As our company expanded, we organically ended up with two separate customer account management seats across different divisions, creating territorial disputes. How do we collapse duplicate operational seats on our Accountability Chart into single-point accountability?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Duplicate seats are the natural result of reactive, unmanaged growth. When you allow multiple divisions to build their own siloed versions of the same function, you guarantee inconsistent client experiences, duplicated software expenses, and internal warfare over resources.

EOS requires single-point accountability. Two people cannot own the same outcome. To fix this, you must collapse those parallel seats into one consolidated seat on your Accountability Chart.

Here is how to execute the consolidation:
- Redesign the chart above the division level. Create one singular seat, such as Director of Account Management, that reports directly to your Integrator or VP of Operations. Define its five core roles to cover the entire enterprise.
- Underneath that unified leadership seat, you can create focused sub-seats for specific customer tiers or industry verticals. Those sub-seats are tactical execution roles, not independent leadership seats.
- Evaluate the two existing department heads using GWC. Determine which leader has the capacity to run the unified, company-wide seat. Name that person into the box.
- Offer the second leader an honest choice: they can take one of the specialized sub-seats underneath the unified leader, or they can transition out of the organization.

Do not compromise by creating a co-leadership structure or dividing the seat across imaginary territorial boundaries to keep both egos intact. A future buyer looks for clear, scalable systems with clean reporting lines, not political compromises between legacy managers. Rip the band-aid off and establish one owner.