We just completed an acquisition of a competitor and now have two leaders for our Sales Director, Operations Director, and Finance seats. How do we build a single Accountability Chart without letting tenure or corporate politics dictate the choices?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Post-acquisition integrations often stall because owners try to placate executives by creating co-leadership seats or inventing parallel director roles. This creates organizational paralysis. EOS® requires exactly one name accountable per seat on the Accountability Chart.

To resolve this cleanly, build the post-acquisition chart from a blank slate with the Integrator and Visionary. Ignore the legacy org charts of both companies. Design the single structure that will deliver your combined three-year picture and annual plan. Define the top seats and list the five roles for each.

Once the seats are defined, evaluate both candidate leaders for each seat using the People Analyzer. Score each candidate rigorously on core values and GWC™. Tenure at the acquiring company grants zero automatic privileges. If the acquired company sales leader has a superior track record, stronger managerial ability, and clearly Wants It, that individual gets the Sales Director seat.

For the leader who does not win the leadership seat, determine if there is an open, high-leverage seat elsewhere on the expanded chart. For example, a legacy Operations Director might become the Director of Plant Logistics or head up a new regional integration initiative.

If the unselected leader does not pass GWC™ for any available seat, or if their ego prevents them from taking a subordinate role, you must make a decisive, respectful separation. Leaving two strong leaders competing for shadow authority will poison the combined company culture within six months.