We have a department head who is a phenomenal culture fit and gets and wants his seat, but he lacks the technical capacity to run our new automated fulfillment system. He is working seventy hours a week to compensate but is failing. How do we handle this specific GWC capacity issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic Right Person, Wrong Seat situation. Your department head is a great culture fit, which means he shares your core values. He gets the seat and wants the seat, but he simply lacks the capacity to run the new system.

Capacity is not just about time. It is about emotional, physical, and mental capacity. If your department head is working seventy hours a week and still failing, he does not have the capacity to master the new technology and manage the department at the scale you need.

You cannot ignore this issue because a failing department head will drag down the entire team and impact your operational efficiency. You must address it directly. Start by having an open, honest conversation during your quarterly Check-in.

Since he is a Right Person, your goal should be to keep him in the company if possible. Look for a different seat on your Accountability Chart that fits his skills and capacity. This might mean moving him to a specialized individual contributor role where his industry knowledge is highly valuable but he is no longer responsible for running the entire department or the complex new systems. If no such seat exists, you must part ways.