Who owns the work behind the numbers you rely on?
If a report arrives each month but you still supply the explanation, make the decision and chase the next step, start by finding out what is missing: a reliable process, a person’s capability, enough capacity or the authority to act.
This milestone gives you a shared starting point. Define the three functional responsibilities, review the work and people separately, discuss expectations and choose what needs attention first. Include the responsibilities you hold yourself.
Connect three functions to one company plan
The CFO leads finance. Reliable reporting, the three-statement model, budget, forecast and cash visibility help the company understand its choices. Accounting supplies the foundation; financial leadership connects the information to decisions.
The CRO leads revenue. Strategy, the customer journey, acquisition economics, retention and a supported forecast need to work together. Closing a sale is one contribution to that larger responsibility.
The COO leads delivery. Capacity, quality, operating measures and margin by line explain whether the business can deliver what it sells at the economics the plan requires.
The CEO brings these views into one company plan. Ownership sets the goals and reserved decisions. One person can hold several roles, and a role can use internal staff, a fractional leader and specialist support. The work needs clear responsibility even when the titles differ.
Revenue less delivery costs produces gross profit. Cash also depends on collections, inventory, investment, financing and other commitments. Cash flow is not the bottom line of the income statement. Use the connected financial statements to see those effects.
Ask separate questions about the system and the person
The seat description defines the job. The Functional OS Assessment examines the business’s systems and practices. The Leadership Readiness Assessment examines what a particular person can demonstrate in that role.
There are three function assessments and three person assessments. Each has 27 items scored from 0 to 3, totaling up to 81 when fully assessed. The readiness sections cover technical readiness, strategic capacity and ownership readiness. Each full item has its own descriptions and evidence requirements. A one-page score sheet records the result; it cannot replace those criteria.
Keep dates, scope, edition, reviewer and supporting work with the ratings. Unreviewed items remain unresolved. An empty role is a vacancy to cover, not a fictional person who scored zero.
In a hypothetical revenue review, the manager can close important deals but cannot support next quarter’s forecast. Missing renewal records are a system gap. Difficulty interpreting complete records may require development. Responsibility without permission to act needs a clearer agreement. More than one can be true.
Neither total identifies the cause by itself. Examine the evidence, the person’s opportunity to practice and the support provided before deciding what to change.
Prepare your responsibility review
Put a Name on Every Number makes the current arrangement visible on one page. Set out five rows: owner/board, CEO, CFO, CRO and COO. For each, record:
- Who does it today? Include your name, supporting people and providers. Mark an unknown as Unconfirmed and assign the next check. Keep proposed appointments in the future plan.
- Scope, authority and support. Explain what each person produces, what they may decide, what requires approval and who helps.
- Current evidence and open questions. Link a dated role agreement, report, assessment or actual decision. State what the evidence does and does not establish.
- Next conversation or decision. Name the subject, person responsible and intended date. Afterward, record who participated, what was agreed and what remains open.
Add the next review and the person maintaining the record. The Member tool is a static one-page PDF with an editable PowerPoint version. You can begin in your existing notes now. Filling the sheet prepares a discussion; actual agreement and use have their own requirements.
Discuss the responsibility with the people carrying it
Open the role description together. Compare the work you expect with the work the person believes they own. Clarify measures, decision boundaries, support and how the function connects to the CEO and other leaders.
If you have been changing direction or taking back delegated work, include that in the conversation. The business implications of your goals help the leader make decisions; your entire private financial record need not be shared.
Choose a supported response: clarify authority, repair a process, develop a capability, add capacity or continue an arrangement that works. State why, who will act and when the result will be reviewed. A low score alone does not choose the next hire.
Use each tool for a distinct part of the work
| Tool | What it produces |
|---|---|
| Put a Name on Every Number | A concise current responsibility record and the next discussion. |
| Three seat descriptions and company agreements | The role’s expected outcomes, decision authority and support. |
| Three Functional OS Assessments | Dated findings about finance, revenue and operations, using actual records. |
| Three Leadership Readiness Assessments | Separate findings about the people carrying those responsibilities. |
| Function Roadmaps | A supported system improvement with responsibility and review. Personal development remains separate. |
Modules 4–6 teach the financial, revenue and operating capabilities those people maintain. Use unfinished work as an honest starting point. You do not need to pretend the systems are perfect before discussing responsibility.
What completion looks like
All three functions have named responsibility, separate supported assessments, an actual expectations discussion and a decision with a next review. A compulsory hire, perfect diagnostic scores and an extra three-month wait are not requirements.
Open the seven completion requirements
1. Connect the responsibilities to the company plan
Reflect: Which current goals and company decisions should finance, revenue and operations support? How does the CEO bring the three together?
What to do: Open the current ownership goals, written Value Growth Plan and company plan. Name the periods and any open assumptions; explain the contribution expected from each function.
Complete when: A clear connection from the existing company direction to each role. No second strategy document is required.
2. Name who covers the work now
Reflect: Who is accountable for each function today? What can they decide, who supports them and what remains uncovered?
What to do: Identify the people carrying finance, revenue and operations, including you. Record responsibilities, decision boundaries, supporting staff/providers and material gaps. For a vacancy, name who covers the work now.
Complete when: Current responsibility, authority and support for all three functions are explicit; uncertainty that affects the arrangement remains visible.
3. Assess the three functions from actual work
Reflect: What records show that each function works, and what is missing? Can another reviewer follow each rating?
What to do: Review the three full Functional OS Assessments using their item descriptions and evidence periods. Record the actual evidence, rating and reason for every item. Mark inaccessible or unreviewed evidence as such.
Complete when: Dated, supported assessments of all three functions. Low ratings are valid findings; an unfinished review is not a complete /81 score.
4. Assess the actual people separately
Reflect: What can each person demonstrate within the authority and support they actually have? Is the difficulty personal capability, a missing system or an unclear mandate?
What to do: Review Leadership Readiness for the actual people carrying or being evaluated for each function. Include yourself where relevant. Use decisions, explanations and follow-through; do not rate an imaginary future hire or turn a vacant seat into a zero-rated person.
Complete when: Dated, evidence-based person findings for the three functional responsibilities, separate from function findings.
5. Discuss and confirm the expectations
Reflect: Do the people carrying the work agree on the responsibility, measures, authority and support? What remains unresolved?
What to do: Have the expectations discussion with the CEO and relevant people. If you hold a role, discuss its boundaries with the other people doing the work. Record the participants, actual date, agreements and unresolved differences.
Complete when: The discussion has occurred and current expectations have been confirmed. A private score sheet or future invitation is preparation.
6. Choose a supported first leadership action
Reflect: Which gap matters most to the company plan, and why? What response fits the evidence?
What to do: Choose an actual priority or supported continuation decision. Record the reasoning, immediate action, person responsible and next review. Consider direction, process repair, development, capacity or qualified support.
Complete when: An evidenced decision and next review. The lowest total alone is not a hiring rule; continuing a suitable arrangement needs a reason too.
7. Maintain the responsibility and review
Reflect: Who keeps these records current? When will the CEO review the function and return the right decisions to ownership?
What to do: Name the maintainer, next functional review and relevant quarterly/annual reassessments. Connect the records to the established company meetings and departmental follow-through.
Complete when: Accessible current records with continuing responsibility and scheduled review. No extra three-month wait or compulsory hire is added.
Review the milestone-specific 0–3 score and evidence test
0, Not Started. You have not begun defining and reviewing responsibility for the three functions. Titles or informal expectations are the main guide. Evidence that has not been reviewed is not automatically a zero.
1, Learning. You can explain the three functional responsibilities, how the CEO connects them to ownership direction, and why the function and the person are assessed separately. You have not begun a supported assessment and responsibility review.
2, In Progress. You have begun naming responsibilities, reviewing the assessments or discussing expectations, but one or more of the seven requirements remains incomplete. Completed private assessments with conversations still pending are preparation, not an installed shared arrangement.
3, Installed. All three functions have named current responsibility and defined authority and support. The functions and the actual people have been assessed separately with sufficient evidence, current expectations have been discussed and confirmed, and a supported leadership priority or continuation decision has an owner and next review. The current records are accessible in the Playbook, with the continuing review responsibilities and dates clear. The owner may still hold a seat; the functions and people may still need development.
Verification test: Open the current role records, function and person assessments, the expectations conversation and the next-action record. For each function, show who covers it, what they are responsible for, the evidence behind the two assessments and what happens next. Show one actual decision the review informed and where it will be revisited. Another reviewer should be able to follow the reasoning from the records, with the owner explaining any gaps or disagreement.
Use suitable existing work. Record each requirement as complete, incomplete or not reviewed, with its evidence and date. You choose the saved score; keep owner, peer, coach and AI assessments separate. Missing access remains unreviewed rather than automatically zero. Preserve prior reviews and identify the next action, responsible person and review date.
Keep the agreements in use
Keep role agreements and assessments in Your Leadership Team, financial evidence in The Numbers, and dated conversations and decisions in The Rhythm of your Owner’s Playbook. Restrict personal assessment details to the people who need them.
Check commitments monthly. Revisit relevant assessments and priorities quarterly and during annual planning, or sooner when responsibility, authority, a person or a material assumption changes. The CEO connects the agreed work to departments and returns the results to ownership.
Explore the responsibility behind each title
- 508. The 3 Functional Leaders, with Ryan and Kim: connect ownership, the CEO and the three functions. Use current written criteria when scoring.
- 438. What a Great CFO Actually Does, with Pat Hobby: connect accurate books with useful financial decisions.
- 480. What a CRO Does to Create Predictable Revenue, with Kim Clark: bring the complete revenue system under clear responsibility.
- Functional Seat: define the work before choosing the staffing arrangement.
Choose your next step
Review the wider system. Use the Ownership Assessment to consider this work beside your goals and the other milestones. Choose a useful priority from the evidence.
Bring the plan together with support. The 90-Day Boardroom Blueprint connects ownership direction, the financial foundation and decisions in a first usable Playbook. You can explore help directly; taking the Assessment is not a purchase prerequisite.
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