Our lead technician has held their seat for six years and has stellar performance, but they flatly refuse to document their processes. They say they are too busy doing the work. How do we address this on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic Right Seat, Wrong Person dilemma disguised as a productivity problem. On a healthy Accountability Chart, every single seat has a fundamental, unspoken role: to document and systemize the processes within that seat.

If your lead technician is refusing to document their work, they are failing a core requirement of their seat. By keeping their processes locked in their head, they are holding your business hostage. If they get hit by a bus or walk out the door, your operations grind to a halt. This is a massive risk that destroys business value, especially if you are preparing for a clean exit.

You must address this in your next one-on-one meeting. Use the GWC™ framework. Explain that the capacity to do the job includes the capacity to document it so the business can scale. It is not an optional extra.

Make process documentation a specific quarterly Rock for them. If they lack the time, look at their workload. Can you delegate some of their lower-value tasks to a junior seat to free up the capacity? If they have the time but simply refuse to do it, you have a core values or GWC™ issue. You cannot afford to have irreplaceable seats. If they will not document their process, you must start looking for someone who will.