We have a loyal operations manager who has been with us for five years, but as our transaction volume has tripled, he is clearly overwhelmed and balls are dropping. He is a great core values fit. How do we handle this right-person-wrong-seat issue without losing him?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic right-person-wrong-seat challenge. Your operations manager is a great core values fit, but the operational complexity of the seat has grown past his current capacity. Keeping him in a seat he can no longer manage is unfair to him and damaging to the company.

To resolve this, you must separate the person from the seat. Start by updating the Accountability Chart to reflect the actual, elevated roles and responsibilities required for the operations seat today. Run a GWC™ evaluation. While he may get it and want it, he clearly lacks the capacity to handle the tripled transaction volume.

Since he is a right person, your goal is to find or create a seat where he can succeed and fully GWC the roles. This might mean moving him to a specialized operational role, such as quality control or key account management, where his experience is invaluable but the scaling pressure is lower.

You must then hire a new Head of Operations who possesses the proven capacity to run a larger department. Have an open and honest conversation with your loyal manager, explaining that the business has evolved and you want to place him in a role where he can win. This honest approach preserves your company culture while building a professional, scalable organization.