We are growing quickly and my leadership team wants to add new VP seats to the Accountability Chart for every new department. How do we keep our leadership team lean and avoid creating an overly bloated executive structure?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

As your business grows, the temptation to create more executive titles is high. Every time a new department is formed, founders want to hand out a VP title and invite that person to the leadership table. This is a fast track to a bloated, slow-moving executive structure.

A healthy leadership team is typically comprised of three to seven people. If you exceed this number, your weekly meetings become inefficient, and decision-making grinds to a halt.

When designing your Accountability Chart, remember that you are structuring the organization for the next twelve months of growth, not trying to make everyone feel important. You do not need every department represented on the leadership team.

Instead, group similar functions under broader seats. For example, you do not need separate seats for marketing, sales, and account management on the leadership team. Combine them into a single Sales and Marketing seat led by one executive who represents all those functions.

Keep the leadership team lean. The people at the table must be capable of thinking company-first, rather than just lobbying for their own departments. If someone is not ready for that level of strategic responsibility, they do not belong on the leadership team.