We are designing our Accountability Chart for a three-year exit, but my leadership team keeps fighting to protect their current titles and reporting lines. How do I force them to focus on the future structure of the business instead of their own personal kingdoms?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you build an Accountability Chart, you must design the structure first and worry about the people later. Your team is fighting because they are looking at the chart through the lens of their current jobs, their egos, and their perceived status. This is a common trap that will kill your enterprise value. Buyers do not care about your team's legacy titles. They care about a logical, scalable machine that operates smoothly without personality-driven workarounds.

To break this deadlock, you must take your current employees completely out of the equation. Gather your leadership team and pretend you are starting the business from scratch with zero employees. Ask yourselves what seats are absolutely necessary to run this organization at your target exit revenue. Define the five major roles and responsibilities for each seat without putting any names in them.

Once you have built this ideal future structure, only then do you look at your current people and assess whether they have the core values and GWC to fill those seats. This exercise shifts the focus from defending personal territory to building a high-value asset. If a legacy leader does not fit the future structure, you must address that gap honestly. Do not bend the organization to fit the people. Force the structure to serve the business goals, and then place the right people in the right seats. This is the only way to build a company that a buyer will actually want to acquire.