Moving to ManagementA Guide to Advancing Your Career

People spend a lot of energy and effort to become employed, and there are plenty of guides and articles out there aimed at job seekers. However, advice for the already employed is just as important.

Careers are an enormous part of our lives, and everyone wants to have work that is individually fulfilling and that, hopefully, makes a difference in the lives of others.

If you’ve been working for a while and feel driven to do more, it could be time to make the move to management.

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Advancing from a technical or staff-level position to a management or leadership role can give you the opportunity to be a positive influence in your workplace and your community.

It can also provide challenges and learning expe-riences that will help you grow professionally and personally.

This guide, presented by Cornerstone University’s Professional & Graduate Studies division, offers some points to consider and practical advice for developing your personal career advancement strategy.

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Before you start down the road towards a manage-ment path, consider your motivations: is management really right for you? Sometimes people feel they are “supposed” to move into management after a certain number of years in a profession, in the way that you are “supposed” to move from one grade to the next at school. However, there are ways to advance your career that don’t involve being a supervisor-- inde-pendent contracting, for example, is a working style many people find fulfilling.

Some people want to move into an advanced position because they like the idea of having the influence and authority that comes with a managerial position. This can either be due to a base, ego-driven motivation, or because they truly want to be a change agent in their company and know they need the authority that comes with a leading role to do that.

However, not everyone considers the additional responsibility and risk managers and leaders take on their shoulders when stepping into their role. Advan-ced positions require personal skills that not everyone has, even if their professional or technical skills are among the best.

Make Sure Management is Right for You

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Management and leadership may not be for you if you aren’t prepared to:

However, if you are willing to do all these things and more, it’s time to get ready to advance your career. The first step is simple: act as if you’re already in charge.

Think and Act Like a Leader NowYou are already leading a team of one: yourself. Take responsibility for your career development right away and look at it from the perspective of a leader or manager. Doing this will help you strengthen the habits you will need in the role you’re aspiring to. Managers and leaders tend to think about and do most of the following six things:

Be unpopular

Put in more hours than anyone else

Listen as well as give direction

Coach and nurture as well as assign tasks

Take the blame as well as the credit

Praise the accomplishments of others

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You may not need to write your goals out every single day. However, putting pen to paper is a creative act-writing makes something that is an idea seem possible and concrete. So write “I, John Doe, will be director of the marketing team,” or “I, Jane Doe, will be the pastor of a growing church,”. These are exam-ples of clear, easily-visualized goals.

Have a clear idea of what goals you want to accom-plish in the next year, or the next five or ten years. Write them down on a regular basis. Affirmative state-ments tend to work best. Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, used to write “I, Scott Adams, will become a syndicated cartoonist,” fifteen times a day.*

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Look realistically at ways you can make progress towards your goals and lay out a step-by-step plan for achievement. Make your plan with the understanding

2 Develop plans with concrete steps, and stay adaptable.

Set achievable goals that have deadlines.

What outside support, or resources, do you need to achieve your goals? Resources can be material, such as student financial aid for your MBA program, or human, such as a business mentor. Do your home

3 Identify the resources you need and acquire them.

Pablo Picasso once said that “Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.” This applies to the art of living your life. Look hard at your daily habits of work, personal behavior, and thoughts.

Is there anything you are doing that is counterproduc-tive to your goal of becoming a manager?

4 Identify what isn’t working, or what isn’t necessary, and remove it.

that life doesn’t progress smoothly from A to B, and be willing to adapt or change your plan without abando-ning your goals.

work-- understand where you need to go to get what you need. If there’s paperwork that needs to be filed, file it. If there’s money that needs to be spent, spend it.

Common examples can include pointless browsing of the Internet, zoning out during meetings, gossiping, or spending energy doing tasks that can be delega-ted. Whatever you do that is distracting you from achieving your goals, now is the time to stop.

Practical Steps for Your Current JobAnother way that managers lead is through example. Strive to be an exemplary, engaged employee in your current role. Know your job description inside and out so you can offer exactly what colleagues, supervisors, and clients expect from you. Volunteer for additional tasks that you know you can excel in, or for those that other people shy away from.

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It’s also helpful to befriend work colleagues who are of a similarly driven and positive mindset. By sharing your goals with other people and hearing about theirs, you develop a support group who make your goals seem more real because they believe in your plan. More importantly, you also create an accounta-bility group who can offer constructive criticism or encouragement when times are tough. And they will, at times, be tough.

Many working adults also have families in their lives. You may feel that it’s necessary to keep your work and personal lives separate, but the fact is that you have one life. Being willing to involve your family, friends, and others in your plan of action as either moral support or as resources can actually bring you closer together.

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Even with your goals, achievement plans, and resour-ces in place, there are times when your goal of moving into management will seem to be further away.

6 Focus on the long-term.

Motivate others to believe in the goal and work towards it.

During times of difficulty or stalled progress, keep pushing. The times you feel overwhelmed will offer you valuable lessons in self-discipline and resilience you will need once you are in your new role.

On a personal level, be team-oriented, friendly, and kind. You don’t need to be best friends with everyone, but taking the time to acknowledge the good work of other people or listen to what’s been happening in their department can show people with the power to promote that you get along with many different personality types. Furthermore, leaders are cool in a crisis and tend to be diplomatic, so learn techniques for staying calm under pressure, and for stating your opinions honestly and firmly without demeaning others’ ideas.

Understand what your company does - its products, services, and customers. Make the effort to learn more about your industry, either through formal professio-nal development offered by your workplace or by attending trade conferences or reading industry press online. Joining a professional organization, if your industry has one, is another way to make contacts and develop your knowledge.

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As you work towards your goal of achieving mana-gement or leadership, embrace lifelong learning. This can happen informally or formally. Informal learning opportunities include:

Learn Everything You Can

Formal education is classroom education. Some work-places offer professional development courses. If yours doesn’t, consider heading back to college. Many colleges and universities offer degree programs oriented towards the needs of people in full-time employment.

Night classes, weekend classes, and remote learning through the Internet make finishing your bachelor’s degree or earning your master’s more achievable. It can also be affordable, with financial aid available to adult and graduate students.

Reading the business pages, trade press, or other readings relevant to your industry

Talking with and listening to people at your work-place about their roles and experiences

Contacting people in the types of roles that fit your goals and asking for advice

Attending conferences, seminars, lectures, or other events about the industry

Choose a degree program that:

Balances theory, practical application, and ethical principles

Emphasizes management and leadership

Provides plenty of opportunities to hone your speaking, presenting, and writing skills

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*) http://christophdollis.com/scott-adams

You may also pick up ideas and practical tips from their take on the issues in your classes. Your instruc-tors, who should have industry experience in addition to an academic background, can also be potentially important resources for ideas, advice, and networking opportunities.

In addition to enhanced knowledge, a formal degree program offers access to a new pool of contacts. Your classmates are likely to have similar motivations to yours, which can be an important source of inspira-tion.