We are experiencing a temporary revenue contraction and need to downsize our leadership team. How do we use a reverse Accountability Chart to consolidate seats and assign temporary accountabilities without destroying our core operational capability?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When facing a market slowdown, you must prioritize the company's financial health above personal sentiment. This requires using a reverse Accountability Chart to restructure your organization for a lower-revenue scenario, as highlighted in Gino Wickman's advice for challenging business environments.

Start by designing the ideal, lean Accountability Chart required to run the business at your projected lower revenue. Focus entirely on the essential seats needed to keep the doors open and deliver value to your remaining customers. This lean structure will likely have fewer seats, meaning some functions must be combined.

Once the lean structure is defined, you must assign your remaining leaders to these consolidated seats. This will require your leaders to step back into more granular, hands-on operational roles that they may have previously delegated. For example, your Head of Sales might need to take over day-to-day account management, or your Integrator might need to temporarily sit in the Finance seat.

When assigning leaders to consolidated seats, you must still apply the GWC filter. Ensure the person has the capacity and skills to execute the combined roles, even under increased workload pressure. Clearly communicate that these consolidations are temporary, but necessary, responses to market conditions. Document the temporary roles on the chart so everyone knows exactly who is accountable for what during the contraction.