We are a fast-growing agency, and our lead strategist is currently holding three separate seats: Creative Director, Account Director, and Lead Copywriter. She claims she can handle it all, but her work quality is slipping and she is dropping balls. How do we use the Accountability Chart to visually prove she is over-allocated and force her to delegate?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is common in early-stage companies for high performers to hold multiple seats on the Accountability Chart. However, as you scale, this becomes a major bottleneck. Your lead strategist may have the talent to do all three roles, but she does not have the capacity. Time is a finite resource. When one person holds three major seats, they are setting themselves up for burnout and dragging down the business.

To address this objectively and without sentimentality, use your Accountability Chart as a mirror. During your next leadership meeting, map out each of the three seats separately. List the five core roles under each seat, along with the weekly measurables that each seat must deliver.

Next, run a GWC evaluation on her for all three seats. She likely passes the Get It and Want It for all of them, but she clearly fails the Capacity portion because of the sheer volume of work. Show her the chart and explain that by holding onto all three seats, she is preventing each function from reaching its full potential.

Ask her a high-value question framed for solutions: how might we transition two of these seats to others so that you can focus entirely on where you deliver the greatest value?

Use this visual proof to create a delegation plan. Keep her name in the seat where her unique ability lies, such as Creative Director, and make it a priority to hire or promote others into the Account Director and Lead Copywriter seats. This is the only way to scale your agency operations.