Our lead customer support representative has been a loyal, culture-fit employee for four years and desperately wants the newly created Director of Customer Success seat. She gets the seat and wants the seat, but we are highly doubtful she has the cognitive capacity to manage the complex data analysis and strategic reporting required. How do we make this GWC call without losing a valued employee?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The capacity to do the job is a non-negotiable requirement of the GWC™ tool. When evaluating an employee for a promotion, you must separate your appreciation for their loyalty and core values alignment from their actual ability to succeed in a more complex, strategic seat.

Capacity does not just mean having enough hours in the day. It refers to the mental, emotional, and cognitive capability to handle the pressures, decision-making, and strategic demands of the seat. If the new Director of Customer Success seat requires advanced data analysis, forecasting, and team leadership, and your candidate has only ever handled transactional customer service, she likely lacks the capacity to succeed today.

Promoting a loyal employee into a seat they cannot GWC™ is a disservice to them and the company. They will eventually burn out, make costly mistakes, and fail, which often forces you to fire them.

Instead, have a candid, loving conversation. Explain the specific, advanced requirements of the new seat and where you see the gap. Explore other career paths within the company that match their current capacity, or offer targeted professional development if you believe the capacity can be built over time. Protecting your people means keeping them in seats where they can win, not setting them up for a public failure.