Discover the Shocking Cost of Confused Accountabilities on Team Performance
At the consultancy Perly Fullerton, six people sat around the table, each feeling stretched and busy, yet no one felt clear about what they truly owned. When they completed the Function Accountability Chart, a pattern emerged: their own initials filled multiple boxes (with some functions, like marketing, left unclaimed). They realized hiring more people in the past hadn't solved their confusion—everyone still defaulted big issues to the founders.
After a candid, sometimes uncomfortable discussion, Perly narrowed down each main responsibility to a single accountable person. The COO’s natural drive found a better outlet than firefighting; the visionary embraced strategy over re-learning payroll. Slowly, stress eased, decision bottlenecks dissolved—and, as a side effect, they were able to add new business units without chaos.
Management science supports this: teams thrive when each member knows what they own, why it matters, and how they’ll be measured. Without single-point accountability, functions slip through the cracks—it’s the classic “everybody, somebody, anybody, and nobody” problem.
Picture every key responsibility in your work or project and assign a single, courageous owner to each one. Clarify the daily actions that will move each area forward, establish the right measures, and spread the workload so nobody’s drowning. This deliberate clarity not only reduces drama and mistakes but also empowers your team to step up, knowing exactly what success looks like for their part. Give yourself an hour to map things out and start seeing the difference in your next project cycle.
What You'll Achieve
You’ll experience less confusion, smoother coordination, and faster issue resolution. Internally, team members feel more secure and less overwhelmed; externally, projects stop stalling and team performance becomes much easier to assess and improve.
Clarify Who Owns What, No Exceptions
Complete a Function Accountability Chart.
List every function in your business, from marketing to finance to product, then assign one and only one person who is primarily accountable for each function. If a box is blank or has more than one name, that's a red flag.
Define key metrics for each function.
Choose 1–2 leading indicators (not just outcomes) for every function—what day-to-day activity predicts success? For example, for sales, it might be 'number of calls made.'
Spread accountability evenly across your leadership team.
Check if one name appears in too many boxes, or if some boxes are empty—this leads to burnout or blind spots. Adjust roles or hire as needed.
Reflection Questions
- Are there responsibilities in your organization no one really owns?
- Who ends up overloaded—does one person wear too many hats?
- How can single-point accountability be clarified in your daily work?
- What could your team achieve if every function had a true owner?
Personalization Tips
- In a school club, assign one person to track attendance and one to book meeting rooms—no overlaps, no confusion.
- At home, decide who’s responsible for paying each household bill and who tracks grocery needs.
- In a volunteer team, be sure each fundraising event has a single named 'owner' backed by clear expectations.
Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0 Revised Edition)
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