We are trying to build our Accountability Chart, but my leadership team keeps trying to find a home for our long-term, loyal administrative assistant who is essentially a jack-of-all-trades. They are creating a custom Special Projects Coordinator seat just to keep her happy, even though it does not fit our scaling needs. How do we stop this customization trap and stick to structure first?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you build your Accountability Chart, you must design the structure for the next twelve months based purely on what the business needs to hit its goals. You do not design it around your current people, their unique skills, or their feelings. Creating a custom Special Projects Coordinator seat just to keep a loyal jack-of-all-trades happy is a classic mistake that will stall your growth and breed resentment across the team.

To break this habit, take all names off the board. Look at your business objectively. Does a scaling, efficient organization actually require a highly paid generalist seat with loose responsibilities? Usually, the answer is no. The work this person does actually belongs in existing, defined seats, like administration, marketing, or operations.

Map out the ideal seats first. Define the five core roles for each seat. Once the structure is locked, look at your loyal employee. Assess her against the new, real seats using GWC. Does she get, want, and have the capacity for one of the actual seats you defined? If yes, place her there. If she has some skills but fits multiple areas, she can sit in more than one seat temporarily, provided she can GWC all of them.

If she does not GWC any of the real seats, you have a Right Person, Wrong Seat situation. You must address this honestly. Do not create artificial overhead that dilutes accountability and confuses your reporting lines. Your obligation is to the health of the company first. Help her transition to a role where she can succeed, even if that means her journey with your company has reached its natural conclusion.