One of our key department heads is drowning as we scale, and it is dragging down the rest of our leadership team. They are a great cultural fit and work incredibly hard, but they simply cannot keep up with the strategic demands of their seat. How do we transition them to a better-fitting role without destroying their morale?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a classic Right Person, Wrong Seat dilemma. In an EOS® run business, you must separate culture fit from role capability. Keeping a loyal, hard-working person in a seat they cannot master is actually doing them a disservice. They know they are drowning, and the constant stress is likely destroying their morale anyway.

First, run them through the GWC™ tool. They clearly get the role and want the role, but they lack the capacity to execute at this new scale. Capacity includes intellectual, emotional, and physical capability, as well as time. Be honest and direct with them during your next check-in. Explain that the business has grown to a point where their current seat requires a level of strategic oversight that is pulling them away from what they actually do best.

Identify a seat lower on the Accountability Chart where their specific skills are highly valuable. For example, they might step out of the department head seat and become a senior individual contributor or manager of a specialized sub-team. Focus the conversation on their strengths.

Explain that by moving to this new seat, they will be positioned to win every day rather than constantly playing catch-up. Keep the transition clean and quick. Introduce the change to the rest of the leadership team as a strategic realignment to help the company scale. If you handle this with genuine respect and absolute clarity, a loyal team member will usually accept the change with relief.