One of our directors has great core values and wants their role, but as our headcount and complexity have surged, they consistently drop deliverables and miss Rocks. How do we address this Capacity issue objectively?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You address it using the People Analyzer and the GWC tool, specifically isolating the C, which represents Capacity. Capacity is not about willingness or effort. It encompasses mental capacity, emotional capacity, time capacity, and technological capacity to do the job at the current and future scale of the company.

Start by reviewing the seat definition on the Accountability Chart. Review the five major roles defined for that seat. Sit down with the director in a private quarterly check-in. Point out the specific operational breakdowns: missed Rocks, overdue Scorecard measurables, and bottlenecks in their department. Make it clear that while their values and intent are unquestioned, the seat has expanded past their current capacity.

Ask them directly where the breakdown is occurring. In many cases, leaders who hit their ceiling are miserable because they spend all week firefighting. Determine whether the capacity gap can be solved through training, better delegation, or AI tools that automate their manual workflows.

If the seat requires managing forty people and systems architecture that they simply cannot conceptualize, no amount of coaching will fix the gap. You must give them thirty days to demonstrate they can command the seat at its current scope. If they cannot, you must step them down to an individual contributor seat where their skills shine, or help them transition out of the business cleanly. Leaving an overwhelmed leader in place punishes their team and stunts the company.