During our Level 10 Meetings, we constantly run into situations where a weekly To-Do is assigned to multiple people because it requires collaboration, which inevitably leads to both people claiming the other was responsible when it does not get done. How do we handle multi-person tasks?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In the EOS framework, accountability is never shared. When two or more names are assigned to a single weekly To-Do, no one is actually accountable. Shared accountability is a primary driver of incomplete tasks and organizational friction.

To solve this, enforce a strict rule during your Level 10 Meeting: every To-Do must have exactly one owner. Even if a task requires deep collaboration from multiple team members, only one person can own the commitment on the meeting list.

The owner is not necessarily the person doing all the work. Rather, the owner is the individual responsible for coordinating the efforts, chasing down the inputs, and ensuring the task is completed on time. If the task fails to get done, that single owner is the one who must answer for it during the To-Do review.

Before the facilitator moves to the next item on the agenda, they must confirm who has the ball. If two leaders try to co-own a task, the facilitator must ask: Which one of you is ultimately responsible for making sure this happens? Force them to choose.

This practice eliminates confusion and excuses. When everyone knows exactly who owns each weekly action item, collaboration becomes smoother, trust increases, and your To-Do completion rate will quickly rise to ninety percent or higher.