We have a department head who is a phenomenal core values fit and has been with us since day one, but they do not GWC the newly upgraded seat required for our next stage of growth. We are struggling to make the hard call because of their loyalty. How do we handle this right-person, wrong-seat situation?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the hardest decisions an owner has to make, but loyalty to an individual cannot override your commitment to the health of the company. To build an exit-ready organization, you must have the right people in the right seats. If you keep a loyal employee in a seat they cannot perform, you are doing a disservice to the company, the leadership team, and the employee themselves.

If someone is a perfect core values fit but does not pass the GWC check for their seat, you have a right-person, wrong-seat issue. They simply do not have the capacity, the drive, or the skills to manage the seat as your business scales.

The solution is to find a seat in your structure where they do pass the GWC check. Look at your Accountability Chart and see if there is an individual contributor seat or a different department where their skills align. If a suitable seat exists, transition them cleanly. If no such seat exists, you must make the hard decision to let them go. Keeping them in a seat they cannot handle will breed resentment, cause operational failures, and signal to the rest of your team that high performance does not actually matter.