We evaluated our customer delivery manager using GWC and determined he gets it and wants it, but lacks the capacity for this seat. Since he is 100 percent a core values fit, how do we determine whether to find him another seat on the Accountability Chart or part ways?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an employee passes your Core Values test with flying colors and possesses the G (Gets It) and W (Wants It), but fails C (Capacity), you are dealing with a classic Right Person, Wrong Seat scenario. Before you decide to reassign or terminate, run a rigorous assessment against your business reality.

First, determine if the capacity deficit is fixable within ninety days. Capacity includes time, emotional bandwidth, knowledge, and physical energy. If the gap is a specific technical skill or workflow mastery, targeted coaching, mentorship, or training can bridge it. However, if the gap is raw cognitive capability, strategic leadership, or the emotional resilience needed to manage large teams, no amount of training will solve it.

Second, look at your Accountability Chart for genuine structural vacancies. Never invent a seat for a person. That creates structural clutter and confusion across the organization. The seat must already be identified as necessary for your business to hit its numbers, with five clear roles and distinct measurable outcomes.

Third, verify that placing this person into a different seat will not cause resentment among their future peers or direct reports. If you move them from a management seat into an individual contributor seat, they must take the change in title and compensation without becoming a toxic presence in the office.

If a real seat exists where they have total GWC and fit the budget, make the transfer with clear expectations. If no such seat exists, you must part ways. Keeping a right person in an invented seat wastes payroll and holds both your company and that individual back from finding an environment where they can genuinely succeed.