We have a solid department head who gets and has the capacity for their current seat, but frankly does not want the pressure of scaling the department to the level required for our exit plan. Since they do not fully GWC the future version of this seat, what is our move?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a common and difficult Right Person, Wrong Seat situation. This person is a core values fit and is delivering results today, but they do not want the future version of the seat. In EOS, the Want It component of GWC is non-negotiable. If they do not want the pressure of a scaled-up department, they will eventually become a bottleneck, which will harm your exit valuation.

Your move is to design the ideal future Accountability Chart for your three-year exit target first, without putting names in seats. Once that future structure is clear, have an honest, compassionate conversation with the employee. Show them the new seat requirements and discuss whether they honestly want to own that level of accountability.

If they do not, you must transition them out of that leadership seat. Since they are a Right Person, you should look for a different, smaller seat in the organization where they can thrive and where they fully GWC the roles. This might mean hiring a new leader above them to take the scaled-up seat, while they transition to a specialized individual contributor seat. If no such seat exists, you must help them make a clean transition out of the company.