Our Operations seat has grown so large that the current seat holder is working eighty hours a week just to keep up with both physical logistics and digital system automation. How do we logically split this overloaded seat on our Accountability Chart without creating communication gaps?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a seat holder is working eighty hours a week, you have a capacity issue. This is a clear signal that the seat has grown too large and must be split.

To split the seat, do not just hire an assistant. That only creates more confusion. Instead, schedule a Thinking Time session to map out the work. Look at the five roles currently listed under the Operations seat and analyze where the bottleneck is occurring.

In this case, the bottleneck is the division between physical logistics and digital system automation. These require completely different conative strengths. Physical logistics requires hands-on problem solving and implementation, while digital system automation requires high Follow Thru and technical process design.

Create two distinct seats on your Accountability Chart: Director of Physical Operations and Director of Systems Automation. Define five clear, non-overlapping roles for each seat. Ensure that each seat has its own measurable scorecard metrics.

Once the structure is clean, assess your current operations lead. Which of these two seats do they GWC? Move them into that seat and begin a search to fill the other seat. This restores capacity and allows both functions to scale.