Our team keeps reverting to our old organizational chart during our early sessions because they cannot wrap their heads around the Accountability Chart concept. How do we break this habit and get them to think in terms of seats rather than titles?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A traditional organizational chart is built around titles, reporting lines, and corporate egos. The EOS® Accountability Chart is built entirely around functions, seats, and measurable results. If your team keeps reverting to old habits, you must force a mental shift.

To break the habit of thinking in terms of traditional titles, start by completely removing all names from your chart. Look at your business as a blank slate. Focus purely on the major functions of your company: Sales and Marketing, Operations, and Finance.

Identify the five key roles that must belong to each seat for that function to succeed. Do not think about who currently works at your company while you are designing these seats. You must design the structure your company needs to reach its three year target, not the structure that accommodates your current staff.

Only after the seats are perfectly defined should you begin placing names into them. Use the GWC™ tool to ensure that each person fully gets, wants, and has the capacity to do the job. If your team struggles to grasp this, remind them that the Accountability Chart is about who is accountable for what result, not who gets to feel important.