Our long-tenured VP of Engineering is an absolute core values fit and has the technical capacity, but they confess they no longer want the stress of managing a team and just want to write code. How do we handle this GWC issue without losing a key asset?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a long-tenured leader is a core values match and has the skill set but no longer wants the operational burden of leadership, you have a GWC™ issue with the Wants component. This is actually a common and manageable scenario, provided you act quickly and handle it with transparency. First, do not try to convince or guilt them into staying in the seat. If someone does not want the seat, they will eventually burn out, check out, or drag down the performance of their entire department. Instead, celebrate their honesty and look at your Accountability Chart with a clean slate. Your goal is to separate their technical expertise from their management responsibilities. You can create an individual contributor seat, such as Principal Architect or Senior Technical Fellow, that reports directly to the new department head. This new seat should focus entirely on high-level strategy, technical execution, and mentorship, while completely removing people management, budget tracking, and seat accountability duties. To execute this smoothly, use your dedicated Thinking Time to design the responsibilities of this new technical seat before you speak to the rest of the team. Make sure the compensation and reporting structure reflect the change without treating it as a demotion. Present this to the company as a strategic move to leverage their deep expertise where it matters most, while opening up room for a dedicated leader who truly wants to build and manage the team.