Have you been offered a promotion? Is it taking you out of your technical area into leadership management?

……not so fast…..

Have you actually considered what this means and looks like?  You have fantastic technical skills, you’re the number one worker in your team or group and you’ve been offered the role of supervisor, team leader or manager.   Your initial reaction is one of gratitude, all your hard work has been recognised.  But is the offer actually a burden that even your company doesn’t recognise?

Here are the 5 things you should be considering before you accept that management role:-

1. Your job will move from the technical domain to the people realm. You will now be dealing with people, and some or all of those people were recently your colleagues.  You can’t be their friend anymore, it’s a business. When the hard decision needs to be made, your ‘friends’ will now see you as part of the company.

                         

Are you ready for this shift?

 

Are you ready to be dealing with all the people issues you were once part of when you were in the team?

2. What training and development will the company be offering you to make this transition? In many cases the company offers little or no training in management skills (or you will gain knowledge, but not develop competencies, there is a big difference). You may be put into a sink or swim situation, without help or support. The road will be rocky and the assumption of ‘natural people skills’ will be high, unfortunately it is rarely a fair assumption.

3. You’re now the ‘go to’ person. Management will now be holding you responsible for the actions and outputs of your reports. Are you ready for this next level of responsibility? Do you fully understand management’s expectations? You may now be held responsible for KPI’s, processes, ensuring policies and procedures are followed, safety, engagement, the list goes on.  Everyone in the business is busy and you will be expected to play your part and contribute meaningfully in short order.

4. Is it what you really want? Have you actually stopped and considered your career and your career aspirations? With the recognition of your technical skills, and the gratitude you may feel, is a certain level of pressure from the organisation for you to take on this role. If you are the natural choice, a non-acceptance can create a large problem for the company that they would rather avoid. But is it what you want?

 Was it part of your plan?

Don’t get caught up in the moment,

take time to consider the benefits and ramifications.

 

5. It is financially viable? Many people who move into ‘management roles’ have suddenly discovered that many of the benefits they enjoyed as part of the team do not follow into the management role, things such as overtime, benefits, add-ons, and penalties.

The lure of the management role

clouds this aspect

and many people do not take the time to actually consider

the financial ramifications.

Many a great technical person has been burnt through accepting a role into management. In Australia we see promotion as the ‘natural progression’ of a career, and it is not fair to assume that. We have seen many cases where a fully functioning team has turned into a poorly managed and dysfunctional group because the organisation assumed a technical individual ‘could do the job’ and the promoted individual was lured by the ‘opportunity’.

Career Life Transitions have assisted many people moving into their first management and leadership role to navigate some of the pitfalls.  We have helped people to develop the behavioural and management related technical skills and competencies to develop into the management role. Most people have put a great amount of time and effort into their technical competence, from diplomas, to degrees and apprenticeships etc. but to drop them into what is literally a different role requiring a large range of different skills is unfair and unreasonable.

Don’t end up on the scrap heap of management, consider these 5 suggestions and make a good choice.

 

Career Life Transitions has extensive experience in skills assessment, leadership development, organisational restructures and organisational cultural assessment and development. For further information, how we can help transform your business and it’s people, please contact us.