You hired someone as a Director early on, when they're really performing as a Manager.
Now you're stuck with two options:
- Keep the inflated title despite misaligned expectations (and watch your structure crumble)
- Reset the title to match reality (and have a brutal conversation about lowering the level and changing job title)
(if you're blessed with time, maybe you can give them a grace period to 'become' their title)
This can happen with promotions too.
When companies scale, there's immense pressure to promote based on tenure rather than capability. I've felt this a lot and it's a hard tension to unscramble.
The feeling of: ""I've been here since day one, where's my VP title?"
But title inflation leads to all sorts of issues, such as:
- Compensation chaos when benchmarking against market rates
- Confusion about decision-making authority
- Frustrated employees who can't see clear progression paths
But what's the solution?
It's to build structure early. Before it feels like you need it.
Your job architecture should clearly distinguish what a Manager, Director, or VP is responsible for based on things like:
- Span of control,
- Decision-making authority,
- Strategic vs operational impact.
Otherwise, titles quickly lose meaning.
The result: pay equity issues, confused employees, and overall brand damage.
And it doesn't have to be rocket science. Even a simple; Jnr -> Mid -> Senior is one method of differentiation. Ask your team what they think defines those three levels and you've got the beginning ingredients of a level structure that helps ensure you're clear and consistent in your title practices.
Have you ever had to reset someone's job title‚ and how did you handle it?