SECTION 2
Chapter 7:
The Headcount Case
4 minute read
It was near end of day Thursday. Reid had been in Sandra Gilder’s office twice before, to make cases he didn’t win. He remembered both with specific clarity—sitting across from someone who was listening carefully and finding, behind your words, gaps you hadn’t intended. Sandra never showed impatience. She just asked questions that might fill those gaps, or show the weakness in your request.
He was not going to let that happen a third time.
He’d built quite the request document this time. Two requests: a promotion for Ingrid, who had been performing at the next level for over a year, and the backfill for Dani’s role.
For each request, the document answered three questions in sequence: What business results does that employee’s work influence? What does a person in this role produce, in measurable terms, that influences those business results? And, therefore, what does the organization lose if this seat goes unfilled—not a vague warning about morale, but a projected cost in revenue at risk, rework, and time to rehire.
That third question was the one Reid had never answered before. He’d made cases based on what he needed. He hadn’t made cases based on what the organization stood to lose. Those were different arguments, and he understood now which one made an impact in a room like Sandra’s.
He’d sent the document to Ray the night before the meeting. Ray replied at 11:00 PM: You got this one right.
***
He’d asked Sandra’s assistant in advance how she preferred to take a case—read it first, or hear it pitched. Read it first, the assistant had said; almost nobody asks. It was a question Reid had never thought to ask before either. So he handed Sandra the document and waited while she read it before he said anything substantive.
He watched her move through it—the forward lean at Ingrid’s output section, the pause at the projected cost analysis for Dani’s replacement.
“Ingrid Solberg,” she said. “She’s been producing at this level for how long?”
“Fourteen months, by the numbers,” Reid said. “Probably longer, but that’s as far back as I can document with confidence.”
She asked about Ingrid’s on-schedule figures—79% of implementation plans delivered within three weeks of signature, against a company average of 63%. He assured her the numbers were accurate.
She asked about the cost projection on the requisition for Dani’s replacement. Reid walked her through it: without someone managing the intake process Dani had built, the work would be distributed across three team members already at capacity. None of them owned it. The careful tracking that made it measurable would stop. The onboarding timeline would creep back toward eleven days—not immediately, but gradually, inevitably.
“The process doesn’t disappear,” Reid said. “It erodes. And by the time that shows up in the numbers, it looks like a product problem or a client problem, not a headcount problem.”
Sandra looked at him. “You’ve thought about this differently than you have before.”
“Yes,” Reid said.
“The promotion—effective when?”
“The start of next quarter if possible. There’s a retention risk if it goes longer.” He paused. “I’d rather not lose another person the way I lost Dani Chen.”
Something behind Sandra’s expression shifted—a slight recalibration.
“I’m approving the promotion,” she said. “Effective next quarter. And I’m opening the request to replace Dani Chen.” She held up one finger. “I want monthly updates on the intake metrics once the new person is hired. If the numbers move the way your projection says they should, this becomes a template for how we make headcount cases in this division.”
Reid built his business case with the My Value App. You can too.
Reid hadn’t expected that last part, but he nodded. “I can do that.”
“Good.” She looked at the folder. “How long did it take you to build your headcount justification?”
“Two weeks of conversations with the team for the headcount justification,” Reid said. “And then, using that, a couple of days putting together the requests.”
“I’ve been approving and denying headcount requests for eleven years,” she said. “I’ve never received one with this much clarity.”
“I understand,” Reid said. “I didn’t know how to provide that clarity until you asked for it the way you did.”
Sandra almost smiled. “Next quarter for the promotion. Req opened by end of week.”
***
In the elevator on the way down, Reid stood very still, trying to professionally squelch a jump for joy.
Two requests. Same meeting. Both approved!
He thought about the two previous times he’d left Sandra’s office without what he came for—the vague language, the cases built on effort and capacity, the absence of any line connecting his team’s work to a number Sandra tracked. He’d been making arguments without numbers to back him up. Today he’d presented actual evidence.
His peer Joel caught him in the hallway.
“Both approved,” Reid said, before Joel could ask.
Joel’s eyebrows rose. “In one meeting?”
“In one meeting.”
“How did you make that happen?”
“I stopped describing what my team does,” Reid said, “and started proving the measurable value they produce. And I let them help me do it.” He paused. “Come find me when you have an hour.”
Joel nodded. “I’ll put something on your calendar.”
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