We hired managers to take over tactical duties from our leadership team, but our VP of Marketing keeps bypassing the new managers and directly assigning tasks to junior designers, causing massive role confusion. How do we break this bad leadership habit and enforce proper boundaries on our Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you hire managers to take over tactical duties, leadership team members must let go of their old responsibilities. If your VP of Marketing is still assigning tasks directly to junior designers, they are undermining the new manager's authority and causing confusion. This bad habit usually stems from a lack of trust or a failure to adapt to a new role. To break this behavior, you must address it directly using your Accountability Chart. Sit down with the VP of Marketing and review their seat. Their primary role is now leadership, management, and strategic direction, not daily execution. Show them how bypassing the manager creates confusion and kills the manager's accountability. If the manager is not allowed to manage, they will never succeed. Use the LMA framework. Explain that their job is to manage the manager, not the manager's team. If they have concerns about the quality of the design work, they must address those concerns directly with the manager, who will then handle the junior team. Establish clear communication channels. Make it a rule that leadership team members do not assign work to anyone more than one level down on the Accountability Chart without prior approval. By enforcing these boundaries, you protect your company culture, empower your middle managers, and free up your leadership team to focus on the high-level strategic growth of the business.