How to Break Into Management

Climbing the corporate ladder can be a tough task when you are starting in the basement.  The key to stepping up to a management position has three elements.  You have to have the right credentials.  You need to be able to influence outcomes. Last, you must prove your ability to make good choices.  Each of these has an affect on whether any type of management position is ever offered.

Having the right credentials.

Most managers begin their climb immediately after completing their formal education.  Using that degree to open a door into a management track is the best way to break into management.  Your education does the work for you.  You are usually not required to prove that you can manage before being given the chance.  You may be asked to manage some form of company business or asset at a low level, but it is management.  If you learned organizational skills and a work ethic in college, moving up in the corporate world will not be a great task until you reach the upper levels of middle management.

Without the education, you must find other ways to prove your worth to your superiors.  Working to build up your job related skills either through company training or additional formal education always looks good to those above you.  Learning a broad base of information about the company will help you make better decisions when you are allowed to do so.  Acquire the ability to do jobs that are not necessarily your own.  Step up at every opportunity to teach others how to improve their performance without butting into their job. 

Managers are always looking for the employee that makes a difference without being obnoxious.  If you learn to do this, you will be building a credential.  Any chance you have to the leader, take it and do a great job.

A final credential that is usually despised by coworkers is to develop a strong relationship with those above you.  They are not the enemy.  If you rise from the ranks, it will be those above you who toss you the rope to climb up.

Work to become a person of influence.

Managers are expected to do more than maintain the status quo.  Managers should create change.  This change includes motivating people, improving the business or production model, and affecting the quality of service or output.  If you just want more money or a title, you have missed the point of management.  Managers are like small business owners within a larger corporation.  The portion of the company under their control is expected to be able to run as a unit and continually improve.

You must be able to motivate people, or you will never be able to get your team to work productively.  Those who work under you need direction, a sense that their work matters, and believe that their boss cares about them personally.  These are traits that you must work to develop and showcase to the people in a position to matter.

Prove your ability to make good choices.

Everyone knows people who get lots of chances to show their ability to make choices who regularly shoot themselves in the foot.  If you want a management job and never step up and pursue it when a position is available, this is viewed as making a bad choice.  You have denied yourself a chance before you give your boss an opportunity to say yes or no.  Those above you are not mind readers.  Your first good choice is to apply for management positions when they are open.  You may not get it every time, but you will learn from the experience and have a better shot next time.

Choose carefully who you align yourself with in the organization.  You will be judged by the company that you keep.  Making your friends from the complainers and poor workers is not a good decision.  It will be noticed by your boss.  Knowing when to do something on your own and when to ask permission is another time to show off your decision making ability.

Work hard to develop in these areas, and management opportunities will come.  Falter regularly in these areas, and you will live in the basement for a long, long time.