We need to scale our delivery team to prepare for a major transition, but we keep hiring people first and then building jobs around their unique skill sets, which has created a chaotic, unscalable mess. How do we transition our leadership's mindset to designing the structure before looking at our current people?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Designing your business around the unique personalities and skills of your current team is a classic trap that limits growth and kills enterprise value. To break this cycle, you must adopt the core EOS rule of structure before people.

Start during your next leadership team meeting by taking your current Accountability Chart off the table. Draw a blank canvas. Your goal is to design the ideal structure that will run the business effectively twelve months from now to hit your V/TO goals. Do not use any names. Focus entirely on the seats and the five major roles that each seat must own.

Ask your leadership team to define what the business actually needs to function, not what their favorite employees like to do. This shifts the conversation from personal dynamics to objective business needs. Define the reporting lines and accountabilities clearly.

Only when the entire leadership team agrees on the structure do you bring people back into the picture. Place your current team members into the newly defined seats using the GWC framework. You will quickly identify gaps where you have the right people but in the wrong seats, or empty seats that require new hires.

By enforcing this strict order, you build a scalable superstructure that is independent of any single employee. This structural independence is exactly what sophisticated buyers look for during due diligence, as it proves the company can survive and thrive after you exit.