We are promoting our internal Operations Director to our first official Integrator seat, but they are struggling to step out of their tactical day-to-day duties, which is causing our team to bypass them and come straight to me. How do we establish their new authority on the Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When promoting an internal leader to the Integrator seat, you must ensure a clean break from their previous operational duties. Trying to run daily operations while simultaneously managing tactical logistics is a recipe for burn out and confusion. If the team keeps bypassing the new Integrator to come to you, it means you have not clearly established the new structure on your Accountability Chart.

First, redraw your Accountability Chart to show the new Integrator at the top of the operating structure. Ensure their previous seat is left blank or filled by someone else who GWC's it. You cannot have one person sitting in both the Integrator seat and a major departmental seat long-term if you want to scale.

Second, you must change your own behavior. As the owner, you must actively redirect anyone who comes to you back to the new Integrator. Say, that is an Integrator decision, have you talked to them? If you continue to answer their questions or make decisions for them, you undermine the seat and ruin your chance of achieving an exit-ready organization. Clear boundaries on the Accountability Chart are essential for success.