I am a classic Visionary running the company, and I am completely bottlenecked. How do I know if I need to hire a true Integrator™ or if my current leadership team just needs to step up and run their own departments better?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To diagnose whether you need a true Integrator or simply need to elevate your existing leaders, you must look at the nature of your operational friction.

If your department heads are constantly coming to you for daily direction, failing to hit their department-level goals, and requiring you to micromanage their execution, you have a leadership capability problem. Your department heads are not owning their seats on the Accountability Chart. Adding an Integrator to this mix will not solve the underlying issue; it will just insert a highly paid buffer between you and a weak team.

However, if your department heads are highly capable, hit their Rocks, and manage their teams effectively, but the company still feels chaotic because there is no central force aligning sales, operations, and finance, you have an Integrator gap. A classic Visionary is great at generating big ideas but terrible at harmonizing daily execution. If you find yourself constantly playing referee between strong department heads, or if strategic decisions are stalling because you lack the patience for detailed execution, you need an Integrator.

Before making a hiring decision, run a Kolbe A Index assessment on yourself and your team. If you are a high Quick Start who excels at risk and ideation but struggles with Follow Thru, you need an Integrator with opposite conative strengths to run the daily execution. This frees you up to focus on big-picture strategy and high-level relationships, which maximizes your company value.