If you aspire to be a manager or supervisor, your success in a future leadership role will depend significantly on making a critical mental shift from task management to people leadership. Let’s be clear – the two are not the same. In fact, the skills that lead to accomplishment as a “doer” of tasks are the very ones that will cause you to fail as “leader” of people. Because in a leadership role, your success no longer rests on just you; your success now depends on how well you can get things done through others.
So what do you need to do to position yourself for a future leadership role?
While still delivering results as an individual contributor, there are things you can do today to position yourself as a future leader, in the eyes of those who can help get you there. And in my latest column for The Globe and Mail, I lay out six specific steps you can take.
Six steps to take today, toward a leadership role tomorrow
If you get the print version of The Globe, you would have seen it on page B10 in Monday’s edition.
So these are top six ideas I share with my young (to leadership) clients. But I’d love to hear your input. If you’re a veteran leader, what advice would you offer? And if you’re relatively new to leadership, what have been your experiences? Please share by either commenting below, or if you wish, you can comment directly on The Globe’s site.