Leaders don’t always commence their careers with “director”, “manager”, or “VP” in their job title. They’ve learned to be a leader through demonstrating core leadership capabilities that prove they are equipped and worthy to take on the post. Leadership begins with a set of values, qualities, and attitudes that distinguish an employee from the rest of the team. Read on to discover five strategies to secure a promotion and showcase leadership skills, even if you don’t have the job title yet.
Manage up
According to a research study conducted by Ladders where more than 1,200 high-earning professionals were surveyed, 88% attributed their career success to the skill of managing up. We often tend to associate management with leading teams of individuals who are further down in the organizational hierarchy, but it’s equally important to master the skill of managing those who are senior to you as well. How do you manage your boss without being the boss?
You accomplish this through proactively asking your manager for feedback, and providing constructive feedback. Establishing mutual trust and accountability is critical to your career growth.
Hold regular catch-ups with your manager and prepare in advance for these catch-ups, thinking ahead and bringing any reports or dashboards you may have created, in advance of the meeting. Have a personal agenda for what you would like to see discussed in the catch-up meeting and propose this in advance to your manager. In this way you are establishing trust, a sense of personal responsibility, and reliability, which are all key qualities every leader should possess.
Be the go-to expert
Leaders are appointed to direct teams, projects, departments, or entire business functions and operations because they are the recognized expert within their respective fields. They have mastered their knowledge and technical skills from entry-level up, and have proven that they know how to train and teach others to do the same.
If you are an aspiring manager or business leader, you will need to have obtained thorough mastery and expertise of your specific industry and market pain-points. You should know your specialism inside out. While you seek to develop and expand your own professional knowledge base, put these into practice and show others the ropes. As your confidence grows, approach your management team and volunteer to be a peer mentor, or to step in to provide support and training to new hires or those whose performance may be lagging behind.
Become well-known as the “go-to” person in your team, department, and organization (depending on the organization’s size of course). For example, if a new software is being rolled out to be implemented across the sales team, take the initiative to familiarize yourself with it and learn as much as possible, so you can help other employees who may be struggling to understand how to use it. Your name will quickly circulate as the “go-to” person if anyone has issues with the software because you’ve established credibility.
Lead by example
Leadership is not just directing teams and operations. When you eventually do assume the title, your team will be watching you, sometimes without you even realizing it, and will take note of your ethics, values, and behaviors that go beyond what you claim publicly or instruct them to do.
If you are an aspiring leader or manager, establishing habits of integrity, ethics, valuing diversity, embracing challenges and taking risks, and maintaining a healthy work/life balance are just a few of the ways you can lead by example.
Begin today to review your organization’s code of conduct, and establish your own personal code of conduct as well, ensuring they both align. Never do anything you would not wish your reports to do if you were managing them. Finally, you can seek out role models who embody positive leadership traits and emulate those in your own practice.
Operate with a long-term vision
Leaders think and plan as visionaries, with the long-term, big picture in view. From this perspective, they are able to guide and strategically grow their organizations. No matter what your department or level, always operate with the long-term agenda in mind.
Actively get involved with your senior leadership team if you are in a small to medium sized organization, and if it is larger, ask your manager and find your company’s outlined three-to-five year strategy in your company intranet or website. Always seek to ensure that your actions line up with the company’s objectives and further the delivery of the strategy.
Manage a project
One of the best ways to demonstrate leadership capabilities without being a leader, is to proactively take on a project.
It does not need to be significant; it can be a relatively small project, but the main focus here is not its scale or complexity, but rather your organizational and problem-solving skills that will come into play here.
Look out for your department’s pain points and create an innovative solution that will make life easier for your team and manager. Or if you notice one of your team members is slightly overburdened with their workload, you can volunteer to take on a portion of their project, in this way developing new skills and broadening your knowledge beyond your current scope of responsibilities.
Remember, leadership begins with your mindset and attitudes at work. If you work persistently at managing up, becoming the go-to expert in your organization, leading by example, operating with the big picture in view, and proactively lending a hand to direct new projects, you will be better aligned for a promotion or external opportunity when the opportunity presents itself. Think outside of the box, and begin today to leverage your current role as a stepping stone to develop skills and experiences that will be pivotal to your leadership journey.
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