Our Head of Client Relations has been with us for eight years and is a perfect culture fit, but they completely lack the analytical capacity to manage our new data-driven retention metrics. If they fail the GWC check for this updated seat, how do we transition them without losing our biggest clients?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is a painful but necessary realization: the people who helped you get to where you are today are not always the people who can take you to the next level. When preparing for a clean exit, buyers will scrutinize your leadership team's ability to manage by metrics.

If your Head of Client Relations is a perfect culture fit but fails the GWC™ check for their updated, data-driven seat, you cannot leave them there. Keeping someone in a seat they do not GWC™ will lead to operational drag, missed targets, and ultimately, a lower valuation.

However, because they are a culture fit, you should make every effort to find them a right seat. This means looking at your Accountability Chart and identifying or creating a seat that utilizes their deep client relationships without requiring them to manage complex analytical metrics.

For instance, you might move them into a Senior Relationship Manager seat, where their sole focus is client retention and relationship building. This seat would report to a new, data-driven Head of Client Success who does GWC™ the analytical requirements of the leadership role. This move preserves their institutional knowledge and customer goodwill while ensuring your leadership team has the analytical capability required to scale.