1. Do you think like a manager? Meaning, are you able to consider the department first and foremost? To me, when a staff member demonstrates that she can think for the team instead of just thinking for herself, it indicates a readiness to expand the scope of her work.
2. Do you have a sense of managers’ struggles? Management may come with increased power and pay, but it also comes with increasingly difficult dilemmas to work out with higher stakes. Can you imagine what some of these are? For example, a manager may have to inform employees that their workload is going to increase with no increase in their pay. While preparing for this announcement, they need to consider how to minimize the negative impact on morale, while also getting their message across clearly and firmly.
3. Have you maintained professional boundaries with your current coworkers? In order to lay the groundwork for your team to begin thinking of you as someone who could be promoted, it’s important to keep professional boundaries. This means not being friends with your coworkers. If you get promoted, it becomes difficult to supervise your friends. Additionally, people above you may view your friendships as deal breakers for a promotion—why promote someone who is likely going to have difficulty distinguishing her new role with her coworkers?
4. Are you ready to work extra hours and get the same pay no matter what? Managers are often not entitled to overtime. Rather, the expectation is that they get paid well and work until the job is done- even if this means more than 40 hours/week. However, from experience I can say that it can be frustrating to put in a ton of extra hours to get the job done. You don’t see this come back in your paycheck. However, you do see it come back in the stellar work that you produce. Here, building a reputation is more important than making a couple of extra bucks.
How did you know you were ready for management? Share with us below.