We have two territory managers sharing a single Regional Sales Director seat, and they refuse to report to one another. How do we resolve this two people in one seat bottleneck on our Accountability Chart without losing one of them to a competitor?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having two names in a single seat is a recipe for operational chaos and finger-pointing. When two people are accountable for the same seat, nobody is accountable. In a sales context, placing two territory managers in a shared Regional Sales Director seat because they refuse to report to one another is a management cop-out that stalls growth and dilutes clear direction. You must resolve this by splitting the seat. Look closely at the accountabilities. If the seat is truly too large for one person, it needs to be divided into two distinct seats, each with its own clear, non-overlapping roles. For regional sales, this means creating two distinct regional seats, such as East Regional Sales Director and West Regional Sales Director, with each person owning 100 percent accountability for their respective territory. Both must then report to a single head of sales. If the seat cannot be split logically and only one seat is needed, you must choose the one person who truly GWCs the seat. The other person must either be moved to a different seat on the Accountability Chart where they are the sole owner, or you must help them transition out of the organization. Do not compromise by creating a co-director structure. It confuses the direct reports, leads to inconsistent decision-making, and creates a massive bottleneck that sophisticated buyers will view as a red flag. Be direct, explain that the rules of the EOS Accountability Chart require one name per seat for maximum clarity, and make the hard call.