Moving Up In Management

Getting promoted from a management position to a higher-level manager position is similar to any other promotion with one exception. You have to demonstrate that you are ready for the new job. You have to prove you are the best candidate. You have to beat out the competition. In addition, though, you have to have someone ready for the job you would be leaving.

Be Qualified

Before you can be promoted, you have to be fundamentally qualified. No boss will promote you into a managerial position if he/she does not believe that you have what it takes to be successful in that job.

• Do you have the skills?
• Do you have the experience?
• Do you have the training?

Can you picture yourself in the new role? Can others picture you succeeding in that role? Then you have to prove that you are the best choice from among all the qualified candidates.

Be The Best Candidate

Depending on the position and the company, it is likely that there are several candidates who are qualified for any open managerial position. If you want the position, you will have to prove that you are the best candidate.

• What makes you more qualified than the other candidates?
• What makes you a better choice for the company that the others?
• Why will your boss’s job be easier if you are chosen for the position?

You may be qualified for the new job, but that isn’t enough. You have to be the most qualified and you have to prove that to the hiring manager.

Be Replaceable

Any Promotion will require you to meet the criteria above. However, to be promoted from one managerial position to a higher one, you will also have to show that that you can be replaced. Your current boss is not going to let you be promoted (he or she will not recommend or support you) if your promotion will make his/her life harder.

If there is no one ready to step in and take over your current management position your chances of getting promoted are much less. So if you want to get promoted you must take a risk. You must train and develop one or more of your subordinates to be ready to move up when you leave.

The risk, of course, is that one of them may take your job before you are ready. But part of a manager’s job is the ability to manage risk. In this case, you manage the risk by being better at your job than they are. So if you want to be promoted to a higher-level managerial position, you must train you own replacement.

Be Promotable

If you are a manager, and you want to be promoted, be sure you:

• Are qualified
• Are the best candidate
• Prove you are the best candidate
• Have a suitable replacement ready