Every time I try to restructure our Accountability Chart, my leadership team gets defensive about titles and reporting lines instead of focusing on what's best for the business. How do I stop the political posturing?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This defensiveness occurs because your team is engaging in "status management" rather than focusing on organizational health. In The Culture Code, Daniel Coyle notes that groups fail when members prioritize their place in the hierarchy over collective output.

To break this political posturing, you must enforce the core EOS® rule: structure first, people second. Before you write a single name on the board, wipe the existing chart clean. Tell your team that for the next two hours, they do not have names, titles, or current roles. Their only job is to design the absolute best structure to run the business over the next 12 to 18 months to hit the goals on your V/TO®.

Define the key seats and their five primary roles. Focus purely on accountability and flow of work. Once the structure is locked in, and only then, do you begin the process of placing people in those seats using the GWC™ filter.

If a leader complains about losing a title or a direct report, call out the behavior directly. Remind them that in an EOS®-run company, we do not build seats to fit people; we find the right people to fit the seats. If someone cannot put their ego aside to support the optimal structure for the business, they are demonstrating that they do not share your core value of being "team first." That is a people issue you must address immediately.