# Your Layers Need a Clear Anchor Seat

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/layered-team-anchor-seat · Last updated 2 November 2026

You have team members, managers and an executive team, and the hard calls still end up on your desk. Ivanka Menken uses the Anchor Seat inside Clarity Shift Mastermind, a 10-month peer group at AUD $2,000 per month ex GST, to make you name one decision that belongs to a manager or executive layer and bring it to the room for questioning. You leave with the decision, the layer that owns it, and a commitment to keep it off your desk for the month.

## Layers in place, and every call still comes to you

- Managers bring you calls that sit inside their own area.
- Your executive team waits for your view before it decides.
- You added managers and the queue at your door did not shrink.

**THE MOMENT:** It is Tuesday and your calendar is full of other people’s decisions. A manager wants your yes on a roster change. An executive wants you in the room for a supplier choice that is plainly theirs. You built three layers so this would stop. The org chart is right. The traffic is not.

### THE BUSINESS, AS IT STANDS

- People: 300, in three layers
- Layers: team members, managers, executive team
- Decisions escalated to the founder this week: most of them
- Decisions written to a layer: none
- Last fix tried: more managers and new titles

## More managers and clearer titles

In this case, a services founder ran a team of 300 people across three layers: team members who wanted a steady nine to five, managers, and an executive team. The obvious fix was to add managers and restate the titles. It did not last. The new managers escalated the same way the old ones had, because nothing said which decisions were now theirs.

## The layers had titles, not decisions

Ivanka noticed that the org chart had three layers, yet the founder still answered questions that belonged to managers and executives. Nobody was being difficult. The decision rights had never been anchored to a layer, so the safest move for anyone with a hard call was to send it upward until it reached the one person who could always say yes.

## An anchor seat problem, not a people problem

The diagnosis was an anchor seat problem. The structure looked layered, but decisions had no owner other than the founder, so every layer behaved like a waiting room.
The reframe: do not redraw the chart. Pick one decision that keeps arriving on your desk, write the layer that owns it, and stop answering it for a month. Then let a room of founders question whether you will really let it go.

> The structure looked layered, but decisions had no owner other than the founder.

**The cost of staying stuck:** Every month the founder stays the only decision seat, managers learn to escalate, executives learn to wait, and the founder’s time goes to calls that 300 people were hired to make.

## The tool: Anchor Seat

In Clarity Shift Mastermind, one founder takes the Anchor Seat each month and brings one decision to the room. For a layered team, the decision is one that belongs below the founder: the room asks which layer owns it, what the founder will do when it comes back up, and how the month will be checked.

It is one anchor decision on one page. The three layers drawn as a stack, the decision dropping from the founder’s desk to the layer that owns it, and the commitment underneath: kept off the founder’s desk for the month, reviewed at the next session.

It replaces new titles, an extra management tier and the hope that people will stop escalating once the chart is clear.

### What goes on the page

1. The team: 300 people in three layers
2. The decision: one call that keeps reaching the founder
3. The owning layer: team, managers or executive team, written
4. The return line: what the founder says when it comes back up
5. The month: kept off the founder’s desk until the next session
6. The review: what reached the founder anyway, and why

It sits inside Clarity Shift Mastermind, next to the five-number scorecard every member shares monthly. The room questions the decision. The founder makes it. Ivanka does not redesign the organisation or run HR processes.

## One decision, sent down to its layer

In the session, the founder took the Anchor Seat with a list of last week’s escalations. Ivanka asked which one arrived most often, and which layer it really belonged to. The room questioned the answer: what would the founder do when a manager brought it up anyway? Together they wrote one anchor decision, the layer that owns it, the sentence the founder would use to send it back, and the commitment to keep it off the founder’s desk for the month.

### The questions

- Which decision reached you most often last week?
- Which layer should own it?
- What will you say when it comes back up?
- Who needs to hear that the decision has moved?
- What will you check at the next session?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: One decision that keeps reaching the founder.
2. The numbers: 300 people, three layers, one decision seat.
3. The story: More managers will fix the escalations.
4. The commitment: One decision written to its layer for the month.

Before the next session, the founder told the managers which decision had moved, sent it back each time it came up, and kept a tally of how often it still arrived.

## Decisions that stay where they belong

By month 6, the founder has moved one decision a month to the layer that owns it, the room has questioned each move, and the five-number scorecard shows where the founder’s time went.

**BEFORE**

- Most escalations reached the founder.
- New managers, same queue.
- Executives waited for the founder’s view.
- No decision written to a layer.

**BY MONTH 6**

- A written owning layer for each moved decision.
- Managers deciding operational calls first.
- The founder sending calls back with one line.
- A room that checks the move each month.

The container: 10 months of monthly two-hour group sessions with eight founders, plus two 1:1 check-ins each quarter.

## Give each layer a decision it owns

Ivanka Menken chairs Clarity Shift Mastermind for founders of A$1M to A$10M businesses who have built a team and still carry the decisions. Each month one founder takes the Anchor Seat with one decision.
This fits if you have managers or an executive team and the hard calls still arrive on your desk. It does not fit if you want an org redesign, an HR system or a course. The decision in front of you is one call and one owning layer. Write them down before the next escalation reaches you.

> Helps founders lead with clarity and integrity by modelling vulnerability, emotional intelligence, and grounded decision-making. Creates an environment where leaders can openly explore challenges and grow without fear of judgement.
>
> R.W., founder

## Who fits, and who does not

### It fits

- You run an A$1M to A$10M business with more than one layer.
- Managers or executives escalate calls they could make.
- You have tried new titles or more managers already.
- You will bring the decision to a room and act on what it asks.

### It does not fit

- You want an org chart redesigned for you.
- You want an HR system or performance process.
- You want a course or masterclass.
- You will not share your numbers with a small, vetted group.

### Investment

**AUD $2,000 per month ex GST, 10 months.** The Anchor Seat is part of Clarity Shift Mastermind, a 10-month peer programme at AUD $2,000 per month ex GST. It is not sold separately.

Included:

- 10 monthly two-hour group sessions
- Two 1:1 check-ins each quarter
- The five-number scorecard shared each month
- The Anchor Seat for one decision a month

- [Apply for Clarity Shift Mastermind, AUD $2,000/mo, 10 months](mailto:ivanka@ivankamenken.com?subject=Clarity%20Shift%20Mastermind%20application)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=layered-team-anchor-seat#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Clarity Shift Mastermind programme](https://ivankamenken.com/clarity-shift-mastermind)

## Questions about Anchor Seat

### Why do decisions still reach me when I have managers?

Usually because no decision was ever written to a layer, so sending it upward is the safest move for anyone with a hard call. Titles do not move decisions; a written owner does. Ivanka Menken works on this inside Clarity Shift Mastermind, a peer group of 10 months at AUD $2,000 per month ex GST, one anchor decision at a time.

### What is the Anchor Seat?

Each month one founder brings an anchor decision to the room of eight. The room questions it, tests whether the founder will really let it go and helps write it down. The founder leaves with one written commitment. Ivanka Menken chairs it inside Clarity Shift Mastermind, which runs for 10 months at AUD $2,000 per month ex GST.

### Do I need 300 people for this to apply?

No. The case had 300 people, but the pattern shows up as soon as a business has one layer of managers: decisions still travel to the founder. The page is the same at any size: one decision, the owning layer, the return line and the month. Ivanka Menken chairs it inside Clarity Shift Mastermind, 10 months at AUD $2,000 per month ex GST.

### How long is Clarity Shift Mastermind?

Clarity Shift Mastermind runs for 10 months at AUD $2,000 per month ex GST: ten monthly two-hour group sessions with eight founders, two 1:1 check-ins each quarter and the five-number scorecard shared each month. Ivanka Menken chairs every session. The Anchor Seat is part of the programme and is not sold separately. Places are by application.


## Bring one decision to the Anchor Seat

If your team has layers and the hard calls still reach you, apply for Clarity Shift Mastermind. The Anchor Seat is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether the room fits.

- [Apply for Clarity Shift Mastermind, AUD $2,000/mo, 10 months](mailto:ivanka@ivankamenken.com?subject=Clarity%20Shift%20Mastermind%20application)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=layered-team-anchor-seat#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Clarity Shift Mastermind programme](https://ivankamenken.com/clarity-shift-mastermind)
- [Write the role charter before any hire](https://ivankamenken.com/role-charter-before-hiring)
- [Set a senior leader output benchmark](https://ivankamenken.com/three-times-output-benchmark)
- [Test a revenue bonus in the room](https://ivankamenken.com/revenue-based-bonus-anchor-seat)
- [The Clarity Shift Mastermind](https://ivankamenken.com/clarity-shift-mastermind)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka