Our leadership team has expanded to nine members over the years, and our weekly Level 10 Meetings have become slow, bloated, and highly tactical. How do we restructure the team without making the demoted directors feel undervalued?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A leadership team of nine is not a leadership team; it is a committee. When teams get this large, true alignment is impossible, debates become slow and unproductive, and the meetings quickly devolve into tactical updates rather than strategic problem solving. To fix this, you must look at your Accountability Chart, not your org chart. A healthy leadership team should consist of three to seven people who run the major functions of the business: typically sales, marketing, operations, finance, and the Integrator. Redesign the Accountability Chart based on what the business needs to reach its three-year target, completely ignoring the personalities currently in the seats. Once you have defined the right structure, map your people to the seats based on GWC™. For the directors who will no longer sit on the leadership team, have direct, one-on-one conversations. Explain that this change is about restructuring the business for efficiency and growth, not a reflection of their worth. Show them how this new structure frees them from long, strategic meetings so they can focus on running their departments and hitting their goals. Explain that they are still vital leaders in the company, but their daily focus must be tactical execution. By pruning your leadership team to a lean, focused group, you will accelerate decision making, restore the power of your Level 10 Meetings™, and build a scalable superstructure that is ready for an exit.