We have metrics that span multiple departments, like overall customer onboarding time, and our leaders are arguing over who actually owns the metric on the Scorecard. How do we assign a single owner when multiple seats impact the outcome?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a metric depends on multiple departments, leadership teams often fall into the trap of committee ownership. On your EOS Accountability Chart, every seat must have absolute clarity on what they own. If a metric like customer onboarding time spans sales, operations, and customer success, you cannot have three owners. You must assign the metric to the single seat that is ultimately accountable for the entire process.

For example, if the customer onboarding experience crosses departments, the Integrator must determine which seat has the authority to change the system. Usually, this is the Operations Leader. While sales enters the data and customer success manages the relationship, operations controls the workflow. The Operations Leader owns the overall onboarding time metric on the leadership Scorecard. The other departments will have supporting sub-metrics on their departmental scorecards.

If you struggle to assign a single owner, use the GWC tool. Ask which leader truly gets, wants, and has the capacity to manage the system that produces the number. That person owns the number. When the metric goes red, that owner does not take personal blame. Instead, they lead the IDS session during your Level 10 Meeting to solve the root cause. This structure eliminates finger-pointing and ensures that cross-functional bottlenecks are addressed systematically rather than ignored.