We have two highly skilled operations managers who have been sharing the Head of Operations seat for a year, but we are starting to see dropped balls. Can we keep two people in a single major seat if we clearly divide their geographic territories?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You cannot have two people sharing one seat on the Accountability Chart. Having two people in one seat means nobody is actually accountable. When a metric drops or a Rock fails, they will naturally point fingers at each other. This structure creates confusion for the rest of your organization because employees will not know who has the final authority on decisions.

If you have two operations managers sharing the seat, you must split the seat. If you divide their responsibilities by geographic territories, you are not actually sharing one seat. You have created two distinct seats on your Accountability Chart.

For example, you should create a West Region Operations seat and an East Region Operations seat. Each seat will have its own five major roles and clear, measurable metrics. Both of these seats will then report directly to the Integrator. This maintains clear lines of reporting and absolute accountability.

Do not let your desire to avoid hard conversations prevent you from structuring your organization correctly. Every seat must have exactly one name in it. If two names are in a seat, use the IDS process to determine who is the best fit based on GWC. Then, move the other person to a different seat where they can succeed, or help them transition out of the business.