We have a manager who claims he wants his seat and works incredibly hard, but he repeatedly fails to anticipate obvious operational issues. We are debating if he truly "Gets" the seat. How do we objectively diagnose if someone lacks the intellectual or intuitive grasp of their role?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The G in GWC stands for Getting It. This is the hardest of the three filters to define because it is not about effort or hours worked. It is about natural, innate ability and neural wiring. When someone gets their seat, they intuitively understand the flow of the role, the pace, and how their decisions impact the rest of the organization.

To diagnose this objectively, you must look at their ability to anticipate and solve problems without being told what to do. If a manager constantly reacts to the same operational crises over and over, they do not get the systems side of their seat. If they struggle to connect the dots between their actions and your clients' experience, they do not get the customer side of their seat.

Ask yourself: Do they naturally feel the heartbeat of this department? If you have to explain basic, foundational concepts of their role repeatedly, or if they lack the instinct to look around corners and proactively mitigate risks, they fail the Get It filter.

Do not confuse their passion or work ethic with Getting It. A person can work eighty hours a week and bleed your core values, but still completely lack the intuitive grasp required to lead that specific function. If they do not get it, no amount of training or coaching will change their natural cognitive wiring. You must move them out of that seat.