We are growing quickly and constantly adding new functions to our business. How do we prevent our Accountability Chart from becoming an unmanageable mess of overlapping seats and confusing reporting lines as we scale?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Rapid scaling is the ultimate test of your Accountability Chart. To keep it clean, you must design the chart for where the business is going, not where it is today.
- First, build your future Accountability Chart looking six to twelve months ahead. Focus entirely on the seats the business needs to function at that next level of scale, completely ignoring the names of your current employees.
- Second, enforce the rule of one person per seat. While one person can temporarily occupy multiple seats, a single seat can never have more than one owner. If two people are sharing a seat, accountability is completely destroyed.
- Third, keep the five roles for each seat high-level and outcome-focused. Do not turn the Accountability Chart into a collection of detailed job descriptions. It should clearly define who owns what major business outcome.
- Finally, run regular GWC evaluations for every leader as their seats evolve. A leader who was perfect for a seat when you were a five-million-dollar company may not have the capacity to manage that same seat at fifteen million. Update the chart quarterly to stay ahead of your growth.