It's a day of mixed emotions. Various things are racing through my head as a result of different lunches, emails and conversations.......so apologies if this posting seems somewhat disjointed.
The past: Is definitely over....the end of May is when a whole swathe of Senior Executives will leave the firm. The first farewell emails are coming through. In consulting you get used to seeing this type of mail, but it seems sort of different when they come from Senior Executives who you know have been around longer than you have had hot dinners. Maybe I should be more ruthless and think fantastic more slots at the top....but I have to confess that is not my initial reaction. They are cutting muscle in many areas and in those situations maybe it's not a good idea to be at the top just yet.....
The future.....is going to be a lot of frustrated people if the firm doesn't manage expectations carefully. I've just heard today that in at least one group in one geographical region, that not all of the Very Top (VT) analysts will get their promotions. VT accounts for the top 5% of people. If these guys are not getting the promotions then it's really not good. How do you motivate your top performers?
The future as a Senior Manager.....I attended a business lunch today. I was lucky enough to be sitting next to the top people who ran the recent bid at the insurance company. It's always interesting to chat to this type of person because it allows you to see the next step on the ladder. My conclusion was that professionally Senior Manager activities and Senior Executive activities are very similar in many regards. Conclusion - if you don't like being a Senior Manager, probably not worth hanging around to make Senior Executive. For those people who have that reaction, thankfully they have made Senior Manager a "landing point", although it seems a bit odd to rush up the Accenture ladder to get to one step before the end and then say, "actually it's not really for me lads". On the upside, one of those senior people owned three racehorses - so it's not all bad at the top!
Life really does just go on and on......After I got back to the office from lunch, another Senior Manager sat me down and talked to me about his exciting pipeline of opportunities in insurance and how I would need to help him. He was obviously (naturally) oblivious to my reflections and emails of the day, and it just reminded me that the whole organisation just continues to grind on and on.....New faces working on slightly different ideas. I suspect the word "evolution" is better than "progress".....
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