Every time we create a new functional seat, that manager demands a spot on our leadership team Accountability Chart, ballooning our Level 10 Meeting to eleven people. How do we determine who truly belongs on the leadership team versus departmental seats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An eleven-person leadership team is not an executive team. It is a town hall where honest debate dies, meetings drag on endlessly, and accountability dissolves.

A functional EOS leadership team typically consists of three to seven seats: Visionary, Integrator, and the core functional heads representing Sales and Marketing, Operations, and Finance. In some businesses, Product or Technology warrants a seat at the table. If you have eleven people in your weekly Level 10 Meeting, you are confusing leadership with title status and ego management.

The test for whether a seat belongs on the leadership table is straightforward. Does this seat have ultimate accountability for an entire major pillar of the business, or does it execute a specialized sub-function?

For example, Human Resources, IT, Quality Control, and Customer Support are critical operational functions. However, in a middle-market business, they almost always report into the Integrator, the Head of Operations, or the Head of Finance. They do not each get their own seat on the primary leadership team.

When managers push back because they feel excluded, remind them that the Accountability Chart is about structural accountability, not corporate hierarchy or personal worth. Being off the leadership team frees them from high-level strategic debates so they can focus on running their departmental teams and driving execution.

Prune your leadership chart down to the essential functional seats. If a seat does not carry enterprise-wide accountability for a primary business pillar, move it below the line into departmental charts.