Our head of technology was brilliant when we had ten employees, but now that we are scaling toward a hundred and integrating AI workflows, they are drowning. How do we determine if they can be coached to scale or if we must replace them?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is one of the hardest realizations for a growing business owner. The person who successfully got you from zero to five million dollars in revenue is rarely the same person who can take you from five million to twenty million.

To determine if your head of technology or any other leader can scale, you must separate their loyalty and history from their current capability. Look at your Accountability Chart and ask yourself the hard questions. Do they still GWC their seat?

Often, as a business scales, the capacity element of GWC changes. A leader who was great at doing the technical work may lack the capacity for LMA, which stands for Leadership, Management, and Accountability. If they are drowning, it is usually because they are trying to manage a team of twenty the same way they managed a team of three.

You owe them a direct, honest conversation. Map out the expectations for the seat over the next twelve months. Give them the coaching, tools, and support they need to step up. However, if they cannot adapt within a defined timeframe, you must make a change. Keeping a leader in a seat they cannot master is unfair to them, toxic to their direct reports, and a handbrake on your company growth.