Our loyal Director of Customer Service gets and wants her seat, but as we scale, her capacity is failing because she struggles to manage our team of thirty agents. How do we handle this GWC™ capacity issue on our Accountability Chart without letting her go?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a common challenge for growing companies. Your Director of Customer Service is the right person because she fits your core values, and she gets and wants the seat. However, she lacks the capacity to manage thirty agents as you scale toward an exit. You cannot ignore a capacity issue on your Accountability Chart. Doing so will burn out your leader and hurt your customer retention metrics, which damages your valuation. First, run the GWC exercise honestly with her. Explain that while she excels at the customer service strategy, the sheer volume of direct reports exceeds her current capacity. Frame this as a structural problem, not a personal failure. Next, look at your Accountability Chart and redesign the customer service department. Do not just keep adding names under her box. Instead, split the department by creating two Team Lead seats that report directly to her. This structural change reduces her direct reports from thirty to two, giving her the mental and operational capacity to run the seat effectively. If she still lacks the capacity to manage the strategic aspects of the department even with this reduced load, you must find a different seat where she fully GWCs the roles, or bring in an external leader above her. Protecting a long-term employee at the expense of your business structure will ultimately hurt both.