Public Leadership and the Middle Path workshops — virtual and in-person options. View dates and details.
Build a management team
that solves the right problems.
Help capable managers carry more of the company's weight.
Growth changes what your company needs from its managers
As companies grow, capable managers have to handle more problems, decisions, and difficult conversations without relying on senior leaders to step in.
TRUSTED BY EARLY-STAGE COMPANIES AND GLOBAL ENTERPRISES
More than 30 years in organizational development, including more than 15 focused specifically on leadership development.
Does too much still roll back to you?
Your managers may be capable, committed, and technically strong. Yet you may still find yourself thinking:
“Every decision funnels through me—and it is slowing us down.”
“We keep solving the same problems.”
“When I’m out, too many things wait for me.”
“People are working hard, but follow-through is inconsistent.”
One problem may be isolated. When several appear across managers, the pattern often points to something larger.
THE PATTERN BENEATH THE SYMPTOMS
These may not be separate manager problems.
Problems with delegation, decisions, conflict, priorities, and follow-through are easy to treat one at a time. But when the same difficulties show up across several managers, the issue may be the management system itself: the shared ways people solve problems, make decisions, create agreements, and follow through.
A BETTER QUESTION
Instead of asking, “Which manager needs fixing?” ask: “What shared ways of working will help this management team carry more of the company’s weight?”
THE COLLABORATIVE LEADERSHIP SYSTEM
Develop the management system—not just individual managers.
The Collaborative Leadership System helps management teams develop shared ways to solve problems, make decisions, work through disagreement, and follow through—using real situations the team is already facing.
What changes in practice
See more clearly. Managers distinguish symptoms from root causes and consider the full system before choosing what to change.
Decide at the right level. Ownership and input are clearer, so decisions and problems don't automatically funnel upward.
Create reliable agreements. Managers turn decisions into explicit who, what, and when commitments—and follow through.
Learn and adjust. The team surfaces disagreement, reviews results, and improves without repeated senior intervention.
THE OUTCOME
A management team that solves the right problems skillfully, in fewer iterations, and without constant senior-leader intervention.
"At Mighty, we saw immediate business impact from our work with Russ. Our team was able to collaborate more efficiently and communicate more clearly, saving time and improving decision-making. His work emphasized shared frameworks and language that teams can take with them long after a workshop ends."
–Jessica Shambora
Sr. Director, Product Management
Mighty Networks
The CLS is designed for growing companies, typically 20–200 employees, where capable managers still rely too heavily on senior leaders to solve problems, make decisions, or handle difficult conversations.
WHY RUSS POWELL CONSULTING
The core ideas that shape this work
A lot of leadership development starts with communication techniques, overly complicated models, or the latest management idea. This work takes a different route. Four principles shape how managers learn — making the skills more practical, easier to use, and more likely to get used in real work.
Problem-solving comes first.
Clear communication matters, but it doesn’t help much if people are solving the wrong problem. Managers learn to communicate better — and to slow down, understand what is actually happening, and work on the problem that matters.
Human systems are not machines.
Teams and organizations are not machines to tune or optimize. They are living systems — complex,
adaptive, and often messy. Structure and process matter, but so do relationships, assumptions, emotions, and individual judgment. Managers learn to look at the whole system, get more comfortable with ambiguity, and understand what is really happening before deciding what to change.
Simple enough to use under pressure.
A framework that is hard to remember is unlikely to get used in an intense meeting or difficult conversation. The tools Russ teaches are deliberately simple — easy to remember and useful across many situations — so managers can apply them when the pressure is on.
Built on durable ideas, not management fashion.
Many of the frameworks Russ teaches come from the Middle Path approach, which draws on ideas far older than the latest leadership trend. One of its central practices is moving beyond false either/or choices and learning to hold important tensions together. Managers become more effective by learning to integrate apparent opposites: confidence with humility, flexibility with discipline, results with integrity, and clear guidance with genuine support.
EXPERIENCE
Experience that supports the work
Russ has spent more than 30 years helping organizations improve workforce performance, including more than 15 years focused specifically on developing leaders. That experience helps him recognize when a recurring management problem is about skills — and when the real issue may also involve roles, agreements, relationships, or how the work is set up.
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Experience across a wide range of organizations, from technology companies such as Patreon and Mighty Networks to global companies including Google, SAP, Genentech, and Medtronic, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard.
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Hogan-certified, with advanced certifications in interpretation and feedback.
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Deep experience working with managers and teams, including thousands of managers taught and work with more than 100 teams.
"As a result of working with Russ, our leadership skills have tangibly improved. We've achieved a stronger team dynamic and a more effective approach to problem-solving. This transformation has not only boosted our productivity but also brought our team closer together."
–John LaGue
Chief Operating Officer
Trainwell
START HERE
See where your management team may be getting stuck.
The free, self-scoring Management System Diagnostic looks at seven dimensions of how your management team works — from problem-solving and follow-through to delegation, trust, and clarity around priorities and ownership.
In about 15 minutes, you’ll get a clearer picture of where things are working well and which one or two areas may deserve closer attention.
Free. About 15 minutes. No call required.
