Our team has settled into a comfortable eighty percent weekly to-do completion rate, and when I bring up the ninety percent standard, they argue that ninety percent is an arbitrary academic target that does not fit our dynamic operational reality. How do I break through this resistance and make them see that eighty percent is actually a failing grade?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An eighty percent completion rate means your team is consistently failing to deliver on one out of every five commitments they make to each other. Over a year, that is dozens of critical tasks left undone. When your team argues that ninety percent is an arbitrary standard, they are rationalizing a culture of low accountability. You must shift their perspective from viewing to-dos as a wishlist to viewing them as absolute promises.

To break this resistance, start by tracking the individual completion rates of each leader. Bring the data to your next Level 10 Meeting™ and look at the trend over the last eight weeks. If the team average is eighty percent, identify who is dragging the average down.

During the to-do review step, enforce a strict rule: if a to-do is not done, it is either done or not done. No explanations are allowed. If a leader has a recurring pattern of incomplete tasks, drop their name to the Issues List.

In the IDS® portion, address the root cause of their low completion rate. Ask them:
- Are you over-committing because you cannot say no?
- Are you failing to delegate to your direct reports according to your Accountability Chart?
- Are you prioritizing daily firefighting over the commitments you made to this leadership team?

By treating any score below ninety percent as an operational red flag rather than a minor slip, you force the team to take their commitments seriously. Achieving the ninety percent standard is not about academic perfection. It is about building a predictable, execution-focused business that can run smoothly when you eventually prepare for a clean exit.