Our Operations Director is working eighty hours a week trying to manage both our technical software implementation and our ongoing customer service delivery. How do we cleanly split an overloaded operational seat into two distinct seats on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When an operational leader is drowning, leadership teams often assume they just need an assistant or more junior staff. In reality, the seat itself has usually outgrown single-seat architecture. Managing onboarding implementation requires project management, technical configuration, and change control. Managing ongoing customer service requires relationship building, SLA tracking, and frontline support.

To split this cleanly, pull back to the drawing board and focus on structure before people. Remove the current director name from the conversation and evaluate the operational work stream.

Draft two distinct seats under the Integrator. Seat one could be Director of Implementation, with roles focused on onboarding velocity, system integration, client configuration, training, and launch quality. Seat two could be Director of Client Success, with roles focused on client retention, SLA adherence, support ticket resolution, renewals, and ongoing customer health.

Each new seat must have exactly five clear, non-overlapping roles. If you leave grey areas between where onboarding ends and long-term support begins, the two seats will end up in endless friction.

Once the structure is locked, apply the People Analyzer and GWC to your existing director. Ask them honestly which seat they Get, Want, and have the Capacity to lead. Place them in the seat that maximizes their unique ability. Then, use your open seat protocols or external recruiting to fill the second seat.