Our business has grown rapidly and our Operations seat has become massive. We want to put two of our top managers into a co-director seat to share the load. Is this one seat, two people structure acceptable, or are we setting ourselves up for conflict?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The short answer is no. You cannot have one seat with two people sharing it on your Accountability Chart. This structure violates the fundamental principle of absolute accountability. When two people are responsible for the same seat, nobody is actually responsible. You will inevitably experience missed deadlines, finger-pointing, and massive communication gaps that slow down your execution. If your Operations seat has grown too massive for one person to handle, it is a capacity issue. You must split the seat. Look at the five roles of the current seat and determine how to divide them logically. For example, you can split the seat into two distinct seats: one for Service Delivery and one for Technology Infrastructure. Alternatively, you can divide them geographically or by product line. Each newly created seat must have its own unique title, five clear roles, and distinct scorecard metrics. Both managers will then report directly to the Integrator. This maintains clear lines of reporting and ensures that every single seat on your Accountability Chart has exactly one owner who is fully accountable for its outcomes.