Boss to Fred: Why haven’t you made deadlines? Fred to Boss: I’m still waiting for Mary’s input. Fred to Mary: You told me that after your trip to Chile, I would get your input. Mary to Fred: Finance did not sign off on my trip to Chile.

Interactions like the above are common. And unsynchronized communication in different time zones coupled with too many emails with cc’s and bcc’s have made buck passing and dodging into fine art. Simple issues that can be solved with the drop of a hat can take up to 80 or 90 emails to sort out.

There are several ways in which buck-passing and dodging can be mitigated, but they all have a price. Which reminds me that I recently took a trip to Namibia; I was advised to take anti-malaria pills with many possible side effects. Although I was reticent of these side effects, I was told, “Shevat, you don’t want to get malaria”. On the same note, I suggest to all my clients to deal with buck passing with a heavy hand because it can easily lend itself to everything getting stuck.

This having been said, here is the “prescription” for dealing with buck-passing.

1 Don’t put too much focus on roles and responsibilities. There is always lots of role overlap and complexity cannot be defined away. Focus on fostering cooperation, not on boundary clarity between roles.

2) For important issues, use WhatsApp ad hoc task groups to ensure that cc’s and bcc’s are avoided.

3) Hold meetings as soon as you notice buck passing. Lots of nonsense has been written about how wasteful meetings are, but there is no better way to nail down how things get done.

4) Call out buck passing. If organizations were to give buck passing 1/10th of the focus that is given to sexual harassment, buck passing could become far less prevalent.

5) Don’t optimize sub-systems; optimize mutual accommodation. In simple English, don’t play departments’ goals against one another, rather encourage them to achieve a shared goal.