Our Head of Customer Support is a perfect core values fit and has been with us for ten years, but as we scale, she clearly lacks the conative capacity to manage our new, high-volume automated support systems. She is drowning, and our customers are complaining. How do we make this Right Person, Wrong Seat call without ruining her loyalty or demoralizing the rest of the team?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the hardest calls a business owner has to make, but keeping a loyal employee in a seat they cannot handle is actually an act of cruelty. You are setting them up to fail, which damages both their self-esteem and your company's performance.

Start by being completely honest and objective. Use the GWC tool. Your Head of Customer Support clearly gets it and wants it, but she lacks the conative capacity to manage a complex, tech-driven support department. Her natural problem-solving style may not align with building and maintaining automated systems.

To handle this cleanly, schedule a private conversation. Acknowledge her incredible ten-year loyalty and her perfect alignment with your core values. Explain that the business has scaled, and the Head of Customer Support seat has evolved into a highly technical role that no longer fits her natural strengths.

Then, look at your Accountability Chart to see if there is another seat where she would be a perfect fit and fully GWC the roles. Perhaps she belongs in a high-touch Client Relationship Manager seat where her deep company knowledge and personal touch can shine. If a matching seat exists, transition her with care. If no such seat exists, you must help her exit the company with dignity. Keeping a wrong-seat employee out of sentimentality will destroy the trust of your leadership team and halt your progress toward a clean exit.