I am the Visionary and I successfully transitioned our Marketing seat to a new director, but I find myself constantly bypassing her to give direct feedback to our agency partners. How do I stop meddling and trust the Accountability Chart?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Bypassing your Accountability Chart is a fast way to destroy your new Marketing Director's authority and cause your agency partners to lose focus. As the Visionary, your job is to stay at thirty thousand feet, not to micromanage the ground game.

To stop meddling, you must first recognize that your behavior is rooted in a lack of trust and a struggle to let go of control. Use Keith Cunningham's Thinking Time to analyze this. Ask yourself: What specific outcomes am I afraid will happen if I completely step back from our marketing execution?

Once you identify those fears, address them through clear measurables on your weekly scorecard rather than direct intervention. Your Marketing Director owns the seat, which means she owns the relationship with the agency partners.

If you have feedback, you must deliver it directly to your Marketing Director during your scheduled Same Page meetings, never to the agency. Let her process the feedback and decide how to implement it. This respects the boundaries of the Accountability Chart and allows her to truly GWC the seat.

If she succeeds, celebrate her ownership. If she fails to hit her measurables, address it through the IDS process with your Integrator. Bypassing her only muddies the waters and prevents you from making an objective evaluation of her performance. Trust the structure you built.