Our client retention rate is dropping rapidly, and the leadership team is locked in an emotional debate about whether our Client Success Director is the wrong person for the seat, or if the seat itself is poorly structured. How do we use a disciplined approach to diagnose this objectively?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When performance slips, leadership teams often default to emotional finger-pointing. To solve this permanently, you must separate structure from people. You need to allocate dedicated Thinking Time to diagnose the root cause without bias.

First, look only at the structure of the Client Success seat on your Accountability Chart. Ignore the person currently sitting in it. Review the five core roles defined for that seat. Are they realistic? Does the seat have the necessary authority to deliver on those roles? If the roles are poorly defined or overloaded, the structure is the problem.

Second, if the structure is sound, evaluate the person using the GWC tool and your Core Values filter. Does the director truly understand the role? Do they genuinely want it? Do they have the intellectual, emotional, and physical capacity to deliver?

If they pass the GWC test and align with your Core Values, look at your systems. They might be fighting bad processes or lack the proper tools. If they fail the GWC test, you have a right-person-wrong-seat issue that must be addressed immediately. By systematically analyzing structure first and people second, you remove the emotion and make a clean, logical decision.