During our initial Accountability Chart exercise, we realized our long-term customer service director is a perfect culture fit but simply does not have the capacity to lead the department as we scale. How do we make the hard GWC call during our implementation without destroying team morale?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

One of the hardest parts of an EOS® implementation is realizing that a loyal, long-term employee who perfectly shares your core values does not have the capacity to succeed in their current seat. As your company scales, the seats on your Accountability Chart™ must grow, and sometimes they grow faster than your people can adapt.

To address this, you must apply the GWC™ framework with absolute honesty. Ask three questions about the leader in their current seat: do they get it, do they want it, and do they have the capacity to do it?

If the answer to capacity is no, you must take action. Keeping a well-liked person in a seat they cannot handle is unfair to them, frustrating for their peers, and damaging to the business. It stalls your operational execution and reduces your company's value.

First, explore if there is another seat on the Accountability Chart™ where they can succeed. Since they fit your core values, you want to keep them in the organization if possible. Perhaps they can transition from a leadership role to an individual contributor seat where their deep process knowledge is highly valuable.

Second, if no such seat exists, you must help them transition out of the company. Do this with extreme care and generosity, respecting their loyalty.

Never compromise on GWC™ to avoid a difficult conversation. A clean exit and a scalable business require every seat on your Accountability Chart™ to be filled by someone who is both a core values fit and exceptionally good at their job.