Episode 103 - How to Niche Down as a Consultant: Maureen Kyne on Focus, Frameworks and LinkedIn
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Maureen Kyne's practice looks very different from the one she ran 15 years ago. What changed was not her skill set. It was her decision about where she wanted to play.
On Episode 103 of the Jane Anderson Show, Maureen, a workplace culture and leadership expert, explains how she learned to niche down as a consultant, moving from a broad mix of work to an international reputation around one problem: upward bullying, where leaders are bullied or undermined by members of their own team.
This article pulls out the lessons for anyone building an expert practice. You'll see how Maureen chose and defended her niche, tested the language her clients respond to, used original research to earn credibility, and turned LinkedIn into a conversation instead of a broadcast channel.
Who Is Maureen Kyne?
Maureen Kyne is a workplace culture and leadership expert, author, speaker and executive coach with more than 30 years of experience across healthcare, manufacturing, construction, transport, human resources and industrial relations.
She is a leading voice on upward bullying, the often overlooked dynamic where leaders are undermined or intimidated by their own team. Through her work with executives, boards and organisations, she helps leaders navigate conflict, restore trust and create calm, respectful, high-performing workplaces.
Want the full upward bullying conversation? Listen to Maureen's earlier appearance: Episode 96 on upward bullying in the workplace.
Why Specialising Grows a Practice
From Broad to Focused
Maureen says her business today and the one she had 15 years ago are two completely different practices. The shift came from “making those decisions about where I wanted to play.”
Asked what she would do differently, she gave two answers. First, find the right coach. Second, keep doing what she was doing at the start, but become more focused and narrow things down a lot faster.
Saying No to Shiny Balls
Maureen is candid about what held her back. She was chasing too many shiny balls. People would take her down a rabbit hole, and she would think, I could do that.
Someone she respects gave her simple advice years ago: stop chasing those shiny balls and only work with the people you want to work with.
Turning Work Away
The practical change was turning back work that wasn't in her lane. Maureen says that creates time to connect with the people she wants to work with and to keep her focus on upward bullying, building it into a solid program.
Because she lives regionally, people know who she is. Calls still come in by word of mouth, but she now refers that work to a colleague. A trusted reputation doesn't have to be spent on every enquiry.
How an Emerging Issue Became a Niche
Noticing a Shift Before It Had a Name
Maureen had focused on workplace behaviour for a very long time. Before COVID, she started to see a change in how leaders and business owners were being treated by their staff. During COVID it became far more evident, with leaders being pushed back on over the inherent requirements of their jobs. After COVID, she says, it escalated further. She also discussed the pandemic's effect on workplace power dynamics in a feature for The CEO Magazine.
She didn't build around a hunch. She posted information on LinkedIn and asked people questions. The responses showed her this was a real issue that needed to be addressed separately.
The lesson for consultants: listen for a pattern in your own work, then test it in public before you build a practice around it.
Testing the Language: From Upward Bullying to Upward Harm
Maureen introduced “upward bullying” as a definition to a couple of clients, including in their policies. The pushback was real. In one organisation, she says, the retaliation she faced when she raised it in a workshop was extraordinary. With another client she ran two separate workshops. One went extremely well. The other did not.
That made her rethink how she talks about it. Her observation is that when you walk into an organisation and say bullying or sexual harassment, the shutters come down. People don't want to admit it is happening, or that they can't handle it.
So she changed her language from “upward bullying” to “upward harm.” She says engagement increased. She posted her harm model every Monday for 13 weeks, breaking it into elements and going deeper into each one.
Using a Framework to Make a Hard Topic Discussable
Maureen says models and frameworks have become her favourite tool. Her harm model separates three directions:
Upward harm: leaders being bullied by their team.
Lateral harm: peer-to-peer behaviour, including mobs and gangs. She says she has seen it at executive level too.
Downward harm: including micromanagement and leaders who bully their employees.
For each direction she looks at the mechanisms of harm. Upward harm shares similarities with downward harm but has very specific differences.
Then she looks at the systemic side: what is happening in the organisation that contributes to the harm. That includes how performance management is run, how grievances and complaints are handled, what the policies say, and what gets discussed in toolbox talks and general meetings. Without understanding all of those variables, she says, you will never resolve harm in the business.
For your own practice, a model does two jobs. It gives clients a shared vocabulary, and it gives you a structured series of content to build over time.
Original Research as a Credibility Asset
Maureen mentions that someone once asked her why she thinks she's the expert and why they should listen to her. Her answer pointed to the research her practice commissioned.
Here is how she describes it:
She engaged a separate company so her own biases wouldn't affect how the survey was run.
The survey went out to about a couple of thousand people, and hundreds replied.
Respondents were decision-makers: CEOs, executives and board members. Some said they weren't senior enough to answer, which she saw as a good sign the right people were responding.
71% of the leaders said they had been upward bullied, based on the questions asked. Maureen calls that extraordinary.
Coverage of Maureen's report in The Educator also cites the 71% figure for senior leaders who have experienced upward bullying.
She also pushes back on the idea that this only affects women. Men, she says, are being bullied just as much.
Maureen presented the research at an international workplace bullying and harassment conference in Canberra a couple of months ago. She says it was extraordinarily well received, and she is looking at doing the research again.
Research like this doesn't have to be enormous. It needs to be independent, aimed at your buyer and specific to the problem you solve.
LinkedIn for Consultants: Your Front Line
On the show, Jane described social media as a practice's stage, as important as a keynote. Maureen agrees, and her habits show what that looks like.
Reply Personally and Use What You Learn
Maureen doesn't let her staff answer her messages. Her reason is that little things stick as she reads them. After some time out she had about 500 messages to work through over three weeks.
The questions and comments she receives become inspiration. If a comment suggests there is more to say, she notes it for deeper thinking. She mentions using ChatGPT to park ideas like that, though the conversations themselves are hers.
She also works in themes rather than single posts. The 13-week harm model is one example.
Make Outreach Fast
Maureen reaches out to people who view her profile, thanking them and asking what piqued their interest. She does the same with anyone who likes, shares or comments on a post.
She found her mobile phone is the quickest tool for this, because desktop takes a couple of extra clicks. After her morning exercises she sits down and works through messages in about half an hour: copy, paste, change the name. While she does it she glances at each profile, so she can personalise the message.
That opens conversations. People often reply with what they are going through right now.
Check You're Talking to a Buyer
Maureen is selective. She doesn't connect for the sake of connecting. Sometimes she looks at a profile and decides this person isn't going to be a buyer. Jane's comment was that chasing the wrong people is a drain on time, energy and effort. Maureen's was blunter: total time wasting.
Move From Conversation to Next Step Without Sounding Salesy
Maureen's approach is to give something useful first, then invite.
One example: a university professor told her a post touched a topic she was really interested in. Maureen invited her to download the research, then discuss it afterwards, and talked about how she might be part of what the professor is doing at the university. She is also clear that she looks at what's in it for her, so both sides win.
For someone who says they are struggling right now, she points them to the research, which can validate what they are going through. She also invites them to join her community at a complimentary level so they can take the conversation further offline. Some join straight away. Others join a couple of months later.
Why the Human Touch Matters
Before replying, Maureen looks at each person's profile and work so the response is relevant and the material she shares fits. Jane's view on the show was that people can sniff out AI on LinkedIn and disengage. Maureen's approach is a case study in the opposite: real conversations that lead to collaboration, podcasts and enquiries from places like Ireland and South Africa.
What to Keep and What to Delegate
Maureen's message is that you can't do this on your own.
She keeps the LinkedIn conversations. She delegates much of the rest:
Proposals: she talks to the client, sends her notes and an outline of how she wants the proposal to look, and two contracted staff she trusts implicitly put it together.
Investigations: a few people she works with take these on, which lets her deliver the best outcome for the client and keeps her connected to them.
Administration: a business manager helps.
Support: a coach or mentor, and someone who holds her accountable.
She also stresses surrounding yourself with people who have a great attitude, and mentions the idea of knowing the 12 people who are your key supporters.
Building a Community Around Your Niche
Maureen's community, the Courageous Collective, works on two levels.
Complimentary level:
Newsletters and updates
Three posts a week, organised into threads of conversation
Tools to help members address what is happening in their workplace and recognise what they are going through
A webcast every second month
She is clear that it is not a place to sort out trauma.
Paid level:
Access to a resource library with checklists for the more serious side of workplace issues
The option to book Maureen for an hour of coaching
When something on LinkedIn would suit the community, she adds extra posts there. Jane's observation was that this validates people who think, so this is actually a thing, and signals to commercial buyers that Maureen leads a whole community on the topic.
How to Niche Down as a Consultant: Practical Steps
Using Maureen's story as a guide:
Listen for a pattern. Where do you keep seeing the same problem?
Test it in public. Ask questions and see what people say.
Test your language with clients. If the shutters come down, change how you describe it.
Build a model. Break it into elements and go deeper into each one.
Back it with independent research aimed at the people who make decisions.
Block time for conversations and use the fastest tool for the job.
Qualify your connections. Be sure the person could be a buyer.
Offer something useful, then invite. A report or community works better than a pitch.
Refer off-lane work so you can focus on the clients you want.
Build a team around you: contractors, a manager, a coach and an accountability partner.
Maureen's advice for anyone who is stuck is short: focus on one thing, and allocate the time for it.
Want help applying these steps to your own practice? Explore the Women with Influence program.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to niche down as a consultant?
Niching down means choosing one specific problem and one type of buyer, and becoming known for solving it, instead of offering broad services. For Maureen Kyne, that problem is upward bullying. As Jane puts it in the episode notes, specialisation can create the space to go deeper, become known for something and build a stronger body of intellectual property around it.
How did Maureen Kyne choose Upward Bullying as her niche?
It grew out of her long focus on workplace behaviour. She noticed a shift in how leaders were treated by their teams before COVID, saw it intensify during and after, and tested the issue by posting on LinkedIn and asking questions. The response told her it needed to be addressed separately.
What is Upward Bullying?
Upward bullying is when leaders are bullied or undermined by members of their own team. Maureen now often calls the broader topic upward harm, alongside lateral harm (peer to peer) and downward harm. For the full conversation, listen to Episode 96: Maureen Kyne on leading through upward bullying. For an HR-sector view, read AHRI's Belittling the boss: how to spot an upward bully, which also draws on Griffith University research by Sara Branch.
Why did Maureen change “Upward Bullying” to “Upward Harm”?
After pushback in client workshops, she found that the word bullying made organisations shut down. Using “harm” got more engagement, and it also let her talk about the different directions and mechanisms of harm.
How can consultants use LinkedIn without sounding salesy?
Start with a conversation. Thank people for viewing or engaging with your content, ask what caught their interest, and share something useful such as research. Invite them to the next step, like a download or a community, rather than pitching.
Should consultants outsource their LinkedIn?
Maureen says no for conversations. She personally answers her messages because the small details stay with her and spark ideas. She delegates other work, including proposals, investigations and administration.
How can original research build credibility?
Independent research answers the question, why should I listen to you? Maureen engaged a separate company to run her survey and aimed it at senior decision-makers. She has since presented it internationally and uses it as a conversation starter.
Where can I find Maureen Kyne's research and community?
On LinkedIn and on Maureen's website, where you can download the research paper and join the Courageous Collective community.
Conclusion
Maureen Kyne's story is a case for focus. She spotted a problem that organisations needed help with, tested it in public, found the language that opened doors, backed it with independent research, and stayed close to the people she serves through personal conversations.
You don't need to copy her niche. You can borrow her process: choose where you want to play, say no to the shiny balls, and put your time where it counts.
Work With Jane Anderson
Maureen's story shows what focus, original research and real conversations can do for a practice. If you're an expert, consultant or thought leader ready to build yours with the same clarity, explore the Women with Influence program.
Key Takeaways from Today’s Episode:
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Specialising doesn't narrow your opportunities. It gives you room to go deeper and become known for something.
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Turning away work outside your lane frees up time for the clients you actually want.
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Language matters. Maureen moved from “upward bullying” to “upward harm” because it got more engagement.
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A simple model makes a hard topic easier to discuss and gives you a content series.
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Independent research gives a small practice credibility with senior decision-makers.
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On LinkedIn, personal replies beat automation.
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Check that a connection could be a buyer before you invest your time.
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You can't build a practice alone. You need a team, a coach and people with a great attitude around you.
Most of the guests interviewed are current or alumni members of the Women With Influence community. Click here to find out more
