My business partner and I have shared the leadership responsibilities equally for five years, but we are ready to scale and need to add a dedicated Integrator seat. We are struggling to decide which one of us should step down into a single department seat and how to manage that transition without causing a rift between us. What is the process?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Sharing the Integrator seat or running a co leadership model is a structural trap. There can only be one head on the operational body of the business. To resolve this, you and your partner must strip away your egos and look strictly at your natural wiring. Use a tool like the Kolbe Index to assess your conative strengths. Typically, one partner will score higher in Quick Start and lower in Follow Thru, making them a natural fit for the Visionary seat. The other partner may score higher in Follow Thru and Fact Finder, making them the natural Integrator. Once you have identified the right person for each seat, you must physically draw this on your Accountability Chart. The partner who is not the Integrator must step completely out of that operational seat. If that partner is going to run a department like Sales or Operations, they now report directly to their business partner who is the Integrator. This is the hardest part of the transition. You must establish clear rules of engagement. Agree that in public, the Integrator has the final say on all operational execution. Any disagreements must be handled privately in your Same Page Meetings. If you cannot make this shift, you will create a divided loyalty among your leadership team, which will sabotage your growth and ruin your chances of a clean exit.