We are transitioning our company from a legacy consulting model to an AI-driven, recurring SaaS product. Our current leadership team members are excellent at managing people and services, but they lack the technical and product-led growth skills required for this new model. How do we restructure our leadership team seats without losing our core culture?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your business model undergoes a fundamental shift, your Accountability Chart must evolve with it. The seats that got you to this point are rarely the same seats that will take you to the next level. If you keep the same people in the same seats out of loyalty, you will fail to execute the transition.

First, design the ideal Accountability Chart for your new business model without putting any names in the boxes. Focus purely on what the business needs to succeed as a SaaS product company. You will likely need to create new seats, such as Product Management or Growth Marketing, and phase out legacy service-oriented seats.

Once the new chart is built, run your existing leadership team members through the GWC tool for the new seats. Some of your legacy leaders will naturally transition into these new roles. Others will not have the capacity or the desire to acquire the necessary technical skills.

For those who do not GWC the new seats, determine if there is a fit for them elsewhere in the organization. If they are a strong core values fit, look for seats further down the chart where their skills are still highly valuable.

If there is no viable seat for them, you must help them transition out of the business with dignity. Keeping a legacy leader in a seat they cannot execute is unfair to them and fatal to your business pivot.