Our long-tenured Operations Director has been with us since we started, but as we expand to three new locations, he is drowning and failing the Capacity check for his seat. He has the core values and wants the role, but how do we handle this GWC™ issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having a long-tenured leader who is a perfect core values fit but lacks the capacity for their growing seat is one of the hardest situations an owner can face. In EOS® terms, this is a Right Person, Wrong Seat issue. He gets the seat and wants the seat, but the rapid scaling of the business has outpaced his physical or mental capacity to deliver results.

You cannot ignore this. Keeping him in a seat he cannot handle is unfair to him, destructive to his team, and a massive risk to your business operations. You must address this with absolute honesty and respect.

Start by having a transparent conversation outside of your regular meetings. Use the GWC™ tool to show him how the requirements of the seat have evolved with the expansion. Explain that the current seat now demands a level of multi-site operational management that is simply too much for one person under the current structure.

The solution is to find a seat where he can succeed. Look at your Accountability Chart and see if you can carve out a specialized seat that matches his unique abilities. For example, he might transition to a regional operations manager or a training director seat where his deep institutional knowledge is invaluable, but the overall strategic and administrative burden is removed.

If a suitable seat does not exist, you must help him transition out of the company with dignity. Keeping a good person in a seat where they are failing is not kind. Making the hard, right-seat call is essential for the health of your organization.