The Manager and Senior Manager roles, which act as the core of the Monitor case team, are a constant intellectual challenge, and are the platform upon which Monitor consultants build elite leadership and commercial skills. Managers typically have 18 months to three years of post-MBA experience or four to seven years of post-undergraduate experience, while Senior Managers typically have a year or two of experience in the Manager role. They serve as the central liaison between the client, Monitor’s senior leadership, vendors, and all members of their case team.
Together with clients, Monitor Partners, and Associate Partners, Senior Managers and Managers frame the goals and deliverables for each client project, and have direct responsibility for crafting roles that provide growth and development opportunities for the more junior consultants on the team. Managers and Senior Managers integrate findings across various internal and client working teams to ensure we achieve maximum client impact, and to ensure that the project is completed on time and on budget.
Monitor’s meritocratic approach to advancement means that both undergraduates and MBA-level consultants lead teams. This diversity and breadth within the Manager and Senior Manager cadres presents a compelling career path to our junior consultants, and differentiates us with clients.
The responsibilities of the Manager and Senior Manager include:
- Partnering with the client and Monitor Partners or Associate Partners to scope the project, its duration, and its high-level work plan
- Staffing the project, and assigning roles and responsibilities to deliver on analytical agenda
- Providing professional development opportunities and feedback for the case team
- Serving as the day-to-day contact for the client, keeping them abreast of the project’s progress and direction
- Articulating the high-level activities and outputs for the project’s duration and managing the Monitor team as it executes the project’s work plan
- Driving the development of insights and recommendations for the final output, working closely with the Partner or Associate Partner and case team
- Creating a shared point of view with the client on recommendations
- Developing Monitor’s relationship within the broader client organization
- Beginning to identify opportunities for further Monitor support of the client
Your Development
Managers and Senior Managers have already built a business foundation, either at Monitor or through work experience elsewhere, and demonstrated project management capabilities. They enter through three channels: as existing employees promoted from Senior Consultant; as Monitor alumni returning from graduate school or other professional endeavours; or as seasoned professionals with significant business experience.
These career stages are focused on simultaneously exploring the breadth of Monitor’s areas of expertise (like marketing, innovation, or organizational design) and finding opportunities to develop deeper expertise within specific practice areas that interest you (such as marketing and pricing or economic development and security).
Managers and Senior Managers also bear significant responsibility for helping develop junior colleagues, through active coaching on case teams, informal mentoring, and (at the Senior Manager level) more formal responsibilities as a Career Development Advisor. You’ll also take on significant leadership roles in firm-building efforts such as recruiting at a university or leading community-building initiatives in an office.
The majority of your learning will come through work experience and active coaching on case teams and client projects. During the staffing process, you’ll help steer the kinds of opportunities you want to pursue. This may mean focusing on a content area such as innovation or organizational design, taking an international allocation, or pursuing an internal opportunity like recruiting or human assets. You will also be invited to attend a global training program with your peers from across the firm upon promotion to both Manager (the ASCEND training program) and Senior Manager (the ACCELERATE training program), with a focus on hypothesis generation, case-team leadership, client relationship-building and leadership persona development. These training programs expose you to world-class content (often developed by Monitor’s thought leaders), and present multiple opportunities to broaden and deepen your networks within the firm.
As your capabilities progress, you’ll take on increasing responsibility within the firm on the path to Partnership, taking more active roles in developing and cultivating client relationships.