We did a GWC review and realized our loyal Head of HR does not have the capacity for our future three year scale. We offered her a newly created, smaller recruiting seat to keep her in the company, but she feels insulted and is toxic in our meetings. How do we handle this Right Person Right Seat breakdown?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a long-term employee fails the capacity check for their scaling seat but rejects a smaller role, you are facing a critical Right Person Right Seat decision. It is common to want to protect loyal staff by creating custom seats, but if their attitude becomes toxic, they are now failing your core values as well. This toxicity will quickly poison your team culture and undermine your leadership.

You must have a candid, face-to-face conversation. Explain that the company is scaling, and the requirements of the Head of HR seat have outgrown their current capacity. Emphasize that your offer for the recruiting seat was made out of genuine respect for their strengths and a desire to keep them on the journey. However, make it clear that their current behavior and negative attitude in meetings do not align with your core values and cannot be tolerated.

Give them a clear choice: they can either embrace the new seat with a positive attitude and fully commit to helping the team succeed, or they must exit the company. If they cannot accept the transition with grace and align with your core values, you must assist them in making a clean departure. Keeping a resentful employee in the business will only destroy team morale and stall your growth.