Our senior project manager completely gets, wants, and has the capacity for her seat, and she hits her delivery deadlines, but she flatly refuses to follow our documented operational processes and uses her own ad-hoc systems. Is this an Accountability Chart seat issue or a core values issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is both a core values issue and a failure to fulfill the basic requirements of an Accountability Chart seat. Leaders often hesitate to address this behavior because the person hits deadlines and seems to possess full GWC for their seat. However, hitting individual targets through rogue methods creates hidden chaos. When a manager runs personal spreadsheets and ad-hoc systems, they create severe key-person risk, block cross-training, prevent accurate company scorecards, and make scalable delegation impossible.

First, look at the defined roles in that person's seat on the Accountability Chart. Every seat must include accountability for executing the company core processes. If following the documented Way of doing business is one of the five core roles of the seat, she is failing at her seat accountabilities regardless of her raw talent.

Second, evaluate her against your core values using the People Analyzer. If your core values include teamwork, discipline, or consistency, running a rogue operation fails the People Analyzer test.

Bring the issue to your next Level 10 Meeting or address it directly in a quarterly conversation. Lay out the reality: passing GWC means having the capacity and willingness to execute within the company operating model, not just producing standalone results. Give her a clear thirty-day timeline to migrate her work into the official systems. If she refuses to follow the documented system, she is not the Right Person in the Right Seat.