Navigate the Middle Manager’s Glass Ceiling
Work in and on the business with defined and undefined problems
Glass Ceiling
Typically the middle manager was a high performing team leader now with a group of team leaders in their charge all whom have different missions to complete, which is a different skill set again. They’ve had little to no training to learn how to organise their direct reports by coaching them to be effective relative to their teams missions, which reinforces the pitfalls a Team Leader experiences, as stated on my Team Leaders page.
Additionally, the middle manager now finds themselves in a political arena for the first time, unable to influence and push back on poor senior leader decisions. Their lack strategic thinking and influencing skills leaves them unable to build business cases through management reporting that support or refute the decisions of one or more senior leader. Decisions at senior level are driven by incentives unique to each senior leader, which the middle manager is usually wholly unaware of, therefore unable to align new ideas.
As a result their team is continually asked to complete tasks that may or may not benefit the business with vague priorities changing daily, all while incapable of teaching their team how to fulfill the role they once held without doing it for them, leaving their own task list unattended or working unsustainable hours to compensate.
This follows The Peter Principle, represented below. People are promoted based on their success in previous roles until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one role do not necessarily transfer to another.
“Kenny has a natural ability to help managers develop skills at a fast pace and work more productively with others. He has given me the confidence to believe in myself and work with other people to achieve a positive outcome.”
Nicola McDonald - Tax Transformation Project Manager, Astra Zeneca
Mission Ready
Ideally, a middle manager has a small group of team leaders in their charge, responsible for ensuring each fulfil the objectives. Objectives are set by distilling company strategy into departmental strategy and team strategy, ultimately translating company strategy to team tactics, i.e. converting abstractions to actions. When one of their team leaders bumps up against a problem in pursuit of their objective the middle manager coaches the team leader to solve the problem for themselves, cultivating strategic thinking and autonomy in the team leader, preparing them to one day hold the position of middle manager.
The middle manger is also responsible for leveraging the information gathered at the coalface to inform and influence the decision making of senior leaders, providing a feedback loop that demonstrates whether their decisions and resulting actions yielded the result anticipated or not, improving the quality of decisions made by senior leaders over time. My job is to nudge your middle managers, step by step, through their glass ceilings to mission ready.
“Great to work with Kenny. He helped me and my team to successfully manage a difficult transition involving a large number of employees whilst minimising staff losses. It was a pleasure to work with someone who is clearly an expert in his field.”
Jason Smith - Head of Risk, Heineken UK
Work with me
Would you, your team or organisation benefit from an objective perspective to catch your blindspots?
I work exclusively with highly motivated individuals and teams who’ve hit a glass ceiling, are aware they’ve hit a glass ceiling and unable to move forward. If this describes your situation then lets discuss your options.
“The world we created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. No problem can be solved with the same level of consciousness that created it”
Albert Einstein - Theoretical Physicist & Nobel Laureate
Stay ahead of the curve
Performance
35% growth in first 12 months of supporting tech company CEO
Successful merger and acquisition of £1.2million turnover company
Finance function of 274 achieved World Class status, 0.7% turnover
People
100% staff retention during redundancy and off-shoring process
36% sickness absence reduction across 300 staff in 9 months
15% engagement flipped to 80% across 241 people in 12 months
Process
50% reduction in Shared Service Centre operating costs, £5million
Re-engineered operational strategy for life sciences company in 8hrs
Re-engineered Multi-£Million Invalid Deduction Finance process in 16 hrs
Navigate the Middle Manager’s Glass Ceiling
Work mostly in and on the business with defined and undefined problems
Glass Ceiling
Typically the middle manager was a high performing team leader now with a group of team leaders in their charge all whom have different missions to complete, which is a different skill set again. They’ve had little to no training to learn how to organise their direct reports by coaching them to be effective relative to their teams missions, which reinforces the pitfalls a Team Leader experiences, as stated in my Team Leaders page.
Additionally, the middle manager now finds themselves in a political arena for the first time, unable to influence and push back on poor senior leader decisions. Their lack strategic thinking and influencing skills leaves them unable to build business cases through management reporting that support or refute the decisions of one or more senior leader. Decisions at senior level are driven by incentives unique to each senior leader, which the middle manager is usually wholly unaware of, therefore unable to align new ideas.
As a result their team is continually asked to complete tasks that may or may not benefit the business with vague priorities changing daily, all while incapable of teaching their team how to fulfill the role they once held without doing it for them, leaving their own task list unattended or working unsustainable hours to compensate.
This follows The Peter Principle, represented below. People are promoted based on their success in previous roles until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one role do not necessarily transfer to another.
“Kenny has a natural ability to help managers develop skills at a fast pace and work more productively with others. He has given me the confidence to believe in myself and work with other people to achieve a positive outcome.”
Nicola McDonald - Tax Transformation Project Manager, Astra Zeneca
Mission Ready
Ideally, a middle manager has a small group of team leaders in their charge, for whom they are responsible for ensuring fulfill the objectives their teams have been set by distilling company strategy into departmental strategy and team strategy, ultimately translating company strategy to tactics, i.e. converting abstractions to actions. When one of their team leaders bumps up against a problem in pursuit of their objective the middle manager coaches the team leader to solve the problem for themselves, cultivating strategic thinking and autonomy in the team leader, preparing them to one day hold the position of middle manager.
The middle manger is also responsible for leveraging the information gathered at the coalface to inform and influence the decision making of senior leaders, providing a feedback loop that demonstrates whether their decisions and resulting actions yielded the result anticipated or not, improving the quality of decisions made by senior leaders over time. My job is to nudge your middle managers through their glass ceilings, step by step, from how it is to how it should be.
“Great to work with Kenny. He helped me and my team to successfully manage a difficult transition involving a large number of employees whilst minimising staff losses. It was a pleasure to work with someone who is clearly an expert in his field.”
Jason Smith - Head of Risk, Heineken UK
Work with me
Would you, your team or organisation benefit from an objective perspective to catch your blindspots?
I work exclusively with highly motivated individuals and teams who’ve hit a glass ceiling, are aware they’ve hit a glass ceiling and unable to move forward. If this describes your situation then lets discuss your options.
“The world we created is a product of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. No problem can be solved with the same level of consciousness that created it”
Albert Einstein - Theoretical Physicist & Nobel Laureate
Stay ahead of the curve
Notable outcomes
-
35% growth in first 12 months of supporting tech company CEO
Successful merger and acquisition of £1.2million turnover company
Finance function of 274 achieved World Class status, 0.7% turnover
-
100% staff retention during redundancy and off-shoring process
36% sickness absence reduction across 300 staff in 9 months
15% engagement flipped to 80% across 241 people in 12 months
-
50% reduction in Shared Service Centre operating costs, £5million
Re-engineered operational strategy for life sciences company in 8hrs
Re-engineered Multi-£Million Invalid Deduction Finance process in 16 hrs