Have you ever had someone say to you, “Oh, I thought you were going to do that”? Unfortunately, it is not an uncommon statement, whether it be at home, school, or work.

The past five blogs have each addressed one of the “Six Critical Questions” Patrick Lencioni explores in his book, The Advantage. If the process is followed, the team will have spent valuable time defining their purpose, values, products and services, strategic anchors, and the urgent items that must be done now. All of this will be for naught if it is not clear, “Who must do what?”

In many businesses, the organizational chart may seem like an adequate description of the functional responsibilities of the leader of a particular division or department. But, as most of us have seen, there may be overlap of some responsibilities and two members of the team may assume they will be doing the task/work/project that has just been described (or worse, one assumes the “other guy” was going to do it).

This lack of clarity and accountability leads to inefficiencies, frustrations, and a breakdown of trust and communication. It is imperative for the Leadership Team to clearly define the expectations and accountability for “Who must do what?”

Many times, it will also be reasonable to add a second accountability of “By when?”, so everyone is clear on the expectations of timeframe and their responsibilities.

In your business, organization, church, home, or school, “Who must do what, by when?”