How to Become a Manager

There comes a time in nearly every employee’s career when they consider becoming a manager. Whether it’s a personal career goal or a suggestion from your manager, you need to make sure you understand whether stepping into a managerial role is the right move for you.

Becoming a manager can be both empowering and rewarding, as it allows you to support the growth of your fellow employees and lead your team to accomplish great things. It also offers chances to develop new skills and tackle high-level projects, potentially opening the door for career advancement within the company down the road. 

But if you want to be a manager, you will have to work for it. In most cases, individuals move into management by getting promoted within their current company. This article offers a few steps you can take to impress the higher-ups and show them you’ve got what it takes to be a manager.

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10 Steps to Becoming a Manager

1. Assess Your Management Potential

For many individuals, moving into a management role seems like the next logical step in their career progression. However, this path isn’t always the best fit for everyone. The responsibilities of a manager are unique, often involving more meetings, administrative work and problem-solving. It’s also much more people-oriented. A good manager should have a desire to support the growth of their team, and they should be capable of initiating difficult conversations with employees when necessary.

2. Develop and Refine Your Skills

If a management position seems compatible with your personality and interests, consider the specific skills you’ll need to improve upon to be successful in the role. If you want to develop soft skills like communication, problem solving or leadership, you can take an online course or read books about management. Then, start incorporating those practices into your current role.

3. Excel In Your Current Role

You don’t necessarily need to be the top-performer on the team, but to be considered for a management position, you should be regularly meeting or exceeding expectations. Demonstrate initiative by taking on projects, proposing new ideas and offering solutions to challenges. When you make valuable contributions to the team, your manager will take notice, and may be more likely to consider you for future promotions. And your proactivity will earn the respect of your colleagues, who would report to you if you became their manager. 

4. Take On High-Profile Projects

One way to get noticed by your manager and other leaders is to volunteer for projects that have high visibility within the organization. These types of projects may have the attention of leadership, but they are not solely about getting leadership’s attention. By working outside your normal scope of responsibility, you may also gain new skills — such as leading a team or collaborating across departments— that would be valuable in a management role. Set realistic timelines and expectations for these projects, though, or you may end up overextending yourself and falling short of expectations.

5. Speak Up in Meetings

You’re not going to become a manager if you sit in the back of the room and keep to yourself. But that doesn’t mean you should blurt out every thought that comes to mind, either. You can gain the respect of your manager and your team by showing up to meetings prepared with ideas, suggestions and questions. When you notice an issue, whether it’s with a burdensome workflow or problematic behavior, speak up — but focus on offering solutions to address the issue as well. By sharing bright ideas with the team, you will show you’re thinking like a leader and potential manager. 

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6. Share Your Career Goals With Your Manager

One of the most important steps to becoming a manager is also the most straightforward: Tell your higher-ups that you’re interested in becoming a manager. How you communicate this matters, though. Your manager will be more inclined to support your career goals if you’re already meeting expectations, displaying leadership traits and engaging in initiatives at the departmental or organizational level. 

7. Be a Mentor and a Mentee

You don’t have to be a manager to support an employee’s growth and development. One effective way to build experience in this key management skill is by mentoring a junior colleague, either formally or informally. Ask your supervisor if there’s an opportunity to mentor an intern or a new hire, or take the initiative yourself by answering a junior team member’s questions and offering to help them on projects.

While you are mentoring a junior employee, you should also seek out a mentor for yourself — preferably someone who is already a manager and can teach you about people management and leadership. If your manager is supportive of your goals, they may offer to mentor you themselves, or they may connect you with another leader in your organization. You can also find your own mentor who has skills and experience in areas that align with your career aspirations.

8. Be Empathetic and Supportive

Emotional intelligence skills like empathy, self-awareness and self-regulation are critical for effective management. By practicing empathy, managers can better understand issues that may be impeding an employee’s performance, and they can understand what motivates them to produce their best work. Emotionally intelligent managers also tend to be more adept at dealing with diverse personalities, navigating difficult conversations and leading through organizational changes. 

To enhance your emotional intelligence, seek feedback from colleagues and consider working with a professional coach or counselor. You can also practice empathy by listening to colleagues’ concerns, offering support when needed and acknowledging their accomplishments. These actions not only make you a stronger leader, but they also foster a more positive work environment, helping to build trust and respect within your team.

9. Grow Your Network

If you want to be a manager, it’s important that you forge meaningful connections among the people on your team and throughout your organization. Building a strong rapport with colleagues, other managers and individuals from different departments can help foster trust, making it more likely that others will be confident in your ability to take on a management role. These relationships can not only help you get promoted to manager, but they may also come in handy once you’re in the role, providing support as you navigate challenges.

10. Understand the Bigger Picture

Participating in cross-departmental projects and networking with people from other departments can help you to better understand your organization’s mission and how your work contributes to that mission. And reflecting on your own motivations and how they intersect with the organization’s goals can help you identify the most meaningful ways to contribute. When you know what drives you, it’s easier to plan your career path and persuade others to support your managerial ambitions.

Frequently Asked Questions