Whenever we review our Accountability Chart, my leadership team tries to modify the seats and roles to fit the personalities and comfort levels of our current people rather than designing the organization for growth. How do we force them to put the business first?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Designing seats around people rather than the needs of the business is a fatal mistake that guarantees operational bottlenecks. When you modify your Accountability Chart to keep specific individuals comfortable, you compromise the integrity of your entire organization and signal that personal feelings outweigh business success.

To correct this, you must adopt an objective, seat-first mindset. When we run Accountability Chart exercises, I instruct teams to completely forget about the people currently in the company. Start with a blank whiteboard. Your only goal is to design the absolute best structure to take the company to the next level over the next twelve months.

Map out the necessary seats and define the five major roles for each seat. Only after the structure is completely finalized do you look at your people and determine if they GWC™ those seats. If a long-term leader does not fit the new seat, you must have the courage to address the gap.

This approach requires your leadership team to show vulnerability and put their egos aside. Remind them that the Accountability Chart is not a tool for personal status; it is the blueprint for the company's growth. When everyone agrees that the health of the organization comes first, you can make the hard, necessary decisions to place the right people in the right seats.