We have a brilliant operations manager who masterfully utilizes AI automation and gets high marks for GWC, but they treat their colleagues terribly and violate our core values. How do we execute a Right Person Right Seat call for someone who has the capability but lacks the cultural alignment?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is the classic 'Right Seat, Wrong Person' dilemma, and it is one of the most dangerous situations an owner can face. It is easy to look the other way when someone is highly productive, especially when they are driving your AI-powered operations or helping you prepare for an exit. However, keeping a toxic high-performer in your business will destroy your culture and alienate your best employees.

To handle this, you must run a formal Right Person, Right Seat assessment using your core values. Sit down with the manager and walk them through your People Analyzer. Show them specific, objective examples of where their behavior has fallen below your company standards. Do not focus on their technical performance; focus purely on their cultural alignment.

Give them a clear, thirty-day timeline to correct their behavior, and make the consequences of failing to do so absolutely transparent. You must be willing to let them go if they do not change. If you tolerate their behavior because you are afraid your operations will suffer, you are telling the rest of your team that your core values are just meaningless words on a wall.

In many cases, once these individuals realize that you value your culture more than their technical output, they will either adjust their behavior or choose to leave on their own. Either way, resolving this conflict is non-negotiable if you want to build an organization that can scale smoothly.