During our Accountability Chart session, we realized our future structure requires combining two vice president seats into a single Operations lead, meaning one executive in the room will not have a seat. How do we maintain structure before people when a sitting executive is watching their seat disappear?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is the ultimate test of leadership maturity. The moment you compromise the structure to protect someone sitting at the table, you cripple the business for years to come.

Before you begin redrawing seats, establish the ground rules in the room. State plainly that the purpose of the Accountability Chart is to discover the right structure to take the company from where it is today to where it needs to be in its three-year picture. Everyone in the room must take off their personal hats and put on their shareholder hats.

When the logic dictates that two vice president seats must collapse into one Operations seat, acknowledge the reality openly. Do not dance around it or whisper during breaks. Say out loud that the business only requires one operational seat at the leadership level.

Define the five core roles of that combined seat with utter detachment from the two individuals. Only when the seat is locked do you open the conversation about names.

Use the GWC framework to evaluate who belongs in the new seat. It is entirely possible that one vice president Gets, Wants, and has the Capacity for the elevated seat, while the other vice president is better suited to run a specialized tier-two function under them, such as field execution or logistics.

If both want the single seat, the Integrator and Visionary must make the final call. If the unselected executive cannot accept a different seat or reports into the new leader, help them exit with dignity. Never create two seats where only one should exist.