One of our original department heads is a great person and lives our values, but as we have scaled from thirty to eighty employees, they are clearly drowning and cannot manage their larger team. How do we handle a loyal leader who has hit their ceiling without destroying morale?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the most painful challenges an owner faces. Cracks at the leadership level can appear as canyons to the rest of the organization. Keeping a leader in a seat they have outgrown is unfair to them and damaging to the business.

Objectively Assess the Situation

You must address this issue objectively. A useful tool for this is the GWC filter, which asks three crucial questions:

• Does this person Get It? Do they understand the requirements of their current role at the new scale?
• Do they Want It? Are they truly motivated to fulfill the demands of the expanded position?
• Do they have the Capacity to do it? Do they possess the cognitive, emotional, and professional abilities to handle the increased scope?

Often, a loyal leader who excelled at managing five people simply lacks the cognitive, emotional, or professional capacity to manage thirty people, run complex budgets, and design scalable processes. For further insights on leadership team dynamics, consider [My leadership team seems more concerned with protecting their departments and checking off boxes than looking at the big picture of the business. How do we shift their mindset to enterprise-first?](/qa/shifting-leadership-mindset-to-enterprise-first).

Have an Honest Conversation

Be honest and direct with the leader. Have a vulnerable conversation with them about their current performance. Often, they already know they are drowning and feel immense stress, but they are afraid of losing their job or status.

Find a New Seat or Transition

Your goal should be to find a way to keep them in a seat where they do GWC. This often means moving them out of a leadership seat and into an individual contributor or specialist role where their deep institutional knowledge can still shine. You can learn more about structuring roles in an organization by examining the [Accountability Chart](/qa/how-can-ai-optimize-the-accountability-chart-for-eos-organizations-undergoing-exit-planning).

For example, you might create a specialist seat on your [Accountability Chart](/qa/restructuring-seat-for-legacy-leader-hitting-ceiling) that leverages their expertise without requiring them to manage a large team. Another common challenge is when a [COO is loyal but lacking strategic capability](/qa/loyalty-versus-capability-leadership-team) as the business scales.

If there is no suitable seat on your Accountability Chart that fits their unique abilities and allows them to GWC, you must make the hard decision to transition them out of the company. This should always be done with dignity and respect. Keeping someone in a seat they cannot fulfill out of pure sentimentality ruins team accountability and holds back your entire organization.

Related questions

• [How do we design a specialist seat on our Accountability Chart for a legacy leader who has hit their management ceiling, so we retain their expertise without stalling our growth?](/qa/restructuring-seat-for-legacy-leader-hitting-ceiling)
• [My COO is an incredibly loyal execution machine who has been with me for ten years, but they lack the strategic capability to build the next layer of management. How do I resolve this without firing them?](/qa/loyalty-versus-capability-leadership-team)
• [I am the owner currently sitting in four seats on our Accountability Chart, and since I cannot afford external hires, I want to promote from within. However, none of my current employees fully pass the GWC filter for these leadership seats today. How do I structure a developmental runway on our chart without prematurely giving them seats they are not ready to own?](/qa/internal-promotion-runway-accountability-chart)
• [We are planning to promote our internal Operations Manager to the Integrator seat, but we are worried she lacks the executive presence to hold the rest of the leadership team accountable. How do we assess if an internal candidate is ready for the Integrator seat?](/qa/promoting-internal-operations-manager-integrator)
• [Our head of operations is working seventy hours a week and is completely buried in tactical fires, which is stalling our scaling plans. They are a great culture fit and have high GWC for the old business, but they cannot seem to elevate to a strategic leadership role. How do we transition them out of the executive seat without losing them?](/qa/leader-cannot-scale-transition)