My VP of Operations has been with me for seven years and is a perfect culture fit, but as we have scaled past ten million, they are clearly drowning. They are working eighty hours a week just to keep up, their team is frustrated by execution delays, and they are resisting our transition to automated workflows. How do I objectively determine if they have hit their ceiling, and what steps do I take if they no longer GWC the seat?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the hardest challenges a founder faces. Loyalty to a long-term employee often blinds owners to the reality that the business has outgrown the individual. To handle this without letting emotion cloud your judgment, you must run an objective evaluation.

Start by assessing if they GWC the current, scaled-up seat. They clearly Want it, and they exhibit your core values, but do they have the Capacity? Capacity is not about effort or hours worked. In fact, working eighty hours a week is a clear sign of a capacity deficit, not a capability strength. They lack the mental and emotional capacity to design and lead a scaled operation.

Next, evaluate their Lead, Manage, and Accountability responsibilities. A leader who cannot scale will often micromanage, resist systemization, and fail to delegate. If they are blocking necessary operational changes, like adopting AI workflows, they are actively holding the company back.

Once you establish they do not GWC the seat, you must have a direct, professional conversation. You have two choices. You can either transition them to a different seat on the Accountability Chart where they do GWC the role and can thrive, or you must help them make a clean transition out of the company. Keeping them in a seat they cannot run is unfair to them, to their team, and to the future of the organization.