We promoted our long-time customer service lead to Head of Operations because she is a perfect culture fit and we wanted to reward her loyalty. However, she is clearly drowning in the operational and technical aspects of the seat. She gets it and wants it, but simply lacks the capacity. How do we move a Right Person back to a previous seat without making them feel demoted or driving them to resign?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Moving a valued team member back to a previous role is a delicate operation, but leaving a Right Person in the Wrong Seat will eventually destroy their confidence and damage your business.

To handle this transition successfully, start by owning the mistake. Acknowledge that the leadership team put her in a position where she was set up to fail. Explain that you promoted her based on past performance without fully recognizing how different the new seat would be.

Use the GWC framework to guide the conversation. Affirm that she is a Right Person who perfectly represents your core values. Explain that the capacity required for the Head of Operations seat is different from her unique strengths, and that her current struggle is a structural mismatch, not a personal failure.

Offer her a return to her previous seat, or a newly designed high-level specialist seat on the Accountability Chart, where she can be a hero again. Emphasize that her contributions in her original role are vital to the company's success and that moving her back is about setting her up to win.

Give her time to process the change. While some employees may still choose to leave, most will feel a sense of relief when they are released from a seat that was causing them daily stress and anxiety.