What do you do when senior managers are part of the problem?

Howard Lake | 1 September 2009 | Blogs

• Tagged with:
• Management

My blog this week is a real-world question and a call for your thoughts and views.  Over the years I have dealt with numerous teams across a variety of organisations and in all but the smallest minority of cases, the ‘functional’ teams have described their ‘leadership’ as part of the problem they face rather than helping to introduce new solutions.


And I should add that as a former director I’ve therefore undoubtedly exacerbated someone else’s problems too!

So what do you do when those at the top are making things harder instead of better for your immediate team or in pursuit of your specific objectives?

I haven’t found the ideal answer yet.  I’ve listened to the advice of others, tried a few ideas of my own, won some great battles and crashed and burned on others.  There is a raft of theory on what’s loosely termed upward management and I’ve even attended a course or too but I’m still to find the perfect solution to getting leaders to help me achieve, rather than slow me down.

What do you do in these situations?  Could you share a few practical ideas to help your fellow fundraisers and communications teams?  To start the ball rolling, here are some thoughts based on real-world successes (and the odd cock-up):

• Like any other audience you try to target, you need an understanding of leadership’s wants and needs and how to communicate them in a way that will be positively received and elicit the action you want.

• Try to find out what issues are occupying them right now?  It might be that something major is happening which means ideas have to be put on hold and not that they are just preventing progress.

• Seek the opinion of those who know the leaders concerned better than you – they will be able to help you understand what works and what doesn’t, from personal experience.

• Wherever possible, translate what you are trying to communicate into their language.  Think about the big picture, budget performance, short or long term overviews etc.

• Find a ‘friend’ from within the senior group who can act as an ambassador or a champion for your idea, project or plan.  They probably won’t be the person who ultimately approves the decisions but they can help to persuade the other leaders when you aren’t there.  BUT be aware that this can be seen as not using proper channels so be sure that you are picking the right individual and not that you are just going over your manager’s head to get what you want.  I’ve seen some horrible consequences of teams engaging directors to ‘thump’ senior managers!  It should be about positive influence and shared understanding of the issues at hand.

• Make sure you are open and available to answer questions, however inconvenient they might be.  Senior leaders, in spite of themselves, like to have answers at their fingertips wherever possible when trying to make decisions.

• Ask a friend from outside the organisation to give you an honest opinion of the situation, based on the facts.  It might be that your approach isn’t striking the right chord with senior management.  They might also be able to tell you whether the situation is retrievable and help prevent you from wasting your time.

• Sometimes, senior managers believe a third party expert or a consultant rather than their own teams.  Sorry, but this is true.  Perhaps you could engage a relevant expert (or a volunteer) to help steer a course through the barriers that are in your way.

• For the same reason, it’s OK to recommend a seminar or a speaker to your senior team if you think it makes sense for them to talk about an idea instead of you.

• Try to remember that in all but a very few cases, decisions aren’t personal so push forward as much as you can but recognise when the timing for a particular idea might not be right.  In this case, move onto your next idea and keep going forwards.

When the issues are more personal, trade unions, the Citizens’ Advice Bureau, your own HR colleagues (where appropriate) can also offer excellent advice.  I don’t profess to be an expert on industrial relations, so make sure you do seek expert advice if your issues are serious.

Please do share any ideas you have to help in this difficult area. I will collate any information gathered for a full article to share with as wide an audience as possible.

Kevin is the Founder of Bottom Line Ideas

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.