We have always prided ourselves on having a flat organizational structure, but now that we are mapping our Accountability Chart, our managers are resisting the Lead, Manage, and Accountability role. They claim that LMA is a waste of time and they should focus on their billable client work. How do we overcome this resistance?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A flat organizational structure is a euphemism for a lack of true accountability. When everyone is responsible for everything, no one is accountable for anything. Your managers are resisting the LMA role because they view leadership as an administrative burden rather than their primary responsibility. You must be clear: LMA is not a secondary task, it is the most important role for anyone sitting in a leadership seat on your Accountability Chart. If a manager is spending eighty percent of their time on billable client work and zero percent on leading, managing, and holding their team accountable, they are not a manager; they are a senior individual contributor. To resolve this, you must structurally adjust their seats. Redefine the capacity of their roles. If they must run LMA, you must reduce their billable client targets to give them the actual time to lead. Use your Level 10 Meetings to review their team metrics and Rock progress, demonstrating that their success is now measured by the output of their team, not just their personal production. If they refuse to embrace LMA, they do not GWC a management seat. Move them to a senior specialist seat where they can focus purely on execution, and put a true leader in the management seat.