From the Ask Tom mailbag:

Question
Based on your Time Span workshop, I can now clearly see that one of our Vice-Presidents is not capable in his role. Actually, I knew it all along, everyone knew it all along, but no one would talk about it. Blood relative to the CEO. He has the title, he has the responsibility, he is failing. His behavior is getting more defensive as time passes. What is my next move? I cannot demote the guy, sacred cow.

Response
Family members in the business are always interesting. It’s like Dilbert in real life.

But, just because he is a family member does not make him a bad person. Yet, since you attended the workshop on Time Span, his underperformance is now clearly visible. The workshop gave you a language to describe it and a way to measure it.

Time Span helps you understand the situation, it can also help you resolve the situation. Your goal is to help this young Vice President become a productive, contributing member of the management team.

This is simply a matter of calibration. It is a matter of matching his Time Span task assignments with his capability. It starts with a thorough review of his job description, specifically identifying the Time Span associated with his goals. You know where he is effective and ineffective, and you should see a Time Span pattern emerge like a watershed. Where he is capable, move in more task assignments. Where he is not effective, move out task assignments.

This will redefine expectations around his role, where he is successful. That should stop his defensiveness. From there, create a professional development plan, based on Time Span task assignments that pull him to the limits of his capability. If he is, indeed, heir apparent in some succession plan, you can help him grow toward that.

And don’t worry about his title or the size of his office. Everyone knows he is blood relative to the CEO.