"Your job is f***ing hard" - the reality of MSD leadership

It's 10PM on a Friday. You're finally sitting down to a cold dinner that you were supposed to eat with your family when your phone buzzes...

Late night phone call

... The ambassador is asking about that partnership that's been stalled in procurement for three months. Your deputy just texted that two key team members are threatening to quit because they're frustrated with endless delays from the finance team, who in turn are fuming because the Chief Financial Officer doesn't like the flexible new partnerships template they worked on for months. The donor wants to know if you can add 'green' to half of your project outcomes because it's now a priority from HQ, and they're counting on you to help them look good in the upcoming review. And somewhere in the back of your mind, you're wondering if that market actor you've been courting for eight months is actually going to sign the agreement on Monday, or if you're back to square one.

A problem worth solving

The vignette above might be fictional, but it represents a realistic picture of the multiple pressures that MSD team leaders (TLs) navigate on a regular basis.

For the past three years we have been engaged in a collective learning process to explore the questions: How do we understand the actual ‘hard job’ that TLs are saddled with? What are the skills and competencies that make a difference when implementing the MSD approach in projects?

This has led to the recent publication of the MSD Team Leader Competency Framework - which we will unpack in a series of blogs. For today, let’s focus on establishing why this problem needs solving, and how a framework can possibly begin to help.

Two stories from real TLs

The two stories below are derived from real programmes, and real TLs, who we (Tim and Mike) have worked with in our earliest applications of the TL competency framework.

Story 1 - The innovation trap

You were hired specifically because of your private sector background and ability to think differently. The donor loves your vision of working with entrepreneurship incubators and innovation hubs. But every partnership hits the same wall: a risk-averse due diligence process mandated by your HQ that treats a dynamic start-up incubator the same as a traditional NGO. Your local finance team is stuck in the middle, receiving contradictory messages - "be innovative" from you, "don't get us in trouble" from HQ.

After months of trying to unstick the system, you realise you're spending 70 per cent of your time fighting internal battles instead of strengthening market systems.

Story 2 - The pivot

This is the latest and most exciting phase of a multi-phase programme, mandated to pivot from direct delivery to MSD. The donor and HQ are thrilled and the team is onboard, and you're hired to make it happen. You brought in the tailored MSD training and developed some fabulous results chains, but the team is terrified of the ambiguity of relying on private sector actors for results. They instinctively and repeatedly retreat back to old ways of working, promoting outdated ideas but with new terms.

You're trying to establish a common vision for systemic change and bring it into each partnership design while helping team members get comfortable with greater uncertainty.

Bringing structure to the chaos

These stories aren't isolated incidents - they're part of recognisable patterns that play out across MSD programmes worldwide. After years of watching talented leaders burn out or struggle in isolation, we realised the problem wasn't individual capability - it was the lack of a framework to understand and address the unique challenges of MSD leadership.

Drawing on insights from 65+ practitioners, we developed a competency framework that captures what MSD TLs need to master: not just technical MSD knowledge, but the ability to shape learning cultures, manage complex relationships and transform operational systems.

By mapping these patterns into four distinct domains, the framework is not just a diagnostic tool - it's also a roadmap for concrete strategies. The domains brings some modicum of order to the chaos.

The four domains of MSD Team Leader competencies

Whether you're working with a coach, connecting with peers or leading your own development, it provides a common vocabulary for challenges that can feel impossible. It's the difference between drowning alone and having a real-time map of currents that lead back to shore.

How the framework can help

Addressing Story 1 - The innovation trap

Diagnosis: The TL is being challenged to create the space for their team to operate (Domain 3, relationship with IP HQ) while stimulating a shift to adaptive operations (Domain 4, finance and operations). The framework highlights that the finance team was caught between these two conflicting forces, and the TL needed to intervene.

Avenues of action: In coaching work with the TL we explored multiple interventions; (a) working ‘upward’ to convince HQ - including drawing in external resources, (b) working to influence thinking on the project’s finance team.

Strategies tested: The TL prioritised running tailored sessions with the finance team to understand their specific fears and constraints, while giving more strategic feedback to senior leadership about the costs of being too risk averse.

Result: The issues haven't been resolved easily. But the TL now has a clearer strategy and stronger alliances. The finance team has become a thought partner rather than a blocker, and the TL continues to press forward with senior leadership, armed with concrete examples of lost opportunities and their business implications.

Addressing Story 2 - The pivot

Diagnosis: Most of the team members want to adopt the new approach but a variety of understandable fears make it preferable to fall back on what they know best. The TL needed to do two things well: First, to model the change through partnership engagement (Domain 1, managing partnerships/capacity building/setting the systemic change vision). Second, to lead group discussions that explain the difference between MSD and what they were used to doing (Domain 2, encouraging open communication and a culture of performance and learning). The team also needed help applying MSD tools to intervention design.

Avenues of action: We worked with the TL as well as with intervention managers, individually. With the TL we focused on the group dynamic, while discussions with individual intervention managers centred around partnership engagement and intervention design. 

Strategies tested: The TL would often join team members on visits to potential partners to model co-creation. The team also held more group discussions around new partnerships - these helped to redirect the way they approached their work. Lastly, the team focused on getting a few pilot partnerships up and running quickly so they could see them in action.

Result: The team moved more quickly with a set of pilot interventions, building a larger portfolio over time. Meanwhile, their conversations shifted to being more critical about sustainability questions. They also began to apply more of the tools of MSD, including results chains, which helped to further clarify their thinking.

Calling all early adopters

Ready to move beyond just surviving as an MSD TL? The full TL Competency Framework is now available, offering behavioural markers and reflective questions across four domains.

We're seeking early adopters who want to apply this framework in their own leadership development or in coaching others. If you're interested in being part of shaping how this tool evolves - whether you're a TL, a coach working with MSD leaders, or an organisation wanting to better support leaders - get in touch with Mike at mike.klassen@beamexchange.org to signal your interest.

Your job is f***ing hard. But you don't have to figure it out alone.