Suzie shares a personal lesson about placing good people in the wrong roles and introduces a practical five-part Job Fit model and the REV process for turning chronic workplace friction into clarity, accountability, and momentum.

TOP 3 TAKEAWAYS

• 1. A good person can still be in the wrong seat.

Commitment, loyalty, kindness, and effort do not automatically equal job fit. Someone can care deeply and still lack the experience, motivation, natural strengths, judgment, or personal skills that the role requires.

• 2. Job fit includes five distinct areas.

Suzie's car analogy provides a practical way to examine the whole fit between a person and a role:

Roads Traveled and Future Plans: Background, experience, track record, and where the person wants to go.

Where They Are Parked: The culture, pace, standards, leadership, and working environment.

How They Drive: DISC behaviors and preferred communication style.

Gas in the Tank: Motivators and what naturally gives the person energy.

Under the Hood: Personal skills, acumen, judgment, accountability, resiliency, self-management, and other capabilities.

Assessments provide valuable information about three of these areas, but experience and culture must also be evaluated through conversations, work samples, references, expectations, and actual evidence.

• 3. Use REV before deciding someone is in the wrong seat.

When work feels harder than it should, leaders can use the REV process:

R — Remove Obstacles: Determine whether unclear processes, inadequate tools, insufficient training, conflicting priorities, or leadership actions are interfering with performance.

E — Establish Expectations: Clearly define the most important priorities, what success looks like, what must change, and how progress will be evaluated.

V — Verify Fit: Observe whether the person takes ownership, adjusts, improves, and creates momentum—or whether the same problems continue.

KEY QUOTES

• "The issue isn't that this person is a bad person. The issue is that this person was a good person in the wrong seat."
• "When fit is right, work creates momentum. When fit is wrong, work creates friction."
• "Leaders confuse commitment with fit."
• "If you feel relieved when someone is not involved, that is data."
• "Healthy challenge builds strength. Chronic friction drains energy."
• "Vagueness is not kind. Clarity is kind."
• "Accountability is not unkind. Expectations are not unkind. Honest conversations are not unkind."
• "The goal is not to judge people. The goal is to help people succeed in the right seat."
• "When the right person finds the right seat, work does not become effortless—but it does create momentum."

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Think about one employee, contractor, vendor, leader, role, or working relationship that is currently creating more friction than momentum.

Ask yourself:

• 1. What am I tolerating that is creating friction?

Where am I compensating, reminding repeatedly, lowering expectations, or avoiding a necessary conversation?

• 2. Have I removed obstacles and clearly established expectations?

Have I provided the tools, information, priorities, authority, training, and definition of success the person needs?

• 3. What is the evidence telling me?

Is the person improving, taking ownership, following through, and adjusting—or are we continuing to have the same conversation?

Then review all five areas of fit:

1. Roads traveled and future plans
2. Culture and working environment
3. Communication and behavioral style
4. Motivators
5. Personal skills and acumen

The objective is not to label or criticize the person. It is to determine whether development, clearer leadership, a redesigned role, or a different seat would create a healthier outcome.

ABOUT THE HOST

Suzie Price is the founder of Priceless Professional Development and host of the Wake Up Eager Podcast. For more than two decades, she has helped leaders use assessments, practical hiring systems, and development tools to create high-commitment, low-drama workplaces where people are better matched to the work they do.

FULL SHOW NOTES

When several capable people want the same leadership role, the best decision comes from clearly defining what the position requires and evaluating each person's true fit—not simply rewarding ambition, tenure, or visibility.

TOP 3 TAKEAWAYS

• 1. Wanting the role does not automatically mean someone is suited for it. Ambition can be valuable, but desire alone does not tell you whether a person has the judgment, leadership approach, emotional maturity, or personal skills the position requires. Someone may genuinely want the promotion and still be a better fit for a different path.
• 2. Define the role before comparing the people. Promotion decisions become emotional and political when leaders begin with the candidates instead of the job. First identify what success in the VP role actually demands—its priorities, challenges, leadership expectations, and critical competencies. Then evaluate each person against that standard.
• 3. A thoughtful decision protects both the organization and the candidates. Promoting the wrong person can damage performance, relationships, and confidence across the team. A clear, job-related process makes the decision easier to explain and gives every candidate useful insight into their strengths, gaps, and future development.

KEY QUOTES

• "Wanting the VP role and being the best fit for the VP role are not always the same thing."
• "You have to define the job before you start deciding which person should have it."
• "The loudest, most visible, or most ambitious candidate is not automatically the right leader."
• "A promotion should not be a reward for doing well in the job someone already has."
• "The real question is not, 'Who deserves it?' The real question is, 'Who best matches what this role requires?'"
• "When the expectations are clear, the decision becomes less personal and much more defensible."

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Before discussing candidates for an important promotion, create a one-page success profile for the position. Identify:

• The most important outcomes the person must deliver.
• The leadership and decision-making skills the role requires.
• The behaviors needed to work effectively with the team.
• The internal motivations that will help someone remain engaged.
• The experience and knowledge that are truly necessary.
• The culture, manager, and organizational environment in which the person will operate.

Then compare each candidate to the role using multiple sources of information, including performance history, behavioral examples, interviews, references, and assessment results. Assessments should inform the discussion, but they should represent less than 30 percent of the final decision.

Finally, meet individually with each candidate. Explain the decision clearly, recognize the strengths they bring, and provide specific development guidance—especially for strong employees who were not selected. A well-managed promotion process should strengthen the leadership pipeline rather than leave several valuable people feeling dismissed.

FULL SHOW NOTES