Our leadership team has designed five clean seats on the Accountability Chart, but we still have critical operational tasks falling through the cracks because people claim those tasks are not explicitly listed in their five key roles. How do we fix this without bloating the chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your Accountability Chart is not meant to be a micro managed list of every single task your business performs. It is a high level tool designed to define areas of accountability. If your team members are using their five roles as an excuse to avoid work, you have an ownership mindset issue, not a chart issue. To fix this, first ensure that the five roles listed for each seat are broad enough to capture the full scope of that seat's responsibility. For example, instead of listing specific reporting tasks, a role should be accurate financial reporting or operational delivery. Second, hold an IDS session with your leadership team to address these gaps. If specific, critical tasks are falling through, determine which seat naturally owns that outcome. The person in that seat does not have to do all the work themselves, but they are fully accountable for ensuring it gets done. Remind your team that being in a seat means owning the results, not just checking off a list of five bullet points. If tasks continue to fall through the cracks, you must run a GWC check to see if your leaders truly get and want the responsibility of owning their entire business function.