As we build our Accountability Chart, we realize a loyal legacy employee who helped us build the company does not GWC their new, scaled-up seat. How do we handle this transition without destroying morale?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the hardest challenges an owner faces, but keeping a loyal employee in a seat they cannot GWC is actually a form of disloyalty. It causes them immense conative stress and holds the business back. To handle this with respect, separate the person from the seat. Use the People Analyzer to evaluate them. If they share your core values, they belong in your company, just not in that specific seat. Sit down with them for a caring, candid conversation. Explain that as the company has scaled, the demands of the seat have outgrown their natural strengths, and keeping them there is setting them up to fail. Look at your Accountability Chart to see if there is another seat where they do GWC and can thrive. If a suitable seat does not exist, you must help them make a clean, dignified transition out of the business. Treat them generously with a strong severance package and transition support. Morale is preserved when your team sees you treat people with absolute respect, but it is destroyed when you allow underperformance to linger out of fear.