QUESTION 6: WHO MUST DO WHAT?

Although I just made it clear that executives must come to meetings without their departmental hats on and that they must be prepared to engage in achieving the thematic goal of the team regardless of their areas of expertise, at some point the leaders need to clearly and unambiguously stipulate what their respective responsibilities are when they go back to work to do their day jobs. The fact is, every organization of any size needs some division of labor, and that begins at the very top. Without clarity around that division of labor, the potential for politics and infighting, even among well-intentioned people, is great.

There is not a great deal to be said about this particular question, aside from warning leadership teams not to take it for granted. Although there is often clarity among executives in most organizations about who does what on the team, making assumptions about that clarity can lead to surprising and unnecessary problems.