My Director of Customer Success is a heroic problem-solver, but they refuse to document processes or build a department playbook because they believe their job requires pure intuition. How do I get them to scale their seat?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Your director is suffering from the hero trap. They believe their personal magic is the only thing keeping customers happy. This is not intuition; it is a defense mechanism disguised as artistry. It keeps them indispensable but guarantees they cannot scale, and it will eventually burn them and their team out. To fix this, you must redefine what success looks like in their Accountability Chart seat. Right now, they believe their job is to solve client crises. You need to make them understand that their job is to build a system that solves client crises. If they do not build the system, they are failing in their seat. Start by assessing their conative makeup using the Kolbe A Index. If they are a high Quick Start and low Follow Through, they will naturally resist documentation and system-building. They literally do not have the instinct to organize information. Do not expect them to sit down and write a hundred-page playbook. Instead, pair them with a high Follow Through team member or an executive assistant who can interview them, shadow them, and document the processes for them. Your director provides the raw expertise, while the partner builds the system. Alternatively, they can record short videos explaining how they handle specific scenarios and have someone else transcribe and codify them. Hold them accountable to this during your weekly Level 10 Meeting. Make the creation of the playbook a major Rock for the quarter. If they cannot or will not participate in this process, they do not GWC the seat at your company's next level of scale.