“So, Who Has the Ball Now?” – A Collaboration Disaster in the Making

There’s a phrase I’ve heard over and over again—in corporate meetings, startup stand-ups, and cross-functional projects:

📌 "So, who has the ball now?"
📌 "Where’s the ball now?"
📌 "So the ball is with X team, right?"
📌 "I don’t care, as long as the ball is with them."

At first, it seems like just another business metaphor, a harmless way to track responsibilities in a project. It’s commonly used in stakeholder management, cross-team projects, and even internal collaboration.

But here’s the problem: Every time this phrase is used, something is already broken.

When "The Ball" Becomes a Blame Game

The metaphor itself isn’t inherently bad. It’s meant to track ownership in complex projects. But more often than not, it signals something deeper:

❌ Shifting Responsibility – It’s not about moving the project forward, it’s about making sure it’s not your problem anymore.
❌ Avoidance Culture – It stops being about collaborating and starts being about who to hold accountable if things go wrong.
❌ Transactional Mindset – Collaboration is not a game of hot potato where you pass the problem and hope it lands on someone else.

When someone says, “Where’s the ball now?”, what they often mean is:
🔹 "This is no longer my issue."
🔹 "I’ve done my part, it’s on them now."
🔹 "Let’s just make sure the blame doesn’t land on me."

And that is the exact moment collaboration falls apart.

Collaboration ≠ Passing a Ball

When you collaborate, the worst thing you can do is treat the project like a relay race—where the goal is simply to pass the baton and run away.

True collaboration means:
✅ Shared responsibility – If something isn’t moving, you don’t just point fingers. You step in.
✅ Proactive ownership – Instead of just tracking where the ball is, you ensure progress continues.
✅ Collective accountability – It’s not about “me vs. them”; it’s about us getting it done together.

Imagine you’re in a high-stakes product launch with multiple teams involved. Marketing needs input from Product. Product needs buy-in from Engineering. Engineering needs final approvals from Compliance.

A transactional mindset would sound like this:
❌ "Well, Marketing has the ball, so we just wait for them."
❌ "It’s not on us anymore, we handed it over to Compliance."
❌ "If it gets delayed, that’s on Engineering, not us."

A collaborative mindset sounds like this:
✅ "Marketing is working on the next step, but let’s check if they need anything from us to move faster."
✅ "Compliance is reviewing it, let’s proactively prep answers for potential blockers."
✅ "We all want this launch to succeed—what else can we do to keep it on track?"

See the difference?

How to Fix This Collaboration Disaster

If you hear “So, who has the ball now?” too often in your workplace, it’s time to shift the culture from transactional to collaborative.

💡 1. Replace “Who Has the Ball?” with “How Can We Move Forward?”
Instead of focusing on whose turn it is, ask:
🔹 “What do we need to move this forward?”
🔹 “Who can support this step?”
🔹 “Are there blockers we can clear now?”

💡 2. Redefine Ownership as Shared, Not Passed
Ownership isn’t about who is holding the ball—it’s about who is ensuring progress. Encourage teams to:
✅ Follow up proactively instead of waiting.
✅ Offer support instead of just tracking status.
✅ View projects as a collective effort rather than a series of handoffs.

💡 3. Stop Using “The Ball” as an Escape Plan
If your company treats projects like a game of tag, where the goal is to get rid of the responsibility as fast as possible, you need to call it out. Ask:
🔹 “Are we tracking ownership, or are we avoiding responsibility?”
🔹 “Does everyone feel accountable for the outcome, or just their part?”
🔹 “Are we passing work, or actually collaborating?”

Final Thoughts: The Real Role of Collaboration

Collaboration isn’t about who’s holding the ball—it’s about who’s making sure the team wins the game.

✔ If your team constantly asks, “Who has the ball now?”, it’s a red flag.
✔ If people are more concerned about blame than progress, the culture needs fixing.
✔ If a project is truly collaborative, no one is waiting on someone else—they’re actively pushing together.

So next time you hear, “Who has the ball now?”, pause.

Ask instead:

👉 “How do we keep this moving?”
👉 “What support is needed?”
👉 “What’s our shared responsibility here?”

Because real collaboration isn’t about tracking ownership—it’s about ensuring success, together.