We have a department head who is great at their job but consistently misses their weekly Scorecard targets because of resource constraints. How do we use the Accountability Chart to determine whether this is a capacity issue or an individual performance problem?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a manager consistently misses Scorecard targets but claims it is due to a lack of resources, you must use your Accountability Chart to diagnose the issue. First, evaluate the manager against the GWC of their seat. Do they truly get it, want it, and have the capacity to do it? Capacity is not just about time, it is also about mental and emotional bandwidth. If they GWC the seat, then look at the structure of the seat itself. Often, fast-growing companies pile too many responsibilities onto a single seat, making it impossible to hit the targets. Use the five roles defined on the Accountability Chart for that seat to analyze where the bottleneck is occurring. If the seat is overloaded, you must delegate or elevate. This might mean spinning off a new seat or outsourcing administrative tasks to free up their capacity. However, if the seat structure is correct and other team members in similar roles are succeeding, then it is an individual performance issue. The Accountability Chart helps you separate structural issues from people issues, so you do not make the mistake of firing a great employee when the real problem is a broken organizational design.