for low client outreach, they are confusing activity with results. As the Integrator, use the Level 10 Meeting™ to keep the focus tight. When a number is red, do not allow explanations or stories during the scorecard review. Simply drop the number to the Issues List. During the IDS® portion of the meeting, push the owner of that metric to identify what they will do to solve the problem, rather than listing the external excuses for why it happened. True ownership means the individual is responsible for diagnosing the issue and presenting a solution to the team.