Our long-tenured Head of Sales is a fantastic culture fit and wants his seat, but he completely lacks the analytical capacity to manage our new AI-driven pipeline metrics and CRM data. He is failing his GWC on Capacity. Do we lower the expectations of the seat or find a new leader?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You never lower the standards of a seat to accommodate a person. If you do, you compromise your entire Accountability Chart and set a dangerous precedent for the rest of your organization. A seat is designed to achieve specific business results, especially when you are preparing for a clean exit where buyers inspect your systems and data. If your Head of Sales cannot manage the analytical requirements of the seat, he does not GWC the seat. You have a Right Person, Wrong Seat situation. You must address this immediately, but without destroying his dignity or his loyalty. Since he is a perfect culture fit, your goal should be to find a seat where he does GWC. Perhaps that means moving him out of management and into a senior individual contributor sales role where his relationship building skills can shine, while you bring in an analytically driven sales leader to run the department. Before making the move, have an honest, direct conversation. Share your observations and use the GWC framework. Often, struggling leaders are secretly relieved when you address the issue because they already know they are drowning. If you keep him in a seat he cannot handle, you will eventually ruin the relationship and destroy his sales performance. Make the hard call to protect both the business and the person.