Our two senior sales reps both want to lead our sales department, and we are tempted to put both of their names in our new Head of Sales seat to avoid making a hard choice. Why is this a recipe for disaster and how do we resolve it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When two people share a single seat on the Accountability Chart, true accountability is completely destroyed. If two people are responsible for sales growth, then ultimately no one is responsible. It leads to confusion for their direct reports, inconsistent decision-making, and constant finger-pointing when targets are missed. In EOS, we have a strict rule: only one name can occupy a seat. To resolve this, you must first separate the structural seat from the individuals. Look at your ideal future-state chart. You need a single leader for the sales department who will be held accountable for hitting revenue targets, managing the team, and executing the sales strategy. Once you have defined the roles for this single Head of Sales seat, evaluate both candidates objectively using the GWC framework. One of them may get, want, and have the capacity for the leadership responsibilities, while the other might actually prefer to focus entirely on high-level selling without the administrative burden of management. If both candidates truly GWC the seat and you cannot choose, you must make a hard business decision. You can either select one and risk the other leaving, or you can split the department into two separate, distinct seats, such as Head of New Business and Head of Account Management, provided that structural split actually makes sense for the business. What you cannot do is put both names in one seat to keep the peace.