We are promoting our Operations Director to be our first official Integrator to prepare the business for my exit. However, the other department leaders, who used to be her peers, are resisting her authority and still treating her as just another manager. How do we use the Accountability Chart to establish her new authority and make this internal promotion stick?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Promoting from within is great for culture, but it creates a difficult relational dynamic. Your new Integrator is struggling because she is trying to manage her former peers without an official shift in authority. The team is treating this as a minor title change rather than a structural reorganization.

You must use the Accountability Chart to formalize this transition and establish her authority. First, conduct a firm-wide meeting to present the updated Accountability Chart. Physically show the team that all department seats now report directly to the Integrator seat, and your Visionary seat sits above or alongside, but not in the daily reporting line.

Second, you must stop accepting backdoor appeals. When your department heads come to you for decisions or to complain about the new Integrator, you must ask one question: Have you talked to the Integrator about this? If they have not, direct them to her immediately. If they have, tell them her decision is final.

Third, ensure the new Integrator is leading the weekly Level 10 Meeting. This is where her authority is exercised. She must run the meeting, hold the department heads accountable to their measurables and Rocks, and lead the IDS process. By stepping back and letting her run the operational pulse, you show the team that the Accountability Chart is real and that she has the ultimate accountability for running the business.