One of our department heads consistently hovers around sixty percent To-Do completion but always has a polished, highly logical excuse ready. How do we shut down the excuse-making and force individual accountability without triggering defensiveness?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In a healthy EOS company, a ninety percent To-Do completion rate is the non-negotiable standard. When a leader consistently fails to meet this expectation but always has an excuse, you do not have an operational problem. You have an accountability problem.

Excuses shift focus away from individual ownership. To correct this behavior during your Level 10 Meeting, you must address the gap directly during the To-Do review. Do not accept a long narrative about why a task is incomplete.

If a To-Do is not done, it is simply not done. The facilitator must ask if it will be done by next week. If it is missed two weeks in a row, it must immediately be dropped to the issues list for a deeper discussion.

During the IDS portion, do not focus on the technical details of the task. Instead, focus on the leader's GWC, meaning do they get, want, and have the capacity to manage their seat.

Often, consistent failure to complete weekly tasks means the leader is overloaded, disorganized, or lacks the skills to execute. By dropping it to the issues list, you can solve the root cause of the delay rather than listening to weekly excuses. You are helping them succeed by resetting expectations and clearing their bottlenecks.