My head of operations insists that because her coordinator inputs the weekly data, the coordinator should own the metric. How do we separate data collection from actual accountability?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

There is a critical difference between who inputs a number and who owns the number. The person who owns the metric on the Scorecard is the leader who is accountable for the result, not the administrative assistant who pulls the report and types it in. If your head of operations has a coordinator input the weekly customer satisfaction score, the head of operations still owns that row on the leadership Scorecard. If that number goes red, she is the one who must explain the variance and lead the problem-solving during the IDS portion of the Level 10 Meeting. She cannot point to the coordinator and blame them for a bad week. To ensure this is clear, use the Accountability Chart. Every metric on your Scorecard must map directly to a specific seat on the chart. The person in that seat must GWC the metric. They must understand why the metric matters, want the accountability for hitting it, and have the capacity to drive the operational activities that influence it. The coordinator is simply performing a task; the leader is owning the outcome.