In this episode, Sarah dives into the concept of the Glass Cliff—what it is, why it happens, and most importantly, how to avoid stepping into leadership roles that may be set up for failure. Whether you're considering a promotion or navigating a crisis leadership role, Sarah shares practical strategies and insights to help you make informed decisions and set yourself up for success.

Show Notes

[00:00:00] Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable

[00:01:00] Why the podcast exists – supporting ambitious female leaders

[00:02:00] Introducing today’s topic: The Glass Cliff

[00:03:00] What is the Glass Cliff and why does it happen?

[00:04:00] Real-world examples and crisis scenarios

[00:05:00] Why women are often appointed during challenging times

[00:06:00] The risks of taking on a Glass Cliff role

[00:07:00] Career strategy considerations before saying yes

[00:08:00] Doing your due diligence: past, present, and future challenges

[00:09:00] Gathering external insights and understanding support structures

[00:10:00] Case study: A leader navigating a Glass Cliff role during COVID

[00:11:00] Lessons learned: The importance of board and stakeholder support

[00:12:00] Creating a plan and negotiating resources

[00:13:00] Spotting red flags and making the final decision

[00:14:00] Recap: Key steps to avoid the Glass Cliff

[00:15:00] Resources, coaching support, and next steps

Key Takeaways

• Understand the risk: The Glass Cliff often occurs when women are appointed during times of crisis.
• Do your due diligence: Assess the past, present, and future realities of the role before accepting.
• Negotiate for success: Ensure you have the right resources, support, and clarity before saying yes.
• Make informed choices: Walking away can be the right decision if success conditions aren’t in place.

Useful Links

Sign up for Weekly Career Inspiration

Learn about Leadership & Advancement Coaching Programmes

Book a Free 121 Clarity Call

Join The Love What You Do Facebook Group

Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn

Rate & Review the Podcast

If you found this episode of Unstuck & Unstoppable helpful, please do rate and review it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

If you're kind enough to leave a review, please do let Sarah know so she can say thank you. You can always reach her at: sarah@careertreecoaching.co.uk

Mentioned in this episode:

Free Webinar

https://www.careertreecoaching.co.uk/imposter-syndrome-webinar

Welcome to Unstuck and Unstoppable,

the podcast for ambitious female

2

leaders who want to create more impact,

income, and influence in their careers.

3

feel connected to their passion

and purpose, but without

4

selling out or burning out.

5

I'm Sarah Archer, a leadership coach

and career strategist, helping women

6

like you thrive in leadership roles

while staying true to your values.

7

I'm the founder of CareerTree

Coaching and have over 15 years of

8

coaching experience and significant HR

leadership experience to share with you.

9

I know as a female leader it can

be hard to find time to focus

10

on your career aspirations.

11

The day job can be all consuming.

12

Plus, no matter how senior you are,

there are always going to be times

13

when you feel stuck, when you have

self doubt, or feel like an imposter.

14

And that's where unstuck

and unstoppable comes in.

15

Each week I'll be sharing practical

strategies, insightful interviews and

16

inspiring stories to help you boost

your confidence, lead with purpose

17

and achieve sustainable success.

18

If you're ready to stop playing

small and unlock the incredible

19

potential you have within you and feel

unstoppable, you're in the right place.

20

Let's get started.

21

Welcome to episode 44.

22

I'm really pleased that

you are joining me today.

23

We've got a really interesting

topic, how to avoid the glass cliff.

24

Obviously this doesn't come up very often,

but it is important to be thinking about

25

whether you are potentially taking on a

role that is effectively a glass cliff.

26

And if you are.

27

Making sure that you are protecting

yourself as much as possible so that

28

you can, enable success to happen in

that role or avoid taking on that role

29

if it does look like it's something

that is really insurmountable.

30

I hope you really enjoy today's

session and,, if you are experiencing

31

a glass cliff yourself or you have

done, I'd love to hear from you.

32

So do drop me a line.

33

Let's dive into the topic then.

34

What is the glass cliff?

35

We all know about the glass ceiling,

but what is the glass cliff?

36

This is where a female leader or a

person of color is appointed to a senior

37

role when an organization is in crisis

where, often the problem hasn't been

38

solved previously, it can be a really

exciting opportunity to get your foot

39

in the door in leadership and be able

to do something really exciting in

40

terms of turnaround, but there's also

high risk that comes with it because

41

the chance of failure could be high.

42

Now obviously the organization isn't

consciously putting people into

43

roles to get 'em to fail, but and

we'll explore why people might be

44

appointed in a glass cliff scenario.

45

When the organization might be in

crisis, and that could be to do with

46

financial difficulties or challenges.

47

It could be things like

a natural disaster.

48

It could be a reputational issue.

49

It could be some departure of

a leader after a long period.

50

It could be a whole raft

of different things.

51

It could be challenges in the industry.

52

But the organization is finding it hard

to achieve its organizational goals, and

53

so it needs to bring in somebody to turn

that around in fairly short space of time.

54

If we think about a glass cliff recently,

the most office one we could think

55

about is the presidential election

in America, where Kamala Harris.

56

Was suddenly thrust onto this glass

cliff, she could either succeed

57

or fail dramatically without

necessarily having the chance to do

58

the things that we're going to talk

about today that could mitigate or

59

avoid that glass cliff scenario.

60

Often leaders, when there is a, an

issue, a crisis in the organization,

61

they are seen as part of the problem

and they're seen often as ineffective.

62

And, you don't want to walk

into a no win situation.

63

So what we're gonna explore today is the

due diligence that you can do to assess.

64

Is it a glass cliff?

65

And if it is it the thing that

I need to be able to walk away

66

from or actually say yes to?

67

There are three common reasons why

women might be appointed to leadership

68

positions in times of crisis.

69

And the research also tells us that,

it's real 'cause poorly performing.

70

Fortune 500 companies were found to

be more likely to appoint a female

71

CEO than when they're performing well.

72

And similarly boards are more likely to

appoint female directors following a fall

73

in the stock market of their company.

74

Three reasons could be that

the organizations wants to

75

have a symbol of change.

76

So putting in a leader who

is very different to previous

77

leaders, I, female leader.

78

Or a person of color into that

senior role is making a statement

79

that actually we're going to do

things differently around here.

80

Things are going to change.

81

So it could be, that's one of

the rationale, or it could be

82

particularly around female leaders.

83

'cause female leaders tend to be

thought of as more collaborative.

84

Have a more participative style of

leadership, be more understanding,

85

more intuitive, have higher levels

of social and emotional intelligence.

86

And if the crisis is linked to morale

or engagement or culture, it might be

87

thought that that style of leadership

is going to be more effective.

88

But the third reason, which does

feel a bit uncomfortable, is that the

89

organization might be more willing

to sacrifice a female leader if

90

things don't go well, that they might

be seen as a acceptable casualty

91

if the crisis can't be resolved.

92

So if you are thinking the job that I'm

currently going for or the promotion

93

that's being offered to me could be

potentially a glass cliff, you do need

94

to think about how to navigate it.

95

First things to think about is how is that

going to be part of my career strategy?

96

Could I see that if I managed to be

successful in this role, that it could

97

springboard my career and open doors for

me in a way that it would take me much

98

longer if I didn't take this opportunity.

99

So is there a real motivating factor

in terms of your career positioning?

100

The second thing is how you like to lead.

101

If you are somebody who thrives in those

crisis situations, who is somebody who

102

likes to make, decisions quickly and

fast-paced, difficult situations, then

103

it could be that the glass cliff scenario

is going to be more suited to you than

104

if you're a very reflective leader and

you like to, to bring stability and

105

more down to earth grounded leadership

that it might not be a turnaround

106

scenario is right for you because,

not everybody's going to respond well

107

in those situations and that's fine.

108

Not everybody wants to deal

with these crisis situations.

109

So understanding yourself will

also help you decide whether it's

110

something you want to explore or not.

111

If it is something you want to explore.

112

Then it is about doing this due diligence

during the selection process, which can

113

feel quite challenging because obviously

in an interview scenario, whether you're

114

first, second, third stage, you only get

a small window to ask your questions.

115

It's worth thinking about can I have

a offline conversation with the hiring

116

manager or somebody in the organization

about this particular challenge?

117

So it could be either between first

and second stage interviews, or it

118

could be at off a stage before you say,

yes, you are having this due diligence

119

conversation because you need to know.

120

What you are walking into, you

need to know what's happened.

121

You need to know what the risks are.

122

You need to understand what

they've tried, what hasn't worked.

123

You need to understand.

124

So that's the past.

125

You know what's gone on.

126

You need to understand the present,

what the expectations, what

127

resources are available to me,

what are the performance targets,

128

? You need to understand the future

as well in terms of what support's

129

going to be available to me from

people working with or, to me, but

130

also in terms of senior leadership or

board, what is actually going to be

131

available and what's the expectations

so that you are really gathering this

132

information to be able to know what's my.

133

Response to that, because it can be

very exciting and alluring to thing.

134

I could go in and I can make a real

difference, but you do need to understand

135

what is the real problem here and how

deep is it and how entrenched is it and

136

what's available to me to turn it around.

137

And that might also be going out and

talking to people in your network

138

or in the industry to understand

maybe a supplier's perspective

139

or a customer's perspective.

140

So that you are building a clear picture

of, what what you are walking into.

141

So you're really equipped to

be able to know whether this

142

is going to be doable or not.

143

Because for your career, you don't

want to walk in and find, actually

144

this really is a poison chalice

and I can't turn this around.

145

There's just no way I can do that.

146

, I did have a client who, was the financial

director in a manufacturing organization.

147

This was during and post COVID

where obviously they were

148

affected hugely by what we were

all experiencing in the world.

149

Their sales had, their production

processes were challenged, their

150

sales outlets were challenged

and their MD left suddenly.

151

And she was asked by the board to

take on the MD role, which she saw as

152

a great opportunity for her career.

153

And obviously she had access to

all the information to do the due

154

diligence because she was the fd, she

knew the challenges for the business.

155

She knew the, the figures, the

information, what was gonna be available.

156

The one thing she hadn't really done due

diligence on was board support for her and

157

for the decision she was going to make.

158

What quite quickly became apparent

when she was trying to then turn

159

things around, was that the board?

160

Were not united in

supporting her decisions.

161

And she began to realize that she was

going to be really hampered in terms

162

of making any changes or significant

changes because the board weren't able

163

to give her the go ahead to do it.

164

And so she had to make a decision

about did she stay or go, and

165

she did actually decide to go.

166

It didn't damage her

career because she hadn't.

167

Failed.

168

But it damaged her confidence.

169

And it had taken its toll on her in

terms of the stress that was involved.

170

So her reflection, she would definitely

have done more due diligence about

171

what the support was going to be

like for her in terms of the changes

172

that were going to be necessary.

173

'cause while organizations often want

change and see the need for change,

174

they don't always want to say yes to it.

175

So that's definitely part of your

due diligence, is also understanding

176

the stakeholder relationships and the

senior stakeholder relationships and

177

what the support is going to be like

and the genuine appetite for change.

178

So that you definitely know

what's going to be involved.

179

And then once you've gathered all of that

information and you've talked to people,

180

the right people, you really understand

what's happened in the business, what's

181

needs to happen, and what's available to

you, you can then think about creating

182

a plan for this particular challenge.

183

So maybe a short, medium, long-term plan

to really understand what is going to be

184

possible and what you're going to need.

185

Because you want to negotiate for

what you're going to need before

186

you say yes to taking on that

particular challenge or opportunity.

187

And you can only do that if you've

got a plan about what, what it's gonna

188

look like to turn these things around.

189

You are in a stronger position

to negotiate that support

190

those additional resources.

191

Whatever it is you need before

you say yes to the organization.

192

And also you checking out their

organizational commitments.

193

And if they say no to some of

those resources that are your

194

must haves, then you know that.

195

Gives you information

about do I say yes or no?

196

Because I know I'm not going to

get this, but I might get this.

197

So yeah, watch out for any red flags

really about whether the organization

198

will commit to what you need and

also whether the organization will

199

have those conversations with you

before you're joining the business.

200

'cause if they won't, then again, that

is a red flag that you need to either

201

walk away from or try and explore more.

202

So then when you've done your plan and

you've had that chat around resources and

203

know what's gonna be available to you, you

can then decide, do I take this plunge?

204

Do I jump, onto this , potential glass

cliff, or do I walk away from it?

205

And it's okay to walk away from

it for sure because you don't

206

want to be setting yourself up to.

207

To fail.

208

You want to be taking on something

that's going to definitely give

209

you opportunity and great experience.

210

To recap, if you realize you are on

a glass cliff, what you want to be

211

doing is doing your due diligence.

212

So checking out past, present, and future

so that you understand what's involved.

213

You know the risks, you know the

challenges, you know what's available

214

to you in terms of support and

resources, and you've had that agreed

215

because you've thought about plan.

216

And then you can make a decision

about whether it is the right

217

thing for you, which of course

you would do with any criticism.

218

Whether it's internal or an external

appointment, and if you are going

219

to say yes to it, putting in place

exactly what you need in terms of

220

support to make sure that you are

setting yourself up for success.

221

If you are on a glass cliff at

the moment or you are thinking

222

of taking on a glass cliff role

and you like some support around.

223

Navigating it in terms of

should I take this role?

224

Or if you are in it making sure that

you are putting success in place for

225

yourself, you're putting things in

that you need, then do get in touch and

226

we can have a chat about how coaching

can support you in making sure that

227

you deliver that role successfully

228

Thank you so much for listening

to this episode of the Unstuck

229

and Unstoppable podcast.

230

I have lots of free resources you

can access on my website, ww.career

231

tree coaching.co

232

uk, and I'll also put

links in the show notes.

233

If you found this episode

helpful, then please subscribe

234

so you don't miss the next one.

235

And please do share it with a

friend and leave me a review

236

and I will personally thank you.

237

Remember, you're capable of more

than you know, shine brightly.

238

Lead boldly and unlock the

extraordinary potential within you.

239

Be unstoppable.