If you have the opportunity to move up the corporate ladder and become a boss, here are things I want you to consider…
Am I leadership material?
Some of us have the skills to take on ‘steering the ship’, so to speak and others just don’t have a clue about good people management. You might be great at your job, which is task management if no one reports to you currently, but without contemplating the human side of the role, you will be doomed to failure.
When looking at a leadership position you need to take into account all the little things that add up to make the job different from what you are currently good at.
Ask yourself the following questions…
Have I got the budgeting and financial knowledge to meet expectation?
Do I have the ability to run a staff meeting?
Can I divide the workload appropriately so that I make the most of my staff skill set?
Would I be able to discipline someone who wasn’t meeting company requirements?
and a more pressing point would be:
Do I really want to be these peoples boss?
There is no point in applying for a job where you can’t see yourself being successful in the role. You don’t actually have to have said yes to all the questions above. If you have the drive, learning on the job can be rewarding. You would need to be able to say yes to some of them, so that you have a foundation to start with. Especially the one, do I really want to be these people’s boss? If you come from an internal position into a leadership role there is always the problem that people feel too familiar with you and will try to get away with murder (figuratively, not literally). Internal promotion, while it is a validation of how well you are doing at your job, is not always a bed of roses, there is always someone who is jealous or unsupportive and sometimes will work against you. You need to be aware of all scenarios.
What are you going to do about it?
If the answer is Yes, I really want to give it a try…then create a Leadership improvement strategy to make sure you will succeed through the application and interview process and beyond. Write out a list of all the skills that are required for the role you want to take on. Make sure you include everything by reverse engineering the position description and also thinking about the human side that may not be listed.
List the skills in a table, in the next column rate your current ability against the skill, a score out of 10 will do where 10 means you are 100% qualified and can bring more than what they are asking to the table. In the next column, write why you gave yourself that score. For every skill where you have less than 8 out of 10 I want you to write a strategy of how you can get to 10 out of 10. Do you need training, do you want mentoring, do you just need some experience? Look at the current person in the role and list why you thing they were successful at each of these areas and where you felt they fell down. How can you be as good as or better than they are? Make sure it is all tabulated so it makes sense to you.
Now that you have a clearer picture, go for it. Once you get the job for yourself you will be prepared to start implementing your leadership plan, your way of doing business right from the start, including putting in place your own training plan to ensure success.
The haters may not always hate if you can prove you have a plan and they are included on the journey.
Go forth and strategise….
If you want more mentoring advice, sign up for eMentor below, where I share more of my own personal mentoring journey.
Share to be inspired, be inspired to share.
