Navigate the Senior Leader’s Glass Ceiling
Work on the business with undefined problems in uncharted territory
Glass Ceiling
Typically the senior leader was a high performing middle manager now with a group of middle managers in their charge, which is a different skill set again. They could also be someone that has left the corporate world to explore their entrepreneurial proclivities and found themselves running a team, which they’ve never done before. In either case they’ve likely had little to no training to learn how to strategise. i.e Understand what the problem is they intend to solve in the market, what they think the solution is in terms of service or product and how to convey this meaningfully to their direct reports in a way they can act on, which reinforces the pitfalls a middle manager experiences, as stated on my Middle Managers page.
The senior leader is typically immersed in a highly political environment, far less so in startups and far more so in large enterprises, meaning to bring any idea or agenda to life has a high cognitive load in terms of strategic thinking and influencing, as their idea’s and agenda’s are in direct competition, possibly direct opposition, with the equivalent from their peers. If lacking in theses key skill it will be near impossible to get anything across the start line, never mind finish line, and this is more common than you’d think.
As a result their direct reports are regularly asked to act on partially-formed thoughts and half-baked idea’s that may or may not benefit the business, and risk costing the business significant sums of time and money as the vagaries of what a senior leader wants cascades down to the Team Leaders at the coal face. As with team leaders and middle managers, 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 helps people identify issues that are holding them back and unlock their potential. The results that I have experienced myself and for members of my team are exceptional both in terms of team and individual performance and through them impact on the wider team.”
Hilary Spence - CFO, Scottish Rugby
Mission Ready
Ideally, a senior leader has cultivated a group of middle managers, capable of ensuring they fulfill their departmental strategy and objective distilled from the company strategy. Our senior leader will have mapped out their strategy concisely to include their vision, resulting company mission with short and long term objectives and suggested steps to achieving them, which they have also articulated clearly to their peers and direct reports, possibly a non-exec board and shareholders.
When one of their middle managers bumps up against a problem in pursuit of their objective the senior leader coaches them to solve the problem for themselves, cultivating strategic thinking and autonomy in the middle manager, preparing them to one day hold the position of senior leader.
The senior leader creates an environment in which their middle managers can challenge their decisions and thinking to catch their blind spots, especially as the senior leader can experience intellectual isolation and overlook mission critical data or insight. My job is to nudge senior leaders, step by step through their glass ceilings to mission ready.
“Kenny has proven to be first and foremost a good listener who is both very approachable and very empathetic. He then takes everything on board and offers pragmatic advice which can help us, as individuals, grow and develop.”
Robert Cunningham - Head of UK Internal Audit, 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 Senior Leader’s Glass Ceiling
Work mostly on the business with undefined problems in unchartered territory
Glass Ceiling
Typically the senior leader was a high performing middle manager now with a group of middle managers in their charge, which is a different skill set again. They could also be someone that has left the corporate world to explore their entrepreneurial proclivities and found themselves running a team, which they’ve never done before. In either case they’ve likely had little to no training to learn how to strategise. i.e Understand what the problem is they intend to solve in the market, what they think the solution is in terms of service or product and how to convey this meaningfully to their direct reports in a way they can act on, which reinforces the pitfalls a middle manager experiences, as stated on my Middle Managers page.
The senior leader is typically immersed in a highly political environment, far less so in startups and far more so in large enterprises, meaning to bring any idea or agenda to life has a high cognitive load in terms of strategic thinking and influencing, as their idea’s and agenda’s are in direct competition, possibly direct opposition, with the equivalent from their peers. If lacking in theses key skill it will be near impossible to get anything across the start line, never mind finish line, and this is more common than you’d think.
As a result their direct reports are regularly asked to act on partially-formed thoughts and half-baked idea’s that may or may not benefit the business, and risk costing the business significant sums of time and money as the vagaries of what a senior leader wants cascades down to the Team Leaders at the coal face. As with team leaders and middle managers, 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 helps people identify issues that are holding them back and unlock their potential. The results that I have experienced myself and for members of my team are exceptional both in terms of team and individual performance and through them impact on the wider team.”
Hilary Spence - CFO, Scottish Rugby
Mission Ready
Ideally, a senior leader has cultivated a group of middle managers, capable of ensuring they fulfill their departmental strategy and objective distilled from the company strategy. Our senior leader will have mapped out their strategy concisely to include their vision, resulting company mission with short and long term objectives and suggested steps to achieving them, which they have also articulated clearly to their peers and direct reports, possibly a non-exec board and shareholders.
When one of their middle managers bumps up against a problem in pursuit of their objective the senior leader coaches them to solve the problem for themselves, cultivating strategic thinking and autonomy in the middle manager, preparing them to one day hold the position of senior leader.
The senior leader creates an environment in which their middle managers can challenge their decisions and thinking to catch their blind spots, especially as the senior leader can experience intellectual isolation and overlook mission critical data or insight. My job is to nudge your senior leaders through their glass ceilings, step by step, from how it is to how it should be.
“Kenny has proven to be first and foremost a good listener who is both very approachable and very empathetic. He then takes everything on board and offers pragmatic advice which can help us, as individuals, grow and develop.”
Robert Cunningham - Head of UK Internal Audit, 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