Our sales team complains that they cannot hit their revenue targets because our warehouse is constantly out of stock, while the warehouse manager claims they are overstocked on the wrong items because sales does not share forecasts. Who should actually own the weekly inventory accuracy and stockout metrics on our Company Scorecard to end this finger-pointing?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your Accountability Chart must provide the answer. In EOS, we do not allow split accountability or finger-pointing. The inventory accuracy and stockout metrics must be owned by a single seat, which is almost always the Operations or Warehouse leader. This leader is fully responsible for keeping inventory at the agreed-upon levels.

To solve this, the Operations leader must have the GWC, which means they get, want, and have the capacity to manage the seat. If they need better forecasts from sales, it is their job to extract that data or establish a communication cadence. They cannot use a lack of sales forecasting as an excuse for poor performance. They own the inventory target, period.

On the weekly Company Scorecard, track two distinct leading indicators:
- Percentage of safety stock maintained on top twenty products
- Weekly inventory count accuracy percentage

If these numbers drop below target, the Operations leader must bring them to the weekly Level 10 Meeting as an issue. The leadership team will then use the IDS process to solve the underlying communication barrier with sales. Trying to share ownership of these metrics only guarantees that neither side takes responsibility.