Our leadership team has ballooned to ten people because we kept adding department heads to keep them in the loop, and now our Level 10 Meetings are slow and unproductive. How do we shrink the leadership team down to three to seven seats without causing a mutiny?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A ten-person leadership team is not a leadership team; it is an unwieldy committee. In the EOS model, a functional, healthy leadership team consists of three to seven seats. Beyond seven people, Level 10 Meetings lose traction, accountability diffuses, and deep problem-solving during IDS becomes nearly impossible because everyone feels obligated to weigh in.

Shrinking the room requires restructuring your Accountability Chart based on enterprise function, not individual ego. Start by defining the structure that the business actually needs to hit its three-year picture, completely ignoring the names currently in seats. A standard entrepreneurial business typically needs a Visionary, an Integrator, and leaders over Sales/Marketing, Operations, and Finance/Administration.

Once the lean structure is finalized, explain the change to the entire organization transparently. Communicate that the leadership team exists to run and grow the business, not to serve as a status club or information clearinghouse. Frame the shift around focus: leaders on the executive team carry the fiduciary burden of the entire enterprise, while department managers will now have more time to lead, manage, and hold their teams accountable.

Establish alternative communication channels to keep removed managers informed. Use departmental Level 10 Meetings and quarterly state-of-the-company meetings so nobody feels blindsided. Some managers will feel demoted, but if you handle the conversation with direct honesty, true leaders will understand. Anyone who throws a chronic tantrum about losing their title is revealing that their ego matters more than the company's health.