Four Ways To Go From Middle Manager To Executive

How do you take the next step in your career from middle manager to an executive?  The following post offers tips on how to move up the corporate ladder.

You don’t have to be a middle manager forever. Sure you may never land the CEO job, but becoming a C-level executive isn’t out of the question as long as you have more than the desired skill set.

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Four Ways To From Middle Manager To Executive

Make Your Move – Right Into Management

Are you ready to move up the corporate ladder and shoulder management responsibilities? There are a number of indicators that can tell you if you are ready for the big leap. If you are in a staff or line job and feel that you should consider a career shift and look for bigger challenges, then maybe you should seriously consider moving into a management position.
You may not get promoted quickly to your desired position – promotions are highly competitive and you need to prove yourself (often over and over) to reach the top. This is possible only through hard work, motivation, confidence and your initiative for learning new skills and accepting challenges. You need to honestly evaluate your current work performance in order to determine whether you have given it your best shot.
If you are working for a big company, you need to consider how often management-level positions open up to know whether you stand a chance.
Make A Significant Contribution To The Company
In order to get promoted to a management position, you have to ensure that you significantly contribute towards the company’s progress. Propose new ideas or strategies to your boss to enhance the efficiency of the department. This initiative will not go unnoticed – organizations need people that actively advance corporate goals and help the company achieve its mission.
You can’t just let your career stagnate – if you are serious about moving into management, identify and develop the skills required to reach a management position. Let your boss know that you are focused on moving to a management position in the company. Then make good on your word – don’t miss out on the opportunity to representing your department at a meeting in your boss’s absence. Apply for internal management job openings as and when they come up. You need to promote yourself to let people know about your achievements and any new management skills you may have recently acquired.
Develop Business, Interpersonal And Technical Skills
Moving into a management position is not easy – and you can’t be technically or business illiterate. You need to be techno savvy and must develop good business skills. In addition, if the job you are targeting requires you to manage staff you must sharpen your interpersonal skills. As a good manager, you will be responsible for handling new projects, leading and motivating the workforce, meeting deadlines, and managing projects within the specified deadlines. To be an efficient manager, you need to build diverse experience that will be instrumental in dealing with difficult situations.
Moving into management isn’t easy – and dealing with staff on a continual basis will definitely be difficult at times. But by preparing early, being proactive and developing the required skills, you will be ready when lady luck opens the door for you.

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Overcoming the Glass Ceiling for Moms

It’s an unfortunate fact that a glass ceiling exists at all for women. Throw being a mom on top of that, and you might have lowered that ceiling even more. As is true in most things in life, it’s not accurate to say this is always the case. There are exceptions, and hopefully those exceptions will soon be the norm. Until then, here are some tips for moms moving upward at work.
Dress the Part
It’s a good idea to always have one last look at yourself in the mirror before you make your entrance into the office. Maybe it’s even your car window that substitutes as a mirror for you. Moms are resourceful so figure out a way to make sure you look ready to work. Going in there with baby slobber and some breakfast crumbs on your clothes doesn’t scream, “Promote me!”
With young babies it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to keep looking fresh and professional. So make getting dressed the last thing you do before leaving the house. If that won’t work for you, slip on a button down shirt that you can wear over your clothes until you don’t have to worry about it getting dirtied up. No matter how rushed you are, though, just be sure to take the shirt off before heading into the office!
Talk Business
Yes, when you’re at work, you’re still a mom. You’re always a mom. However, you don’t want to remind people of that all day every day. You have your close friends at work that you can speak to about personal things, but keep talk like that to a minimum with other co-workers. You don’t want to be portrayed as someone who’s focus and attention is always anywhere but at the job at hand.
Take the Tough Assignments
Just because you have to pick the kids up from daycare at a certain time, doesn’t mean that you can’t tackle the big projects. See how you can manage some of the tasks at home after the kids go to bed. Try to squeeze in a little work time on the weekends. Don’t sacrifice all your family time; certainly not. However, if you can manage and/or work on projects even while you’re not at the office, your superiors will take note.
Arrange some time with your IT department to get you mobile and able to login into your work computer from home. Of course, check with your boss prior to this to ensure there is no company policy against that.
Getting ahead at work is not an easy thing to do no matter who you are. You have to work hard and prove your worth. Moms have challenges but they can be conquered. Know your constraints and how to work around them. Make the decision to promote you an easy one for the powers-to-be.

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