Our company is growing rapidly, and several of our managers are currently sitting in three or four different seats on the Accountability Chart. They are dropping balls because they are pulled in too many directions. How do we restructure these multi-seat owners without hiring a dozen new people?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Wearing multiple hats is normal in the early stages, but as you prepare to scale and exit, it becomes a dangerous bottleneck. To fix this without a massive hiring spree, you must first separate the seats from the people.

Review your current Accountability Chart and list every seat. For any person whose name appears in multiple seats, you must run a GWC™ and capacity check. They may get and want all of those seats, but they simply do not have the physical or mental capacity to run them all effectively.

Next, prioritize the seats. Identify which seats are most critical to your near-term growth and value gaps. Group the roles logically. You can often consolidate minor responsibilities into a single, cohesive seat that can be owned by a new, mid-level hire or automated using AI tools.

For the remaining seats, determine which ones your current leaders can delegate to their direct reports. Use the delegate and elevate tool to help your managers transition out of low-value tasks so they can focus on their primary seat.

Keep the name of the accountable leader in the secondary seats only as a temporary measure, with a clear plan on your V/TO® to fill or automate those seats over the next two to three quarters. This keeps your team focused and maintains absolute accountability.