One of our executive team members consistently fails to complete their quarterly Rocks and misses measurables on our Scorecard, but insists they are working sixty hours a week. How do we determine if they genuinely GWC their seat?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an executive on your leadership team is consistently missing their quarterly Rocks and Scorecard measurables, their default defense is often how hard they are working. They work sixty hours a week, respond to emails at midnight, and feel burned out. However, activity is not achievement. In a mature business, effort without traction is an indicator of poor execution or the wrong person in the seat.

When someone is drowning in effort but failing to produce results, evaluate them through the GWC™ framework. The issue is almost always a lack of Getting it or Capacity.

A leader who does not Get the seat cannot distinguish between urgent noise and strategic priorities. They spend hours putting out operational brushfires that should be delegated or eliminated, rather than executing their primary roles on the Accountability Chart.

A leader who lacks Capacity may simply lack the organizational skill, delegation ability, or executive discipline to operate at your current scale. Working eighty hours to produce mediocre results indicates they are managing tasks instead of leading people and building scalable processes.

Use your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ and quarterly check-ins to confront the issue candidly. Review their five roles on the Accountability Chart. Help them delegate non-essential work through the Delegate and Elevate™ tool. If they delegate and focus on their core responsibilities but still fail to hit their numbers, you must accept that the seat has exceeded their capabilities. Compassionate leadership requires putting someone in the seat who can produce results in normal hours.