Professional Development
Advancing a Career in Management: 4 Questions to Ask

Overcoming Career Reservations: A Quick Self-Guide
Are you looking for your next career milestone, but not sure if it’s the right time? Career change can be daunting and bring with it a lot of self-doubt. We’ve put together a quick self-guide to help you overcome your career reservations and move forward with confidence.
Great leaders always grow. They continue to learn and are always looking for growth opportunities. Thomas Edison had such great tenacity for his ambitions.
Career growth is something we should consciously deal with, but we often don’t. “How do I know if it’s time to make a career move?” “Am I ready for the next chapter?” And several such excuses and fears govern this decision.
New Business graduates are often disoriented and confused when transitioning from college to the real world, according to a 2019 study from the Harvard Business Review. And this confusion is even common among mid-career professionals as they seek management positions.
Whether you’re just starting your career or deciding to move into a senior position, it’s important to address your concerns. Feeding fears can keep you from exploring your potential and getting the growth you deserve.
Four questions to ask when making a career move
Management and business skills are second nature to any domain expertise. According to an estimate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the number of corporate jobs is expected to grow 10 percent annually through 2026. No wonder, then, that for many, career development revolves around choosing management roles.
You can make the leap from a skilled engineer with virtually no business skills to a versatile engineer with management acumen, which will help you apply for higher-level leadership positions.
Earning a higher salary in the fast-growing business strategy jobs requires the confidence and willingness to springboard above all else.
This quick guide lists four questions that will be your tool for overcoming career blues and helping you advance into coveted management positions with calm nerves and a new perspective.
Asking these questions will help you determine if you are ready for business management and move you forward. Underlying these four questions are also the four fundamental fears that all professionals face as they move up in their careers.
A. Do I have a plan?
“Have I been in this organization long enough?” “Should I leave my current workplace to move up in my career?”
Many mid-career management professionals ask these questions when deciding on their next career move.
These are not simple yes-no questions. It’s not about leaving or staying. You can always stay and take on more responsibilities, similar to higher positions. You can always leave and look for your ambitions outside. At the heart of this confusion is the lack of a plan.
The right way to overcome this confusion is to develop a plan.
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Ask yourself: where you are now and where you want to be.
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Develop in you a keen sense of professional objectives for the next 1 year and 5/10 years (short and long term).
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Make your ambitions clear with ‘from/to’ statements.
B. What skills do I need?
With a career development plan in mind, you can now determine what skills you will need throughout the professional journey you have planned. Data (from LinkedIn, Glassdoor, etc.) shows that there is a growing need for people with business and strategic management skills who can make important decisions.
A professor at Harvard Business School, David Garvin, believes that the most important skills for aspiring and newly appointed managers are “designing, directing and shaping processes.”
The right management skills will give you the knowledge to get from point A to B and determine what actions you need to take during this transition.
A short course in business skills or management can help. You can also enroll in professional business strategy certifications to not only gain global recognition for your management skills but also broaden your perspective.
C. Do I have enough experience?
It’s normal to feel so comfortable with your current position that the thought of change confuses you or almost always seems half-baked. For most people, it’s essentially a failure of inquiry into “when is really the right time to take the next step.”
Professionals often wonder whether they have built up enough experience. Some are only confronted with the dilemma too late due to career burnout.
In this case, experience should not be assessed based on years of service. Many new managers are young, and some join the game late in life. What experience should mean is better emotional and professional insight.
WEF research shows that emotional intelligence is the strongest precursor to high-level business skills and workplace management success. More than 90% of top performers scored high on the emotional quotient (EQ).
If you have a knack for reading people, leading discussions, and sparking new thinking, chances are you have a high EQ and are also ready to take the leap.
To check that, ask yourself how others experience your presence in the company. Evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. And provide honest feedback to create closer working relationships.
Experience brings mastery of the knowledge that inspires the skills. If you don’t feel ready yet, you can always ask for more responsibilities (discussed in the next section).
D. How do I ask for more responsibilities?
When you take ownership of the tasks, both you and your organization grow. One of the biggest barriers to professionals thinking about career development is breaking out of their comfort zone to take on more (sometimes it may seem braver than rational). A simple way to get out of this is to take initiative.
Test yourself. Challenge yourself. Let yourself grow.
High-performing management professionals are often self-starters. They don’t wait for opportunities to arise; they actively seek them out. Initiative is one of their most important characteristics, it turns out Indeed.
Lead a team. Take on a project. Design a campaign. Help your unit close an important deal. Whatever you excel at, taking initiative is the best way to showcase your capabilities and surpass yourself.
It is the best way to grow yourself in your current role, opening yourself up to new possibilities within both the current and future organization. The golden rule of this step is: don’t be passive.
Get serious about career growth
Even just wanting to know how to advance in your career is a healthy sign of your seriousness about your professional growth.
Fears are often the result of a lack of knowledge. Outside support can help you break the myths and gain the clarity you need to take on management roles.
You can strengthen your resolve and ease your journey with training, coaching and mentoring. By investing in yourself, you can make the transition with the best prospects. It will also strengthen your resume.
If you are a working professional without the luxury of time off, you can enroll in a professional business certification. It will help you establish yourself as a capable collaborator among employers, and help you take advantage of management opportunities worldwide with minimal distraction from your work.
Career progression takes time, but when the time comes, procrastination never helps. Don’t avoid the big questions and take the next big management leap in your career with confidence.
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