“Fake it until you make it” may have been valuable advice for previous generations. However, in today’s data-driven and constantly disrupted work world, pretending to be the best doesn’t work. It can also wreak havoc on your trust and your stress levels.
People are more open to seeing the truth than lies in these times of transparency. You must also be able to make solid, secure decisions. You can only do this by gaining real-world leadership experience.
Here are some techniques to guide you to become a top candidate for a managerial promotion. Don’t wait for someone else to give you a chance. You can build your luck by being proactive and looking for opportunities to upskill.
1. Learn how to be a leader on the job
Doing it yourself is a great way to learn about any activity. All leadership books and articles are available. But you will not know what to do in any situation until you apply what you have learned.
It is more difficult to gain experience in the business world when you work remotely or in hybrid environments. You may need to develop your leadership skills by finding unique ways to do so, such as volunteering to help manage small projects or being the one to determine the best format for future initiatives.
Your company might also offer online simulations, depending on the industry. Willem Pennings is the vice president of global professional service firm BTS. He explains that the “only way to understand something” is to do it. His company helps companies build simulations that replicate their business challenges. Simulating a business problem can involve up to 100 different problem-solving moments. Each one leads to a final result.
You can always create your simulations by looking at the decisions of your department heads in leadership. Would you change anything? What would it look like? What would the potential outcome be? You can improve your strategy-making skills by mapping out different possibilities.
2. Micro-learning is a practice that you should adopt.
Maya Gudka and Steve Marshall, executive training experts and authors, looked into the best learning models today and discovered that old-school methods didn’t work anymore. Their recommendation for tomorrow’s leaders was to use iterative, sprint-like learning.
Pick a micro-topic to fill a need in your team. Are there any recurring problems in your communication strategy? Perhaps there is a feature in your software that could improve efficiency but nobody wants to learn how to use it. Leadership is more than being the solution. It’s about learning and applying best practices. Retaining information by learning a concept and applying it immediately is important. You can get instant feedback about whether or not you understand the concept you have learned.
Your employer might not provide micro-learning tools like mini-modules that are available in a central learning system. It’s okay. You can find information online every other week and integrate what you learn into your job. You might spend an hour looking at empathy. In the next few days, you can put more effort into incorporating empathy in your interactions with customers and coworkers. You’ll gradually become the leader that companies want.
3. Ask for ancillary assignments, and do a great job.
It’s not about taking on more work, which can lead to burnout. It’s about being strategic and taking on tasks that are not in your area of expertise but which play an essential role in the team’s overall success. These assignments don’t necessarily have to be leadership roles. These assignments should push you beyond your comfort zone to allow you to explore new possibilities.
How can you make your boss more responsible if they are a little stingy with giving power to others? Heather MacArthur, executive coach, suggests developing an informal business plan. Your plan should outline how you will manage your current responsibilities and how more targeted projects, which are not too busy, will help you and your team. MacArthur outlines some key questions you should ask during the planning process. These include: “How will this new work save money?” and “How can it improve morale or create relationships?”
You might be reluctant to ask your manager for too much. Accept what you have, do a good job and then ask for more. Your desire to achieve greater heights will be displayed by your ability to do great, consistent, and beneficial work.
Being a leader requires more than just acting the part and pretending to know what you are doing. You must take responsibility for your success and reward yourself when you reach a higher level of strength.
