We have grown from a single location to five regional offices, and my head of operations is completely drowning in the logistical complexity of managing remote teams. They are a great culture fit, but they are clearly at their ceiling. How do we handle this without causing them to quit?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a business grows, the seats on your Accountability Chart must grow with it. A common mistake is assuming that because someone successfully ran operations at five million dollars, they can automatically run it at twenty million. The operational complexity of managing remote regional teams requires a completely different level of systemic thinking.

To handle this without losing a valued culture fit, you must first run an objective GWC™ assessment on their current, expanded seat. Ask yourself if they truly Get, Want, and have the Capacity for this larger role. If they do not have the capacity for the new scale, keeping them there is setting them up to fail.

The solution is to separate the person from the seat. Have an honest conversation based on the Accountability Chart. Show them how the role has evolved and explain that the current seat is outgrowing their capacity. Explore creating a new, more focused seat that fits their strengths, such as regional quality control or training, while bringing in an experienced operational leader to own the larger executive seat. This preserves their dignity and keeps their valuable institutional knowledge in the business.