According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Most In-Demand Skills List, which analyzes skills demand according to hiring patterns and data available from LinkedIn job postings, “management” ranked highly as No. 1 in the list. Moreover, management is a term that serves as an umbrella for related skills such as communication and interpersonal skills, relationship-building, organization, leadership, planning, coaching, and delegation, all of which are skills highly prized by employers.
A career in management is one of the most fulfilling and exciting, partially because it opens doors to a plethora of opportunities at various levels and across multiple industries, but not least because as a manager, you are able to lead, inspire, motivate, drive action, and witness the large-scale results of yours and your team’s efforts while earning a higher salary than the average employee.
Here are some things you need to know and consider while you are aligning your career goals to take advantage of management opportunities:
Why do you want to be a manager?
It’s crucial, as with any career goal, to have a strong “why”. Landing a promotion, earning a coveted title, and leading a sales team of 20 may appear glamorous, but ultimately it can be stressful and demanding on your time, health, and personal commitments after a while. You need to have a strong “why”, so that you remain committed for the long-term, especially when you face setbacks in your career journey.
Perhaps one of the most essential facts you need to establish is, are you in it just because you like to maintain an air of power and authority? Or are you genuinely passionate about expanding your impact, guiding others, and transforming an organization through your leadership?
Or as author Robin Sharma put it, “Leadership is not about a title or a designation. It’s about impact, influence and inspiration.” If you’re solely concerned with having authority and a title, you’ve gotten the entire concept of management wrong, and you’ll most likely perpetuate the same toxic and negative traits that other managers have displayed, producing a negative impact on your personal brand and on your employer’s image.
So, what does it take to become a manager?
To become a manager, you need to have solid personal leadership skills first. If you can’t manage yourself and prioritize your time, workload, or performance, it will be virtually impossible to lead others’ schedules and oversee their responsibilities.
Next, you will need to be an expert of your designated area. This entails continuous self-study, undertaking professional development courses, and seeking mentorship from established managers and senior business leaders within or external to your organization.
You will need to work on honing your skills in the following areas (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Strategic thinking
- Time management
- Critical thinking and problem-solving on your own initiative
- Confident decision-making
- Strategic stakeholder relationship-building
- Clear communication skills to convey ideas at multiple levels
- Delegating tasks effectively according to team strengths
- Management reporting technologies and dashboards
Bear in mind that you do not need to be 100% proficient in any of these skills before becoming a manager. In fact, you never will be, prior to commencing your post. Often, the best way to develop these soft skills is through learning on the job and being receptive to feedback.
How do I become a manager without experience?
There are several things you can do to position yourself for a promotion or external opportunity that progresses you into management. To begin with, inform your manager of your career goals and of your desire to progress towards management and possibly senior leadership level. Ask them for feedback on your current strengths that would make you a great leader, and ask for feedback on what skills they think you could improve on to develop into a manager. Your boss is best positioned to give you this constructive feedback because they see and evaluate your performance all the time. So leverage this and tap into their knowledge.
Following this, proactively seek experiences at your current place of work that will stretch your skills beyond you comfort level. For example, you can ask you manager if they can assign you to help another team with a different project, or oversee a small designated area of a new project.
You should also seek opportunities to train team members—especially new hires as a supplement to the onboarding process. This will make for useful information to add as achievements to your evolving management resume, and as experience you can revert to when you approach a job interview for a management role.
Finally, you can showcase your potential and demonstrate how serious you are about pursuing a career in management through taking a management course. Sometimes your employer may already have management courses available in their employee learning portal, or they may fund you to attend training; in other cases you will need to self-fund, but bear in mind that management courses need not be expensive. You can learn essential management skills through a combination of platforms such as LinkedIn Learning, Coursera, Udemy, and other private specialized providers and coaches.
How to prepare for your first manager interview
When preparing for your first management interview, you will understandably be nervous—and you should be. It’s the moment of a lifetime, a pivotal spot in your career that will be the launchpad of new career and salary growth opportunities. When preparing, bear in mind that this is not the same type of interview as any of the others you’ve done before.
This is higher level, focused on your leadership skills, shifting from who you are as an individual contributor.
The questions will be focused on assessing your competency in common scenarios in the day of a manager, such as your ability to collaborate with multiple stakeholders, resolve conflict, manage an underperforming team member, deliver high performance against KPIs, and solve problems.
The key here is to remember to talk facts and numbers. The interviewer wants to hear tangible results of your career success and the impact you have made in the junior stages of your leadership career thus far. (Now you can see why volunteering to take on leadership roles in projects is so essential.)
You may also expect to be asked to deliver a brief 10-minute presentation to the panel prior to the actual interview. So take time to familiarize yourself with various slide deck formats, polish your public speaking and presentation skills, and practice delivering accurate information in a concise and impactful way.
You’re now only a few steps away from earning that coveted title (and salary boost) of “manager.” Work on polishing and refining your skill set, undertake professional development courses, and partner with your employer if possible, to make this career goal your reality.
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