Our Vice President of Operations is brilliant at solving complex technical problems, but our staff turnover is rising because this leader completely ignores Lead, Manage, and Accountable. How do we handle a leader who refuses to do LMA?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

In every leadership seat on an EOS Accountability Chart, the very first role listed is LMA: Lead, Manage, and hold people Accountable. It is not an administrative footnote; it is the primary obligation of anyone who has direct reports. When a technical genius refuses to do LMA, you do not have a leadership department. You have an expensive individual contributor masquerading as an executive while burning out the team beneath them.

Start by assessing whether this is a capacity issue or a willingness issue. Sit down with the leader and explicitly review the expectations of LMA. Leading means providing clear direction, communicating the V/TO, and modeling Core Values. Managing means holding quarterly Conversations, conducting weekly Level 10 Meetings, and removing obstacles. Accountability means demanding that people hit their Scorecard numbers and complete their Rocks.

Ask the leader directly: Do you genuinely Want this seat, including the LMA burden? Many technical experts accept leadership titles because they believe it is the only path to higher pay and prestige, even though they secretly despise people management. If they admit they do not want to manage people, you have identified a GWC failure on the Want It component.

The solution is to restructure the seat. Move the technical problem-solving, architectural design, or process innovation into a high-level specialist seat, such as Chief Technical Architect or Principal Systems Director. Remove their direct reports entirely. Then, place a genuine operator with high GWC for LMA into the operational leadership seat. If the person insists they want to lead but continues to neglect their team after clear feedback, you must make a right-seat call and find a leader who actually protects and elevates your people.