Accountability gaps kill companies

The 10 Critical Leadership Decisions Checklist

Which decisions should you own, delegate, or remove? This framework prevents the accountability gaps that kill companies. Map every critical decision to the right leader.

Critical decisions

Matrix

Accountability tool

Team

Alignment included

-60%

Leadership gaps

Used by scaling tech companies

Leadership team exercise included

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The 4 Decision Categories

Every critical leadership decision falls into one of these categories. Know which ones to own, delegate, align, or model.

Strategic Decisions (Own)

Company vision and long-term direction
Major resource allocation and budget priorities
Key hiring and organizational structure changes

Operational Decisions (Delegate)

Day-to-day process improvements
Individual team member task assignments
Tool and vendor selection within budget

Cross-Functional Decisions (Align)

Inter-department priority conflicts
Customer escalation ownership
Product roadmap trade-offs and sequencing

Cultural Decisions (Model)

Values enforcement and boundary setting
Performance management standards
Communication cadence and transparency

Why This Matters Now

As companies scale from 20 to 100+ employees, the decisions that used to be made by founders need to be distributed. But without a clear accountability framework, two things happen: decisions fall through the cracks, or too many people try to own the same decision.

Signs of accountability gaps

• Decision paralysis: Teams wait for approval that never comes
• Duplicate efforts: Multiple leaders work on the same problem
• Blame culture: Nobody owns the outcome when things go wrong

This checklist helps leadership teams audit their decision-making structure and close the gaps before they become cultural problems. Run it as a 90-minute team exercise to align on who owns what.

Need Help Building Accountability?

The checklist identifies the gaps. Our Leadership Development service helps you build the systems, habits, and culture that make accountability automatic.