Am I Management Material? (Aaron Hurst)

Am I Management Material?

Most managers aren't management material. The real question is, how does your boss define management material and how could promoting you serve their needs and the needs of the organization.

What does your manager consider to be the traits of an effective manager? Sadly you also need to understand any bias they may have about gender or race. That will help you understand what you need to do to get them to see you as management material.

Easier said than done. It is often hard to understand how a manager defines management material, especially since many of them don't have a clear answer or may not have thought about it.

For the majority of folks it takes Sherlock Holmes skills to deduce the answer. You need to look for evidence.

• Who have they promoted in the past and who has been passed over?
• How do they seem to make decisions about promotions relative to other managers in the organization?
• Do they promote, as they should, to balance their skills and capacity? What do theyperceive as their skills and capacity gaps?
• What threatens them and their security in their role? What would threaten them and make them biased in a promotion decision?
• How can your promotion help them get promoted? What do they need to do to get promoted and how could you be part of that solution?
• What parts of their job do they dislike that you could do? How could your promotion increase their their job satisfaction?
• What are you doing now that your boss values and might be afraid they would lose if you moved into management? How could you backfill your work?

Then you need to be honest with yourself. Are you the person they want? You might be amazing "management material" but not the kind your boss values or needs right now. If that is the case, you need to look at how to find a new boss inside the organization or switch employers and find a boss that values your strengths.

Once you are confident you have a manager who is aligned with your strengths you need to find was to show them your stuff and ask them for coaching and mentoring in those areas. They need to feel ownership of your success and like they "discovered" you.

Welcome to management.