We run a professional services firm with three distinct business units. Our unit directors want separate delivery seats on the leadership level of the Accountability Chart, but this is creating silos. How do we structure our delivery seats?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Having multiple delivery seats on your leadership team is a recipe for operational silos, inconsistent customer experiences, and endless resource battles. When preparing for a clean exit, buyers want to see a unified, scalable operating system, not three independent fiefdoms operating under one brand.

The rule of the Accountability Chart is that there must be only one head of delivery on the leadership team. This single seat is accountable for the overall quality, efficiency, and profitability of all service execution across the entire company.

To structure this correctly, create one major Operations or Delivery seat on your leadership team. Underneath this single seat, you can then build three distinct sub-seats on the departmental level of your Accountability Chart, one for each of your business unit directors. These unit directors will report directly to the head of delivery, not to the Integrator.

The head of delivery is responsible for standardizing processes, balancing resource capacity across the units, and holding the unit directors accountable to their weekly Scorecard metrics. This structure ensures that your service delivery remains consistent, no matter which business unit a client interacts with.

If your unit directors complain about losing their seat on the leadership team, use the IDS process to address their concerns. Explain that a leaner leadership team allows for faster decision-making during your Level 10 Meeting and prepares the business for a highly profitable acquisition. By consolidating delivery accountability, you eliminate internal competition and present a clean, institutional structure to prospective buyers.