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I think have a 1:1 with her and tell her what you told us. That you respect her leadership and liked working with her on a previous project but that you’re in a challenging position where you’re not aligned in meetings and you as the M are closer to the material than she is, but don’t ever want to undermine her leadership role. Suggest the following in combination as a solution:
1. You (OP) handle the day to day more similarly than last time
2. SM doesn’t need to be in as many meetings, but when she does in order to bond with the clients, have an internal conversation first to align on talking points and have her present and turn over details to you
3. Have her get involved a bit more in status updates or decision making so she actually is informed when she does need to talk
All of the above should help, will make you both look better for the benefit of Deloitte.
Personal experience interview. Handling this type of a situation would be a standard question - as C1 rightly realized. I need to brush up if I need to get out one day lol
Type faster 😩
As the M you should be running the project. I was in this same situation. Pitch it to her in a way that benefits her
Im not sure there are a lot of positive ways to do this. Id look for an opening in a conversation with her and start telling her you can handle whatever is on topic. There is likely a reason shes controlling this and she wont just yield it easily.
Definitely talk to your SM about this. As an SM myself, the only reason I am ever hesitant to allow an M to fully run the engagement is when 1. I don’t think they are ready (sounds like this isn’t the case for you), or 2. I myself do not feel comfortable enough with the subject matter, and I’m leaning in in an effort to become more familiar with the details and subsequently add value.
Thanks for the insights P1. Agreed with your points. I’d be surprised too if it were 1 since I just got promoted and got really good all-round feedback. I feel there are some dynamics between her and the principal in the background that I’m not privy to and that doesn’t really involve me.
Update: after bombing multiple meetings before I could act on some of the advice here, I finally candidly told her to let me try a different approach. She agreed. She’s moving her attention elsewhere.
Told the principal on the side about what happened and he knew very well what’s up. So that’s a relief. He’s a superstar and I’m not burning that bridge.
..and I was sitting on the side and had no clue how to jump in without undermining her.
She’s a SpL and I don’t think she’s a top candidate for PPMD in this network.
Average project length 10-12 weeks and close to 2 years. Did one for 4 months. So done quite a few projects.
Agreed with your other point. That’s what I replied to someone in this thread. Something between her and her boss and I don’t want to get into that.
That said, great advice here all round! Glad I posted.