An impossible arrangement
Someone owns an outcome but cannot influence its resources, priorities or dependencies. Other functions can delay the work, yet nobody can settle the trade-off. More meetings keep the situation moving without resolving it.
Capable people need a workable relationship between what they are responsible for and what they can decide.
When legitimate responsibilities collide
Consider a migration where Operations owns the date, Technology controls specialist capacity and a control function must approve exceptions. Each has legitimate responsibilities. The programme stalls if nobody can resolve the conflict.
Asking one person to take more accountability will not create the authority they lack. The arrangement around the work needs attention.
Give decisions somewhere to land
A useful escalation reaches someone who can settle the issue. If it only produces another round of alignment, the original constraint remains.
The test is practical: can teams act within understood boundaries, and do decisions hold once they are made? Clearer governance should be visible in the work.