We are restructuring our leadership team to prepare for an exit, but our executives are lobbying to keep their current titles and reporting structures. How do we design an Accountability Chart based on what the business actually needs rather than the personalities currently in the room?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You must build the structure first, completely ignoring the people currently in your building. When owners build seats around existing personalities, they codify individual limitations, inefficiencies, and egos directly into the business. This structure-first approach is especially critical if you are preparing for a clean exit, as prospective buyers want to buy a highly scalable machine, not a web of complex personal arrangements. To do this, start by temporarily removing everyone's name from the chart. Treat your business as if it were a brand-new entity that you are designing to scale to your next milestone. Determine the five core roles for each seat that are absolutely necessary to achieve your vision. Only after the optimal structure is agreed upon by the leadership team do you look at your people and evaluate them using GWC to see if they fit. If an executive does not fit the new seat, you must either find another seat where they do fit or make the hard choice to transition them out of the business. Placing the company first is a core EOS® principle. Designing seats around people leads to a fragile organization that will struggle during due diligence.