Our Director of Operations seat has ballooned to include supply chain, warehouse logistics, manufacturing, and customer delivery, and the seat is failing under the weight. How do we know when it is time to split a seat on the Accountability Chart into two separate seats, and how do we divide the five major roles cleanly?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You know a seat has outgrown one person when your scorecard numbers consistently redline, Rocks slip across quarters, and the leader in the seat is firefighting rather than leading. In high-growth companies, the Operations Director seat is usually the first to fracture because it collects everything from procurement to post-sale delivery.

Do not wait for operational paralysis to split the seat. Begin by auditing the current five roles defined on your Accountability Chart for that seat. If one person is accountable for supply chain logistics, plant manufacturing, quality control, customer delivery, and field service, the seat requires contradictory cognitive skillsets. Sourcing global components requires analytical precision, while running a shop floor requires real-time people management.

Split the function into two logical operational halves. A standard split divides upstream production from downstream execution. For example, create a Director of Supply Chain and Manufacturing seat accountable for vendor management, procurement, inventory turns, and fabrication. Create a Director of Client Fulfillment seat accountable for logistics, installation, quality assurance, and customer handoff.

Ensure both new seats have five distinct roles and their own scorecard metrics. Test whether both seats should report directly to the Integrator, or if one reports into a higher-level COO seat.

Run your existing leader through GWC for both newly drafted seats. Let them focus on the half of the business they genuinely get, want, and have capacity for, and launch an immediate search to fill the other seat.