Our company has hit $20 million and our Head of Operations seat has become completely overloaded, juggling client delivery and physical warehouse logistics. How do we cleanly split an operational seat into two distinct seats on the Accountability Chart without triggering a power struggle?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An operational seat that attempts to manage both client delivery and physical infrastructure inevitably collapses as you scale. Splitting an overgrown seat begins by ignoring who currently holds the job and focusing entirely on functional accountability.

On your Accountability Chart, map out the natural fault line in the workflow. Client delivery is focused on customer onboarding, project management, service level agreements, and client retention. Physical warehouse logistics is focused on inventory accuracy, facility safety, fleet maintenance, and procurement.

Create two distinct seats under the Integrator: Director of Client Services and Director of Logistics. Give each seat exactly five non-overlapping roles. For Client Services, define roles like onboarding velocity and client satisfaction scores. For Logistics, define inventory turns, warehouse safety, and fulfillment speed.

Once the structural boundaries are drawn, assess the current Head of Operations using GWC. Determine which seat aligns with their natural genius and conative strengths. Do not let them hold both seats half-heartedly. Place them firmly in the one seat where they can achieve greatness. Then, hire or promote into the other seat.

Turf wars occur when boundaries are blurry and resources are contested. When each leader has distinct scorecard numbers and separate quarterly Rocks, rivalry transforms into mutual operational support.