A few of our legacy employees do not sit on the leadership team, yet they still hold massive informal influence and frequently bypass our new leadership structure to get things approved. How do we break up this shadow hierarchy?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A shadow hierarchy bypasses your formal Accountability Chart and completely undermines your leadership team's authority. When legacy employees can end-run around your leaders to get approvals directly from the owner, it signals to the entire company that your official structure is meaningless. You must stop this behavior immediately, starting with your own actions. If a legacy employee comes to you for a decision or an approval, you must refuse to answer. Redirect them directly to the leader who owns that seat on the Accountability Chart. Next, call a Same Page meeting with your leadership team. Reaffirm that they have full ownership and accountability for their seats. They cannot be held accountable for their department Rocks and Scorecard numbers if they are constantly being bypassed. Finally, sit down with the legacy employees who are bypassing the system. Use your company Charter to explain the importance of structure and one voice. Be direct: the way the company operated five years ago is not the way it can operate today if we want to scale and prepare for an exit. If they refuse to respect the Accountability Chart and continue to undermine your leadership team, their behavior is a violation of your Core Values, and they must be transitioned out of the business.