We have a leadership team member who perfectly embodies our core values and is incredibly popular, but they consistently fail to meet their department targets and do not possess the skills to scale. How do we handle a great cultural fit who is simply incompetent in their seat?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having a leadership team member who perfectly embodies your core values but lacks the technical competence to hit their targets is a painful position for any owner. Because they are highly popular and a great cultural fit, there is a natural temptation to make excuses for them and tolerate their poor performance.

However, keeping an incompetent person in a key leadership seat is a disservice to the rest of your team. It forces other executives to pick up the slack and creates a bottleneck that stalls your company's growth. You must address this issue by separating the person from the seat on your Accountability Chart.

Evaluate them using the GWC™ filter. They may have the core values fit, but do they GWC™ the specific requirements of their role? If they do not have the capacity to lead their department as you scale, you must make a change.

Because they are a great cultural fit, your first step should be to look for another seat in the organization where they can succeed. Is there a different role where their skills align perfectly, perhaps a specialized technical position or a client-facing seat? If no such seat exists, or if they refuse to step down from the leadership team, you must part ways with love and respect. Maintaining high standards of performance is essential for building a scalable business.