Our legacy sales director has been with us since the beginning, but as we target larger enterprise clients and try to automate our pipeline, they are failing to lead the team and instead just trying to close deals themselves. How do we address this inability to scale?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a legacy leader cannot scale, you must address the situation immediately using your core values and the GWC tool. Your sales director may have been excellent when you were smaller, but the seat has changed. Scaling enterprise sales and implementing AI-driven pipelines require a different capacity. First, clearly separate the person from the seat. Look at your Accountability Chart and define what the sales leader seat requires today. Does the current director Get It, Want It, and have the Capacity to Do It? If they are sliding back into personal selling because they lack the capacity to build systems and manage teams, they do not GWC the seat. Second, run them through your core values, specifically looking at Grow or Die. A leader who resists new technology and scalable systems is violating this core value. You must have a candid, face-to-face conversation. Use the tools from the Owner's Box Charter to lay out the performance gap. Give them thirty days to adjust, but if they cannot or will not scale, you must move them. You can either transition them to a senior individual contributor seat where their personal selling skills are valuable, or help them transition out of the company. Keeping them in a seat they cannot fill will only stall your growth and frustrate your team.