Confidential briefing
Confidence: High
Theo
Prepared for your Senior Project Manager Discovery
What stands out
Ownership kept surfacing as the defining characteristic in how Theo describes their work: consistently describes work where the decision sat with them.
That reads directly onto your side, where decision making happens close to delivery teams.
Recommended next step
Meet Theo
Suggested first conversation:
- What ownership actually looks like inside your delivery teams.
- Which leadership behaviours bring out their best work.
- How the work here connects to something they'd care about.
You've not met before.
What we've learned
Ownership
Theo keeps returning to this without being asked: consistently describes work where the decision sat with them.
Revisited deliberately, and Theo did not soften it.
Leadership
Describes their best managers as coaches rather than reviewers. It has shaped what Theo has moved towards, not just what they say.
Heard across separate conversations months apart, described the same way each time.
Mission
When Theo describes work they were proud of, it is nearly always this: repeatedly prioritises meaningful education impact.
Raised unprompted more than once, with different examples behind it.
Why we're confident
This began as a single remark about ownership. It has since reappeared in separate conversations months apart without changing shape.
- Ownership, leadership and mission each read the same way from Theo's side and from yours, separately.
Their expectations sit at £82,000. No prior relationship — the reasoning carries this on its own.
Worth discussing first
- What ownership actually looks like inside your delivery teams.
- Which leadership behaviours bring out their best work.
- How the work here connects to something they'd care about.
- How decisions get made, and where they get written down.
- What would make the first year successful here.
Context
Where they are today
Theo is currently a Delivery Manager, based in Reading, United Kingdom. Their employer is theirs to share once you've both agreed to talk.
Where they've operated
Mostly education, insurance and financial services.
Theo has moved from Delivery Lead to Delivery Manager over 22 years — widening responsibility rather than lateral moves. Not looking, but would take the right conversation. Status: not yet connected.