Our long-tenured VP of Marketing gets and wants her seat, but as we prepare for an exit, the seat now requires managing complex multi-channel AI marketing attribution which she lacks the capacity to execute. How do we use the Accountability Chart to downsize her seat or split it without offending her?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a long-tenured leader fails the GWC™ check because of a lack of capacity, it is a tough pill to swallow. She fits your core values and wants to succeed, but the seat has outgrown her technical abilities. To handle this, you must separate the person from the seat and design the structure that the business needs to hit its exit goals.

Look at your Accountability Chart and redefine the marketing seat to include the modern capabilities required for a successful transition. Once you have defined the ideal seat, assess her against it. If she lacks the capacity to manage complex AI marketing attribution, you cannot leave her in that seat. You have two choices: split the seat or move her to a different one.

If you split the seat, you can create a new technical role, such as a Marketing Operations and Analytics seat, while keeping her in a Brand Strategy and Content seat. This allows her to focus on what she does best while you bring in a specialist or leverage automated tools to handle the technical data tracking. Both seats must have clearly defined roles on your chart with no overlapping accountabilities.

Sit down with her and explain that the business has scaled to a point where the marketing department requires two distinct areas of focus. Present this as a strategic restructuring to support company growth, not as a personal failure. By using the Accountability Chart as your objective guide, you keep the conversation focused on organizational design rather than personal performance.