Keeping business units accountable

One of the challenges of moving activities out of the business units and into a Shared Service Organization (SSO) is that the business units sometimes lose a sense of accountability.  They decide that they want to "wash their hands" of the processes since another group is handling them.  The truth is that business units need to manage the relationship with the SSO using many of the same techniques they would use with an outside service provider.  Of course, the relationship isn't exactly the same but many of the same principles apply.

So, what should business units do to stay accountable to the process?

1. Establish clear expectations up front,
2. Particpate in the governance framework,
3. Monitor performance based on expectations,
4. Provide timely and accurate feedback on performance,
5. Partner in continuous improvement initiatives.I

In future posts I'll discuss each of these points in greater detail.