Our leadership team members are constantly stepping on each other's toes because our roles overlap, but they resist simplifying our Accountability Chart because they feel it shrinks their influence. How do we clean up these seats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When leadership team members resist role clarity because of ego or fear of losing influence, they are prioritizing their self-orientation over the health of the organization. This overlap creates massive operational inefficiency and slows down your ability to execute.

To clean up these seats, you must guide the team through a structured rebuilding of the Accountability Chart. Start by taking personalities completely out of the equation. Redraw the leadership seats from scratch, focusing solely on what the business needs to achieve its three-year picture, not on who currently sits in which chair.

For each seat, define the five major roles and responsibilities. Make sure there is zero overlap. Each role must have a single owner who is solely accountable for its outcomes. If two people are responsible for the same result, nobody is responsible.

Once the ideal structure is defined, map your existing people back into the seats using the GWC™ framework. If a leader feels their influence is shrinking because their seat has been simplified, remind them that a highly focused seat actually allows them to make a bigger impact. In EOS®, success is measured by results, not by how many departments you try to manage. If they still resist, they are failing to live your Core Values, and you must address this behavior directly.