Fixing the handovers that keep work stuck

Updated 17 October 2026

When several departments report that they have completed their part, the customer may still be waiting. Each team can be right about its own task while nobody is accountable for the unfinished outcome.

A reorganisation may be necessary where authority, incentives or capacity are fundamentally wrong. Before taking that step, examine how work crosses the current boundaries. A specific handover is easier to diagnose than an organisation-wide complaint about silos.

Follow one outcome through the business

Choose an outcome that matters commercially, such as opening a customer account or bringing a new service into operation. Map the actual path using recent cases. Record where work waited, what information was missing and why it returned to an earlier team.

Include informal steps. A process map that ends at an official approval may miss the days spent finding the person willing to give it. Speak with the staff receiving the work as well as those sending it.

Use evidence appropriate to the process. Timestamps, returned submissions and outstanding cases can help distinguish a recurring bottleneck from a memorable exception.

Agree what makes a handover complete

Consider an illustrative product launch. Commercial staff regard the proposition as finished when the price is approved. Operations cannot prepare until service requirements are agreed. Technology is waiting for those requirements, while sales has already discussed a launch date with customers.

The immediate task is to agree what a complete launch proposal contains and who accepts it for the next stage. The receiving team should know what it is expected to do, by when and with which resources.

Define how exceptions are handled. If incomplete work repeatedly moves forward because a deadline is close, the formal process will soon become irrelevant. Leadership needs visibility of the resulting risk and someone authorised to resolve it.

Make the tradeoff explicit

Cross-functional work competes with departmental commitments. Assigning an outcome owner helps only if that person can obtain decisions about priorities and resources.

When two executives disagree, state the options and business consequences. Escalate to the person who has authority over the tradeoff. Avoid creating a coordination forum that can discuss the issue indefinitely but cannot resolve it.

Check incentives as well. If one team is rewarded for the volume of work sent downstream and another bears the cost of correcting it, the handover problem may be built into the targets.

Test a repair before changing the structure

Trial a revised handover on a defined workload. Measure total elapsed time, returns for missing information and the quality of the final outcome. Check whether the change shifts delay or effort elsewhere.

Use the results to decide whether clearer responsibilities are enough or whether a deeper structural change is justified. Set a review date so a temporary coordination meeting does not become a permanent addition by default.

Keep a temporary coordinating role only while it resolves a clear need. If handovers still fail after the trial, leadership has stronger evidence for reconsidering authority or structure.