We need to restructure our organization to support our aggressive growth targets, but every time we look at the Accountability Chart, we get stuck trying to preserve roles for loyal, long-term employees who might not fit the new structure. How do we design the future of our business without causing a massive internal revolt?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Designing an Accountability Chart to support rapid growth requires you to look at the business objectively, detached from the people currently in the seats. The golden rule of the Accountability Chart is that you must design the structure first, and then place the people. Start by looking out twelve months. Forget about your current employees, their titles, and their tenure. Define the key functions and the five major roles required for each seat to achieve your growth targets. Only when the empty structure is fully built and agreed upon do you begin to evaluate your people. Use the GWC™ framework to evaluate each individual. Ask if they get it, want it, and have the capacity to do the job. If a loyal, long-term employee does not fit the new, elevated seat, you must have an honest, caring conversation. You may need to create a different seat where they can excel, or help them transition out of the business. Keeping someone in a seat they cannot fulfill out of loyalty is unfair to them and damaging to the company. To build a highly scalable, exit-ready operation, structural integrity must always come before personal comfort.