We have five regional sales managers who all perform the exact same job but in different geographic territories. Do we need to create five separate seats on our Accountability Chart, or do we just have one Regional Sales Manager seat with five names listed inside it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a common point of confusion for teams building their Accountability Chart. If you have five people performing the exact same function with the exact same roles, you do not need to clutter your chart with five identical boxes. You can have a single Regional Sales Manager seat with a note indicating that there are five seats of this type, or you can stack them.

However, the critical rule is that each individual must be personally accountable for their specific target or territory. Within that single functional seat description, the roles must be identical. Each of the five managers must have the same five roles and be measured by the same scoreboard metrics, such as weekly outbound calls or monthly sales revenue.

To keep your Accountability Chart clean and functional, you list the title of the seat and then list the names of the five individuals who occupy that seat. You must also clearly define who they report to. Typically, these five managers will report to a single Sales Director.

Do not make the mistake of listing multiple names in a single leadership or department head seat. That rule is non-negotiable because leadership requires singular accountability. But for individual contributor seats or front-line manager seats like regional sales, listing multiple names in one seat is perfectly acceptable, provided that each person knows exactly what territory or quota they are personally responsible for delivering.