We are expanding our professional services firm into two new geographic markets next year. My leadership team is trying to design our expansion Accountability Chart based on the exact skills of the regional managers we currently have on staff, rather than building the ideal operational structure. How do we force ourselves to design the structure first?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You must visually and mentally remove all names from the board. When building or expanding your Accountability Chart, the rule is structure first, people second. If you design boxes around the personalities, limitations, or unique skills of your current managers, you will build a fragile, non-scalable business.

Start by projecting your business out to the size it will be once the expansion is complete. Ask yourself what the ideal structure must look like to support that level of revenue and client volume. Define the essential seats, their reporting lines, and the five core roles for each seat.

Only after this future structure is fully designed and agreed upon by the leadership team do you begin matching names to the seats using GWC. If a current regional manager does not GWC the ideal seat you designed, you do not rewrite the seat to fit them. Instead, you keep the seat vacant or place them in a different seat where they do GWC the roles, and you go out and hire the right person for the open seat. This approach ensures that your business structure is built to scale, not built to accommodate individual comfort zones. It is the only way to build a company that can run without your constant intervention.