Our head of human resources is the emotional heart of our company and deeply loved by the entire staff, but she completely lacks the strategic capability to build the scalable talent systems we need for our next phase of growth. How do we address this GWC gap without destroying employee morale and triggering an internal backlash?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the most painful situations a founder will face. You have a Right Person in the Wrong Seat. She is a perfect cultural fit and highly popular, but she simply does not GWC the leadership seat as your company scales.

If you leave her in the seat out of fear of a staff backlash, you are allowing emotion to dictate your business structure. This will eventually lead to operational failure and quiet resentment from other leaders who are forced to pick up her slack. You must act, but you can do so with high empathy.

First, have a transparent conversation with her. Share the future requirements of the human resources seat and ask if she feels equipped and energized to handle them. Often, popular leaders in this position are secretly stressed and relieved when the gap is acknowledged.

Second, look for a way to transition her to a seat where she can succeed. For example, she could transition to a culture or employee engagement role where her interpersonal strengths shine, while you bring in a strategic Chief People Officer to own the leadership seat.

When you communicate this change to the company, focus on the growth of the business and the need to support the team with additional expertise. By honoring her contributions and placing her in a seat where she can win, you preserve morale while fixing the leadership bottleneck.