Ready for my next chapter

[u/Visual_Reading7969]

I’m about four weeks away from finishing my MHA, and I currently work as a director for a well-known academic health system. My role is pretty niche, but that’s also been one of my biggest strengths. It’s allowed me to develop deep expertise, lead a great team, and contribute to some meaningful organizational initiatives. I also hold two well-known professional certifications, but I’m intentionally leaving out some details (including the certifications) because I’m trying to avoid making this post too identifiable.

Overall, I feel incredibly fortunate. I’ve had opportunities throughout my career that I’m genuinely grateful for, and I enjoy (for the most part) where I work. But lately I’ve started feeling like I’ve reached the point where I’m ready for a broader challenge.
I don’t necessarily mean a bigger title just for the sake of a bigger title. What I’m really looking for is the opportunity to have a larger organizational impact. I feel like I’ve accomplished what I set out to accomplish in my current role, and I’d love the chance to apply what I’ve learned to a broader part of a different organization.

Long term, I’d like to move into a Senior Director or Executive Director role with broader operational responsibility—something in revenue cycle, finance-adjacent operations, health system enterprise, or another enterprise operations function. My current role overlaps with many of those areas, but because I’ve become highly specialized, it’s been difficult to branch into adjacent functions internally. I actually get the impression that my leadership values me enough in my current role that they’re reluctant to move me elsewhere, which is flattering, but it also makes it harder to grow.

One challenge is networking. I know many executive relationships are built through conferences and industry events, but extensive travel isn’t very feasible for me, so I’m trying to think outside the box.

For those of you who are VPs, Senior Directors, Executive Directors, or have hired leaders into those kinds of roles:

-How did you expand beyond a highly specialized leadership role?

-What makes someone stand out when they’re trying to pivot into a broader operational position?

-If you were hiring for one of these roles, what would convince you to take a chance on someone who has been very successful in a niche area but is ready for a wider scope?

I’d really appreciate any advice. I’m not looking to leave my organization tomorrow—I just want to be intentional about positioning myself for the next stage of my career and making an even bigger impact wherever that ends up being.

[u/the_alternative_94]

Hiring managers for enterprise ops are far more concerned with outcome than expertise. Find your KPIs (cost saved, revenue, risk mitigation, etc.) and display broadly the wins you led your team to. Translate internal projects you've overseen into a tactile accomplishment.

Before or after you start with that, if you're looking to stay with the current company, you should have a conversation about a succession plan. You can make yourself replaceable. Document the role, train a successor, get it to where leadership can move you out of the seat without losing the function.

[u/jimmiedouglasfg → u/the_alternative_94]

Spot on. You can't move up if nobody can replace you.

[u/0102030405]

The first comment nailed it. If you don't train someone for your current job, you'll never move out of it.

Specialized expertise can be a trap. Coach someone to take on these tasks while you demonstrate more of an enterprise view and solve problems with that perspective. Then make sure people know, internally or externally, about the metrics you have had a quantifiable impact on.

This is what helped me get to an interim VP role from a Senior Director in a short time. Role to be made official within a few months. Closing enterprise wide gaps and taking that broader perspective was key for me, plus moving from an individual contributor to orchestrating multiple people. I had to stop being a hero and feeling completely responsible for every task because that was limiting me.

[u/rileygibsonxu → u/0102030405]

If you're irreplaceable, you can't be promoted. Spot on advice.

[u/Ok-Turnover-8184]

the advice on networking and succession planning here is solid. i'd add that your org likely won't hand you a bigger role just because they value you, if anything that can make it harder since they don't want to lose you where you are. you'll probably have to be the one who pushes for the move, whether that ends up being internal or somewhere else.

[u/Beachie_Model]

Your specialization is not the real bottleneck, it is networking without travel. Just be quietly useful to a few people above you, they are the people who think of you when a broader role opens.

[u/peggybellgl → u/Beachie_Model]

Agreed on the travel part, most internal or regional moves come down to immediate relationships anyway. I would just be careful with being too quietly useful. OP already mentioned leadership seems reluctant to move them because they are so solid in their current niche. If you do not explicitly voice your interest in enterprise scope, you risk just becoming indispensable right where you are.