Challenging Executives Without Damaging Trust

A promotion does not automatically make your work more strategic. Many leaders remain trapped in a cycle of tactical tasks, constantly putting out fires and getting lost in meetings. This article from Harvard Business Review explains why this occurs and how you can create space for strategic thinking. The shift is not about doing more work; it’s about working differently. What has been the most challenging aspect of stepping out of the details? https://lnkd.in/gtXpznea

When I first stepped into a School Business Manager role, I was expected to operate with clarity. But very quickly, I realised: The clarity didn’t exist. Roles were not clearly defined. ➡️ Processes varied across teams. ➡️ Expectations depended on who you asked. So the role became reactive. ➡️ Firefighting issues. ➡️ Managing risk without structure. ➡️ Trying to create consistency where none existed. And I see this often in schools. Not because people aren’t capable. But because clarity has not been created yet. Over time, I realised something that changed: Clarity isn’t created through communication alone. It’s created through leadership. Through: • Defining roles and accountability • Building systems that support consistency • Aligning expectations across teams • Reinforcing what “good” looks like over time This is what shifts a role from reactive to strategic. And it’s often where School Business Managers make their biggest impact.

Your best performers won't tell you when something is wrong. But if you're paying attention, they'll show you. A slight shift in energy. Less involvement in conversations they once owned. Still present, still delivering but something is different. Most leaders miss this. Not because they don't care, but because they're too caught up in the day-to-day to notice the subtle signals. And when they do sense something, the question becomes: do you give them space or do you check in? That's the line every leader needs to learn to navigate. And getting it right makes all the difference.

If you're an executive at the level where every meeting matters — here's something most leadership coaching won't tell you: Competence got you here. It will not get you the next thing. I learned this watching senior officers transition. The ones who stayed credible after the rank came off all had one thing in common — they had a story bigger than their title. Title is rented. Story is owned. When you walk into a board room or onto a stage as a senior leader, the audience already assumes competence. That's the price of admission. What they're listening for is something they can't get from your bio: the moment that shaped how you decide. Three places this matters most: 1. Internal town halls. The team has heard the strategy. They want to know who's delivering it. 2. Industry keynotes. Other executives don't need your data. They need to feel why this matters to YOU. 3. Succession conversations. What you leave behind isn't your résumé. It's the story your people tell about you when you're not in the room. If you're an executive sitting on a story you've never told publicly, that story is doing zero work for you. Worth fixing. I open 10 free 20-min Story Clarity Calls a week. No pitch unless it's a fit. Link in comments. Executives — what's the story you'd tell about a defining decision if the audience would actually listen?

Authority gets compliance. Influence gets commitment. When managers lead cross-functional teams, positional power rarely moves the work forward. Transparency, shared ownership, and consistent follow-through do. Organizations that develop influence-based leadership skills in their managers see stronger collaboration, fewer stalled initiatives, and leaders who perform at a higher level across the board. Ready to build that capability in your organization? #AuthenticLeader #LeadershipDevelopment #TalentDevelopment #ManagerDevelopment #HRLeadership

About halfway through Leading from the Middle and it’s really resonating. • Affirms the importance of middle leadership • Names the real experiences of the role • Offers practical strategies to lead more effectively If you’re leading from that in-between space, it’s worth the read.

Can you guess where we’re holding today’s leadership offsite? One thing I talk about often is clarity before action. Not because every team needs to stop and diagnose everything first, sometimes people are already very clear on what they want to change. In that case, you can move straight into the work. But when teams feel stuck, unclear, or reactive, more action usually isn’t the answer. Clarity changes the quality of decisions, conversations, leadership, and behaviour. Today’s session is focused on: – building trust through small moments – understanding our own nervous systems and how to manage them under pressure – and creating a customer experience designed around the moments that matter most to our customers Because better leadership and better customer experience rarely come from grand gestures. Usually, it’s the smaller shifts that change how people feel. If you’re thinking about: – a diagnostic to get a better handle on your peoples’s experience before EOFY (e.g. engagement scores, turnover, onboarding experience etc) – a leadership offsite - executive coaching - change readiness – or work that genuinely changes behaviour, not just fills a day Let’s chat next week because there’s not much time left before June 30!

Managers do not prove themselves in a workshop. They prove themselves when the pressure arrives. When the team is busy. When the work is late. When someone pushes back. When standards slip. When a conversation feels uncomfortable. When doing it properly takes more discipline than doing it quickly. That is where management habits show up. Some managers step into the role clearly. Others delay, soften, rescue, avoid or blame. Not always because they do not care. Often because they have never built the routines, confidence or judgement to manage the situation properly. That is why GrowingSuccess runs over four months. The value is not just in the information. The value is in what happens when managers take action in their actual role, then come back and examine what happened. What did they do? What did they avoid? What did they notice? What pressure changed their behaviour? What needs to happen next? That is where better management starts to form. GrowingSuccess gives new and emerging managers structure, action and accountability while the work is actually happening. The next small cohort starts Tuesday 09 June. It is for businesses with 1–3 managers who need their managers to act more clearly, earlier and with better follow-through. GrowingSuccess starts 09 June. #GrowingSuccess #Management #Leadership #PeopleManagement #NewManagers

The cost of poor executive support rarely shows up as a line item. It shows up as delayed decisions. Missed follow-ups. Meetings without clear outcomes. Priorities that keep shifting. Leaders spending valuable time coordinating work instead of leading it. That drag compounds across the business. A strong Executive Assistant helps reduce that friction by creating structure around the executive: what needs attention, what can wait, what needs follow-through, and what needs to move. Executive support is not just about someone who can complete tasks. It is about protecting leadership momentum.

High-impact leaders aren't born — they're built. Here's the blueprint. I'm co-facilitating the Manager Coaching Series at WSU Tri-Cities this June alongside Dr. Wade Larson, WSU Carson College of Business professor and leadership expert. Four half-day workshops for managers in the Tri-Cities who want to lead better — not just survive the week. A note on the name: we call it a coaching series for a reason. Wade and I aren't there to hand you a binder of rules and regulations. We want you to bring your real challenges. The point is the conversation — how to lead yourself and others, not just manage the process. Here's what we're covering: 📅 June 3 | Manager Essentials — Trust, expectations, coaching performance 📅 June 4 | Leading Performance & Change — Tough conversations, priorities, transitions 📅 June 9 | Building the Team — Hiring, onboarding, retention 📅 June 10 | Communicating with Influence — Meetings, updates, influencing without authority Register by May 22 to reserve your spot: https://lnkd.in/gUvB9pQ2 Space is limited. See you in the room.