So, you are ready for that management role?

Oct 26, 2017

It happens with a high level of regularity, you’ve been in your current role for a good while and you now feel ready to step up into a managerial position.

But as ever, the number of management positions available are scarce. It stands to reason, there will always be less management positions than people who feel they are ready for one.

So what do you do? Do you start searching the job sites, or getting in touch with the recruitment guys?

Well, you could do, but there are other more successful routes through your career, than the constant jumping ship scenario.

Step Up Not Out!

Here are three thoughts that can help you to secure that allusive management role you are looking for…

First - Recognise the advantages of progressing in the organisations you are currently working for. It’s so easy to overlook the significant benefits of growth within an organisation. Leaders are desperate for loyal staff who are willing to stay around and build the capability of the organisation. Demonstrate your loyalty and don’t be surprised if future work opportunities start to come your way faster than you expected. Studies like those done by Jim Collins published in his book Good to Great, highlight very clearly that the best organisations are those that are being run by people who have progressed through the ranks, rather than having been brought in from outside. It sounds counter intuitive, but the findings are convincing. Organisations desperately need people who will stay around (and we haven’t even spoken about the benefits of recruitment cost reduction).

Second - Realise that the people who get the promotions, have already stepped up! Look around your organisation, who is it that is getting promoted? Time and again you will find it’s those individuals that are already behaving like they are the manager. It’s not that they are doing the managers job, it’s that, in all they say and do they have assumed alignment with the organisation. They are doing the things that managers should do, like leading conversations, coaching others, supporting the goal of the team (not just the individual); the list could go on! In everything but title and salary package, step up, demonstrate that you are the person for the role. Let’s face it, if you were interviewing two internal people for a management position and one of them had in every way already stepped up, who would you give the job to? It’s a no brainer!

Thirdly - Own your personal development. People who get promoted are those who care about their own skills development enough to take personal responsibility for it. That of course, will include taking every opportunity to learn that presents itself on a daily basis, attending anything the organisations has made available and owning a general attitude of having ‘not yet arrived’. In other words, having the humility to recognise you are not (and never will be) a finished article. You will always learn, improve, fine tune and polish what and how you do things. No one wants managers who think they know it all! So step up your learning, get ahead, don’t wait to be a manager before you start learning management skills, get yourself ahead of the curve. Show the organisation and your boss how committed you are to becoming the next person they promote, by getting the learning you will need ahead of the demand. Tools like iManageacademy.com are perfect for this, especially as you can secure CMI certification that adds massive credibility to your suitability for the next management position, and your commitment to step up, not step out.