You want to be promoted to management. What’s the first step you should take?

1 Assess your current situation

Before applying for a management position, it is important to have a clear understanding of your current role, performance, and goals. Ask yourself questions such as what your main tasks and responsibilities are, how you measure success and impact, your short-term and long-term objectives, the skills and competencies required for your role, how you communicate and collaborate with others, and how you handle feedback and challenges. Answering these questions will help you assess your current level of proficiency, professionalism, and potential. Additionally, seeking feedback from peers, managers, and mentors can provide an objective perspective.

2 Identify your strengths and gaps

Assessing your current situation can help you identify your strengths and gaps as a potential manager. Strengths may include leadership, problem-solving, decision-making, communication, teamwork, and creativity. Gaps may include delegation, conflict resolution, coaching, strategic thinking, budgeting, and project management. You can use various tools and frameworks to identify your strengths and gaps, such as SWOT analysis, skill matrix, competency model. Additionally, you can consult with your manager or mentor to get their input and guidance.

3 Plan your development

Once you have identified your strengths and gaps, you can plan your development strategy to address them. Your plan should include specific and measurable goals that align with your career aspirations and organizational needs, action steps to outline the activities and resources you use to achieve your goals, a timeline that indicates the expected duration and milestones of your development process, and evaluation criteria to measure the outcomes and impact of your development efforts. It is important that your plan is realistic, flexible, and relevant. To learn and grow, consider formal training and education programs, online courses and webinars, books and articles, podcasts and videos, mentoring and coaching, networking and shadowing, volunteering and leading projects, as well as asking for feedback and applying it.

4 Communicate your interest

Prior to applying for a management position, you should communicate your interest and readiness to your manager and other relevant stakeholders. This will help build trust and rapport with your manager, get their support and endorsement for your career move, learn about the expectations and requirements for a management role, find out about the opportunities and challenges in the organization, and showcase your strengths and achievements. You can communicate your interest in various ways, such as having a career conversation with your manager to express your goals and plans, updating your resume and portfolio to highlight your skills and accomplishments, seeking feedback from other managers in the organization, applying for internal or external management positions that match your profile and interests, and following up on applications and interviews.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?