Our VP of Marketing is currently sitting in both the Marketing seat and the Product Management seat. He is failing to hit his Rocks in both. How do we isolate the problem to figure out if it is a capacity issue or a capability issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When a leader is sitting in multiple seats and failing to hit Rocks, you must isolate the root cause before making a structural change. It is easy to assume they lack capability, but often the issue is simply a lack of capacity.

Start by listing the distinct roles for both seats on your Accountability Chart. Ensure they are clearly defined and do not overlap.

Next, run a separate GWC evaluation for each seat. Ask yourself if this leader gets, wants, and has the capacity for the Marketing seat, and then ask the same questions for the Product Management seat.

If they GWC both seats individually but are still failing, the issue is capacity. No one can run two distinct, demanding departments indefinitely as the company scales. They are likely context switching constantly, which destroys focus and leads to burnout.

The recommendation is to remove them from one of the seats immediately. Decide which seat is their highest and best use based on where they have the strongest GWC.

Once you narrow their focus to a single seat, monitor their performance for thirty days. If their execution improves, you have solved the capacity issue. If they continue to struggle even with a single focus, then you have a capability or right-seat issue that requires a deeper performance plan or a replacement.