My brother-in-law is our Head of Customer Support, but he is clearly not the right person for the seat and is dragging down our team's performance. How do I make this tough right-person-right-seat call without causing a permanent rift in my family?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Mixing family and business is incredibly difficult, but allowing an underperforming relative to stay in a critical seat will destroy your leadership team's respect for you. It signals that relationships matter more than performance and core values.

To handle this professionally, you must use the objective tools of the EOS® system to remove emotion from the decision.

First, run your brother-in-law through the People Analyzer. Evaluate him against your core values. Then, evaluate him against the GWC™ framework for the Head of Customer Support seat. Does he truly Get the seat? Does he Want it? Does he have the physical, mental, and emotional Capacity to do it?

If he does not GWC™ the seat, he is in the wrong seat. He may be a right person, meaning he shares your core values, but he is in the wrong seat.

Next, have a direct, loving conversation. Sit down with him outside of the office. Frame the discussion around the objective data from the People Analyzer. Explain that the requirements of the seat have outgrown his current capacity, and it is not fair to him or the team to keep him in a role where he cannot succeed.

Offer a clear choice. If there is another seat in the company where he does GWC™ and fits the core values, transition him there. If not, help him transition out of the business with dignity and generous support. By keeping the conversation grounded in the needs of the Accountability Chart, you protect both your business and your family dynamic.