We have a critical seat on our Accountability Chart for Quality Assurance and Compliance that is absolutely necessary for our exit valuation, but none of our current leadership team members want to own it because it is tedious and dry. How do we get this seat filled without forcing it on someone who will neglect it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you have a dry, tedious, but essential seat like Quality Assurance and Compliance that nobody on your current team wants, you cannot solve the issue by forcing it onto an existing leader. If you force a seat onto someone who lacks the passion or the time, they will inevitably neglect it, and your compliance will suffer, hurting your exit valuation.

First, confirm that this seat is actually a standalone seat on your Accountability Chart. Do not dilute other leadership seats by tacking compliance onto them as an afterthought. Every seat must have five clear roles.

If nobody on your current leadership team wants the seat, you have three options. First, you can look downstream in your organization to find an ambitious team member who has the capacity and the desire to step up. Second, you can outsource the function to a specialized vendor, while keeping an internal leader accountable for managing that vendor. Third, you can hire a dedicated resource.

Before you hire, use the IDS process in your Level 10 Meeting to analyze if the work can be streamlined. Sometimes, a seat is undesirable because the processes are archaic. If you automate the data gathering first, the seat becomes much more attractive because it shifts from manual data entry to system oversight. Once the seat is streamlined, run the GWC process to find the right person who truly wants it.