Funny how things changed. We used to have strong MIM teams where directors and senior directors were actually involved — on calls, driving resolution, owning outcomes, and working side by side with delivery teams during major incidents. You knew exactly who was accountable.
Now everything seems to flow through “Common Services”(unsure of what they do. Ask them and they go in circles as well ) with layers of service owners, orchestrators, operators, governance leads… honestly sometimes it’s hard to even understand who truly owns what anymore.
Don’t get me wrong — some people in those teams do work hard. But what’s frustrating is when the people actually fixing issues, managing crisis, and carrying the operational load barely get recognized, while others who are nowhere to be found during escalations somehow end up taking all the credit in leadership updates.
Maybe I’m old school, but leadership used to mean showing up during the tough moments, not just presenting the final slide saying “we delivered.”
At times it honestly feels like more governance theater than operational leadership. Is this really what “transformation” became?