Our customer support lead is a major culture fit and has been with us for ten years, but she lacks the analytical capacity to run the newly structured Customer Success and AI-Onboarding seat. How do we make this Right Seat call on our Accountability Chart when we want to keep her in the company?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Keeping a loyal, high-culture employee in a seat they can no longer handle is a form of ruinous empathy. It hurts the business, frustrates the rest of the team, and ultimately sets that employee up to fail. As your company modernizes to prepare for an exit, some seats will naturally outgrow the people currently holding them.

If your customer support lead has been with us for a decade but fails the GWC test for your modernized Customer Success and AI-Onboarding seat, you must make a Right Seat call. However, this does not mean you have to fire her.

First, validate that she is indeed a Right Person: she scores a consistent plus on your People Analyzer and lives your core values. If she is a great culture fit, your goal should be to find her a Right Seat within the organization where she can succeed.

Look at your Accountability Chart for other seats that require her high empathy and institutional knowledge, but do not require the advanced technical or analytical capacity of the new role. This might be a customer advocacy, training, or account management seat.

If a suitable seat exists and she GWC's it, move her there. If no such seat exists, you must have an honest, compassionate conversation about her transition out of the company. Keeping her in a seat where she is constantly failing will only destroy her confidence and hold your business back.