Over the years, our company created Frankenstein seats where our CFO also runs IT and our Marketing Director runs customer onboarding. How do we untangle an Accountability Chart built around legacy personalities and return to a clean, structure-first model?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When companies grow organically, founders assign new initiatives to whoever has available time or high willingness. Over time, this creates Frankenstein seats, such as a finance director overseeing IT systems and facility leases, or a marketing manager handling customer onboarding.

These seats disguise the true operational needs of the business and make it impossible to hire replacements when those employees leave. If that finance director departs, finding an external candidate who excels at accounting, server architecture, and commercial lease negotiation is nearly impossible.

To fix this, you must separate structure from people. Redraw your Accountability Chart on a blank board. Do not think about your current staff or their preferences. Ask yourself: what is the ideal structure to run this business at the next stage of growth?

Build clean functional seats: Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance, and Integrator. Group accountabilities where they logically belong. IT and data systems belong under technology or operations, not finance. Client onboarding belongs under operations or client success, not marketing.

Once the clean structure is finalized, place your current people back into the seats using GWC. If an executive was previously carrying three unrelated functions, reassign the extra responsibilities to the proper functional seats. If those seats are empty, mark them open and prioritize hiring or delegating to lower-level staff. Never bend the chart to accommodate an eccentric resume.