Our department leaders want to assign their junior managers as owners on the leadership Scorecard for operational measurables. Can someone who does not sit on the leadership team own a number on the weekly leadership Scorecard?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Every measurable on the leadership team Scorecard must be owned by an individual who sits in a seat on the leadership team Accountability Chart. Delegating ownership of leadership Scorecard numbers to mid-level managers or frontline supervisors breaks the fundamental structure of executive accountability.

Your leadership team is responsible for the overall execution and health of the business. If the head of operations tries to list a project manager as the owner of weekly billable realization, operations is abdicating accountability. The project manager can own that number on a departmental scorecard within operations, but on the leadership Scorecard, the operations leader owns the outcome.

During your weekly Level 10 Meeting, you cannot have five different department heads pointing to absent middle managers when a number is red. The person sitting at the table must answer for the metric. They do not have to perform every single task that drives the number, but they are solely responsible for ensuring the system works and the target is hit.

When a measurable drops below target, the leadership seat owner is the one who says drop it down to the Issues List. They own the root cause analysis, they lead the IDS process, and they bring the solution. If a leadership team member cannot stand behind a metric on the Scorecard, they do not truly own their seat on the Accountability Chart.