Every project faces moments when progress slows or comes to a standstill. At these critical points, senior managers and directors have an essential role to play in genuinely providing solutions. However, the approach they choose to take can either resolve the issue or just make it more complex for the rest of the teams.
Having done the whole senior management thing myself 1, I noticed a common pitfall: managers mistakenly believe that simply escalating an issue or demanding results equates to genuine assistance.
Due to their authoritative roles, senior management involvement is often immediately noticed and acted upon, but this can mislead them into thinking their mere presence or directive is helpful. In reality, merely escalating issues without offering tangible solutions frequently “robs Peter to pay Paul,” solving one issue temporarily but creating another elsewhere.
So, what does genuine help from senior management look like?
Provide Real Additional Resources: Effective intervention often requires additional resources. Crucially, this doesn’t mean reallocating existing staff or resources but genuinely investing in new resources, such as hiring additional personnel, acquiring necessary tools, or making strategic investments.
Unfortunately for managers, genuine assistance often comes in the form of increased budgets or funding to support urgent needs 2.
Offer Broader Perspective and Insight: Senior managers and directors usually have a comprehensive view of the organisation, enabling them to identify solutions or resources that may not be visible to project teams.
Sharing knowledge about other teams or departments that can assist or suggesting alternative solutions based on wider organisational insights can be immensely useful and shortcut a lot of problems.
Adjust and Clarify Priorities Thoughtfully: While frequently shifting resources is usually counterproductive, there are strategic exceptions. Occasionally, reducing pressure on one initiative can free up critical capacity to address more pressing issues.
This approach, however, must be carefully managed and clearly communicated to avoid confusion or resentment within teams.
Provide Support and Protection: Sometimes, the best assistance senior leaders can offer is protection from external pressures or excessive interference.
Shielding project teams from undue scrutiny or conflicting demands allows them to focus clearly on solving critical issues. Effective support might simply mean advocating for more realistic timelines or managing stakeholder expectations more effectively.
In short, effective senior leadership intervention requires more than mere escalation—it requires thoughtful, resourceful, and strategic support. When done correctly, this not only resolves the immediate issues but also strengthens the broader organisational effectiveness, and we don’t end up with a load more tech debt, which messes things up further down the line.