Things you can do to get into leadership

Career development into leadership requires more than just skills progression. 4 things you can invest into to get into leadership.

Part I: mentorship!

What it can do for your career:

1️⃣ First of all, you need to identify opportunities for mentorship. A new colleague needs to be onboarded and you can show them the ropes? Great! You can start small.

A trainee needs a guide throughout their stay in your area? Perfect way to train your observational, feedbacking, advice giving and enabling skills!

Your manager asks you to help a colleague develop their abilities? Awesome, your manager trusts you with that and wants you to learn along this path!

I’m far from recommending you jump on ALL opportunities and do the mental load that your manager cannot or doesn’t want to take on. But in slices, becoming a mentor and being a mentor is an amazing stepping stone.

2️⃣ As a second step, you should familiarize yourself with the basic concepts of mentoring — there are tons of free educational offers online. Your company might even have a course. You can also join a community of practice, meetup or network with other mentors to get perspective.

3️⃣ As a third point, you should define the nature of your mentorship. Talk to your mentee about mutual expectations and set goals with them. Ask them for feedback. Ask others around you for feedback on your mentoring. Align with your manager on which goals and milestones you should achieve in your mentoring.

4️⃣ Fourthly, you should do good and speak about it. Take all this input and put it in your performance review and artifact list.

5️⃣ As a final step, you can expand being loud about your mentoring. Network with managers of managers, give presentations where (higher) leadership is present and talk transparently about your challenges and wins. Thus, you might get noticed and listed for leadership talent pools or succession lists. A leader might remember you and write to you when they have an open manager position.

There is much more you can do — definitely — but seeing mentoring as a feedback loop and development opportunity for yourself AND not being quiet about it are two key pillars of turning this experience into a leadership position.

Part II: networking!

But not just any networking, no! Do this:

Good work alone doesn’t get you anywhere. The worst mindset you could develop is that anything is owed to you because of the good work you did or the results you achieved. Likewise, positions and opportunities should never just be given because of connections. The truth very often lies in the middle or veers into one of these two directions.

To network effectively:

• Prioritize networking opportunities over some of your tasks
• Prepare your case why networking is great — information, access to certain circles, opportunities, etc. — and have it ready when your manager asks
• Don’t talk shop only when you mix and mingle, likeability is a charm
• Be yourself when networking, it’s no use if you mask or imitate someone else just because
• Connect people to each other when you see synergies and overlaps, this is what leaders do

Good leaders have maturity, and they showcase this in their networking abilities. They move strategically, yet naturally, and enjoy the experience itself. They are generous with their own information and opportunities. They are fearless, whatever the context.

Career development is a marathon, not a sprint. Building up reliable and giving networks can take decades.

Part III: sponsorship!

But how to get it???

I wrote extensively about it before. Sponsorship isn’t just something you ask for and get.

You consistently build your skills AND your network and these are the mechanisms that make it happen. Sponsors will find you and take you under their wings.

That being said, when the moment comes there is only one thing to do: jump into the opportunity! Don’t feel ready yet? The sponsor might only have this opportunity at this very precise moment. That is why it is good to be prepared for the next career step if and when sponsorship happens.

Essentially, you set all the right parameter so that you can use them when you need them.

Part IV: leader skills expertise!

Ultimtely, the best thing you can do to get into leadership is to develop a high-level leader skillset.

With that, I don’t necessarily mean leadership training, MBAs or certificates. These things can help, but the skillset has to be inherent to you.

I have written extensively about leader skills, such as understanding and developing strategy, negotiation, how to give good feedback, create development plans, active listening, empathy, inclusiveness and so forth.

For some, this means getting a coaching or mediation qualification, for others it’s the company leader program, and most train and challenge themselves on the job.

Maybe it’s most useful to identify what will help you in particular to get there? Either way, real leaders inspire — and the best don’t rely on coincidence or talent, but develop themselves continuously to do this.

If you have and showcase that kind of skillset it will be hard to ignore you!

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