one of the struggles that many managers or mid-level professionals face is they can get stuck in the same role year in year out without any promotion into a leadership or executive role they watch as their colleagues get promoted ahead of them sometimes even those people who are less experienced and less qualified than they are and the frustration builds up as to why they can't Advance further in their career it can be really hard to know what you're doing wrong as to why you can't move up in your career and as to what you should do instead but in this video I'm going to share with you five powerful strategies to help you move from a management position to a leadership or executive role these strategies will help you demonstrate effective leadership or executive skills and will help position you for SE sweet positions if that sounds like something that resonates with you then keep watching before you start learning about the strategies it's really important that you get an understanding of the different roles goals and requirements of a manager versus a leader because when you understand this you will know what shifts you need to make in the course of one's career there are three broad phases that you would go through the first is an individual contributor this is where you are entry level or pre-management level in your career your focus is very task specific on your job only your focus doesn't go beyond your tasks that you need to perform or the tasks that are within your job description an example of this would be a graduate accountant or a lawyer with 1 to 3 years experience or a programmer with 1 to 3 years experience the second phase is management this is where you've developed a high level of experience and knowledge pertaining to a specific area and you are in charge of a team in this situation your focus is much broader than that of an individual contributor you're less concerned with individual tasks you're more concerned with managing people and helping them achieve the tasks that they need to perform skills that are important here are delegation giving and receiving feedback conducting meetings organizing timelines and schedules and tracking performance towards specific goals not to mention people's skills which are extremely important as well the third phase is leadership here your focus is much broader and cross functional instead of being concerned with one team you're concerned with multiple teams or sometimes entire depart departments or multiple departments at this level you don't spend much time monitoring how each team member is performing your time is spent on organizing the bigger picture the bigger goals and the bigger objectives that the whole team is working towards skills that are important for leaders and executives are coming up with a vision identifying pitfalls and challenges and communicating your vision to team managers basically your focus is on setting everyone up in the organization for a success so they are the three stages that you would naturally go through in a career when you're moving from entry level up to leader or executive level now because each phase requires a different skill set it's natural that as you move up to each stage you will need to improve or expand your own skill set when moving from an individual contributor to a manager level the transition is a bit easier but when moving from a manager level to a leader or executive level the shift can be a lot more ambiguous so now we're going to look at what you need to do when you are moving from a manager level to a leader or executive level in your career the first thing that you need to do is to take stock of what you do now versus what you need to do for that next role for this I want you to ask yourself five really important questions what are the main tasks you currently perform as a manager of a team what skills do you use when performing those tasks do your current tasks align with what a leader or executive will need to per perform what additional tasks does a leader perform that you need to become good at what skills do you need to develop to perform those leadership tasks well the answers to these questions will of course be different for everyone watching this video but at least it will get you thinking about what you need to learn and how you need to change in order to be successful in a leadership or executive role sometimes it will be about adding skills or adding tasks other times it would be about subtracting tasks or subtracting skills that you need to use and this is often one of the biggest challenges for people who are transitioning from a manager level to a leader or executive level you might think that you need to do more or that you need to be more when in reality it's really about removing tasks or removing skills that aren't going to serve you when you are a leader or an executive so have discussions with senior leaders observe them in their job take courses read about leadership and try to identify what skills are Irrelevant for you when you want to become a leader the second thing you can do is to shift your focus from managing people to Big Picture thinking now of course in order to continue doing your job well you still need to be on top of the management side of your role but there might be some ways where you can Infuse big picture thinking into your current management role because this is an ability that senior leaders or Executives will look for when they're deciding whether to promote you into a leadership or executive role how can you develop big picture thinking well essentially what you need to do here is you need to become competent at creating a vision knowledge will help you immensely here try to become more knowledgeable about departmental or organizational goals ask your boss what their goals are what their Department's goals or what the organization's goals are they are higher up than you in the corporate ladder so they might have some valuable insights to share things that you've never even thought of try to attend all high level corporate meetings that you're allowed to attend or request to have a seat in the room not at the table but just as an observer so you can understand what's going on build awareness around industry developments or economic developments become aware of what competitors are doing there might be larger opportunities or pitfalls that you can use to help craft a broader Vision the second thing is through this process of acquiring knowledge you might start to see paths that will help you map out your vision map out these paths in a journal there's no need to show this to anyone else just keep it to yourself but it's really good practice to help you develop big pictures thinking and to help you create a vision if you don't immediately see any paths then take some time to map out different Alternatives the third thing you can do is to become exceptional at mapping out goals for your team what does success look like for your team what does everyone have to do in order to get there because at the end of the day big picture thinking for your team can help you develop a big picture thinking for the organization as well which is what you will need in a leadership or executive role the third thing you can do is to have conversations with other leaders and Executives this is essentially networking where you meet and interact with other leaders to find out what is required at their level what skills are essential for success as a leader what do you need to do to move up to that level it's important that you talk to people who are at the level you're aiming for or who are in the position that you're aiming for as well because these are people who will have the exact knowledge that you need they could be in the same Department company or a different company they might know who you are or they might not try to meet and talk with a variety of people so you can get some different perspectives plus if you have a really good connection with these people then they might turn into your mentor and they can further guide and develop you into the role that you want to be in or they might help you get your foot in the door for future positions by telling you about them before anyone else knows and by recommending you to the hiring manager when you're ready to have these conversations make a list of three to five people you can have these conversations with send them an email or pick up the phone and connect with them or send them a connection request on LinkedIn the fourth thing you can do to move from a manager level to a leader or executive level is to become a coach specifically become a coach to people in your team or in other teams who are interested in or who have potential for a management position you can help them with their long-term career goals help them map out that Vision you can also coach them to help them move from where they are now to the next level in their career coaching training and supporting others will absolutely give you the skills that you need for a leadership or an executive role role because when you're a coach you become really good at Big Picture thinking and you develop a really strong skill set in mapping out paths to help achieve that Vision you have a clear point of where that person wants to be in their career and because you are more senior than them you know exactly what they need to do to get there and you as a coach you essentially guide them to that destination senior managers will see this and they will know that you have exactly what it takes to be successful as a leader or as an executive plus you might even train up your successor so your transition to a leadership or executive role doesn't leave a gap that prevents your management or upper management from promoting you the fifth thing that you need to do to move up from a management position to a leadership or executive role is to be able to articulate your vision this relies heavily on communication and your ability to communicate effectively you see leaders and Executives they not only come up with the vision but they also know how to communicate their Vision to other people they influence people to follow their Vision they get them on board with challenging goals and this is all done through precise and effective communication techniques leaders and Executives know how to articulate their thoughts well use persuasive communication to get people on board incorporate stories to motivate and Inspire use positive body language and non-verbal communication to back up what they're saying present strong arguments when they detect resistance and listen to seek out challenges and pitfalls they use these skills in conversations in boardroom meetings and incorporate presentations you might already be using some of these communication skills now as a leader refine them improve them make them visible and make sure you put them on your CV when you actually apply for that leadership role if you're not using any of these communication techniques right now then you will need to seek resources so you can learn how to use them in a minute I'll point you to some video on my channel that will help you out otherwise I recommend these books TED Talks the official Ted guide to public speaking by Chris Anderson great communication secrets of great leaders by John baloni influence the psychology of persuasion by Robert B keini these are the videos you should watch next to help you articulate your thoughts clearly which is a really important part of being a leader or an executive thank you so much for watching this video if you did find this video valuable for your care career please hit the like button below subscribe to my channel as well for future content like this every week thank you again for watching and I will see you next week in another video