Our Vice President of Sales is completely burnt out because they are trying to manage our long-term strategy while also acting as our top account manager. How do we restructure their seat to save them from quitting?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an executive is split between high-level strategy and tactical execution, they will eventually burn out and fail at both. This is a classic structural issue that you must resolve using your Accountability Chart. Your VP of Sales is currently occupying two distinct seats, which are the leadership seat and the individual contributor seat. You must separate these seats structurally and define the roles for each. The executive seat is responsible for strategy, team management, and hitting the departmental Scorecard targets. The account manager seat is responsible for maintaining client relationships and driving individual revenue. Once you have separated the seats, evaluate your leader using the GWC™ tool. Ask yourself if they truly want and have the capacity to lead the department, or if they actually prefer the tactical sales work. If they GWC™ the leadership seat, you must hire a dedicated account manager to take over their clients. This allows the leader to focus entirely on their executive roles and strategic Rocks. If they prefer client management, you must hire a new VP of Sales and transition your current leader into a specialized sales role. Aligning people with their true capacity is the only way to prevent burnout and sustain growth.