i've been a manager for seven years when
will i be ready to be a director
i'm capable of managing my team
successfully so why haven't i been
promoted to director level now these are
the questions i receive all the time for
my clients and generally in a
corporation the progression into
director level reads something like this
you start out as an individual
contributor and then you are promoted to
manager and within manager of course
there are junior manager mid-level
manager and senior level manager and
after that you become a director
and then director beyond you become vp
vice president and then the c level and
that's generally how things occur
and you see most of the things that we
do what we think about when it comes to
being promoted from manager to director
most of the things that are required to
be a great individual contributor are
the exact opposite of the things that
you need to be successful when it comes
to direct level so that's why in this
video i want to share with you some key
strategies that i share with my clients
as well when it comes to being
competitive
and positioning yourself for a director
level even before you have the official
title now it's important to begin to
position yourself that way even if
you're not sure if at the next review
that you might get that promotion
because marketing yourself is a key
component of the promotion it is a
process it's not that you start
marketing the minute you are asking the
promotion or you start marketing during
the performance review where you're
being assessed marketing is an entire
process you can't leave until the very
end so that's what i want to share with
you today on some of the key strategies
that you can implement right away and
just a hint a lot of them require a
mindset shift
right and so that's why you can get you
can get kind of you can get away for it
for a while when it comes to being an
individual contributor and being used to
that role you can get away with that for
a while when you are at the manager
level but as soon as you are at the
director level it's a whole different
game if you can think of it as kind of
like a game board you have a game board
which is at the individual contributor
and that could bleed into manager level
and you can still be successful and feel
like you're making progress but at the
director level it is a completely
different game board think of it as
board games right what happens when you
play a different board game
different rules different strategies for
success and that's exactly how you want
to think about it when it comes to
manager versus director different rules
and different strategies for success
so the driver level you got to start to
operate cross-functionally and manage be
used to and have the vernacular on how
to manage a larger team with a much
broader set of responsibilities so what
i want to share with you in this video
are the abcs of how to go from manager
to a director and i want to hear from
you as well comment below if what i'm
saying with you resonates with you and
this is an interesting topic for you
give me a thumbs up as well let me know
you're here and remember to subscribe to
my channel ring that bell below the
video as well so that you can be
notified every time i release a new
video
right so abcs of how to become manager
and being promoted to director abc's a
is for articulate
articulate what articulate new standards
of excellence and this is as a director
one of your key roles on the directorate
level is to lead a team and you're
leading them to adopt new processes
these new processes are key in the
corporation to
lead to improvements and the
improvements that a company is aiming
for at a director level the improvements
you are able to provide them are orders
of magnitude higher than what you have
been able to achieve as a manager so
this is orders of magnitude higher think
about the way the improvement of
processes that you had as an individual
contributor and as a manager and think
bigger than that
and that is the direct level right
managers lead a team to execute based on
established processes and as a manager
you're used to meeting benchmarks
and as an individual contributor as well
and it might be that when you were an
individual contributor you might have
excelled in those same processes that
now that you're a manager you're
teaching your teams how to excel those
processes and implement those processes
as well and so you're essentially as a
manager you're leading your teams to do
what you did successfully when you were
an individual contributor
now
that i understand that process but that
structure is completely different when
you are a director level at a director
level you're not showing the managers
what you did when you were a manager it
requires a completely different way of
thinking
their director now needs to lead people
and teams that they don't directly
manage
and that's the key when you are a
manager you know junior senior mid-level
doesn't matter when you're a manager you
directly you directly have reports and
your direct reports are reporting to you
so therefore you tell them what to do
you tell them what the vision is and you
course correct when necessary but as a
director you are leading
cross-functional teams and a lot of the
teams that you're leading
are not directly reporting to you
yet you need to influence them yet you
need to articulate down towards them so
they don't directly report to you so
there's this degree of separation if you
will for lack of a better term so the
question then becomes how do you lead
them because this requires an entirely
different set of leadership and
influence skills
because here's the thing
it's one thing to be able to influence
people who report to you and because
they report to you by your position as
manager they're willing to do it and
they will they will they will do as
they're told but it's a completely
different ball game and i always mention
this completely different board game
it's completely different much different
thing to be able to influence people
that you don't have direct power over
how can you
empower them how do you influence them
and how do you get them to execute on
your vision that's a completely
different set of leadership skills all
together
so here's what i would suggest
that's why it's important that right now
even before you see a promotion on the
horizon if that's what you're serious
about achieving that type of promotion
then right now get involved find ways to
get involved in some more
cross-functional responsibilities
projects that demand cross-functional
leadership so that now you can begin to
learn what it takes to be successful
in that type of directorship environment
by the way if what i'm saying is
resonated with you and you understand
the importance of coaching executive
coaching a lot of directors do
if you look at executives and companies
most of them are currently working with
a coach to help them to develop these
skills leadership skills influence
skills communication skills and also
skills on how to navigate through
ambiguity so you're serious about
investing in that coaching for yourself
and you want to work with someone who
has helped other executives to become
successful and continue that growth
trajectory then i invite you to book a
call with me
because below this video there's a
description below the video and on the
first link of the description that is
the link for you to book a call with me
fill out an application for coaching
executive level coaching and this is
where either myself or someone from my
team will get on a call with you just to
explore if whether or not this is the
right fit no commitment there's nothing
to sell it's just a conversation to
explore whether or not i can truly help
you with what you're looking for and if
this is going to be the right fit and
it's really an exploration a discovery
call
and this is only for you if you are
serious about receiving that type of
coaching to take your skills your
understanding and your competencies to
that next level so if that's you i look
forward to working with you on the
inside and making this year and every
year your best year ever
so that is the a abcs of how to be
promoted to director a was to articulate
b is to become
become what become a student of your
discipline
the difference between manager versus
director is exactly this managers
prescribe
versus directors who mentor
directors mentor mentorship is a form of
teaching
you're teaching you're passing your
knowledge right so what do i mean by
that
managers prescribe in other words
managers tell their direct reports
here's the direction we need to go
here's the challenges we're facing and
here's what we're going to do about it
so it's a prescription for lack of a
better term here's here's what we need
to do to carry out to come to come
across these challenges to get to where
we want to be okay team let's implement
whereas directors are teaching
completely different skill set and
modality of communication right teaching
is not the same thing as prescribing it
requires a completely different mindset
and modality of communication
teaching means that you yourself as a
director or a comp or a candidate as a
director
you yourself must understand the mental
models behind your profession
because you've worked so hard to develop
your skill sets right now through
education and learning on the job but
you've got to understand what are my
mental models first principle thinking
so that therefore you can teach people
how to think about the thing
instead of telling them because as a
director instead of telling them what
action to take you got to deeply
understand okay here's what we're going
to do but here's why this works here's
why this is going to be successful
here's why i do what i do here's why my
approach is this way and here's why the
vision is the vision that it is
so why do your models work why does your
strategic thinking work the way that you
implement your critical procedures why
do those things work
you got to understand that at the
deepest level for yourself so that you
can articulate it
have you ever noticed that sometimes
somebody is could be really good at what
they do
but they don't know how to teach
somebody to be good at what they do
have you ever noticed that right some of
the greatest sports
sports some of the greatest athletes
athletes out there or the greatest
individuals in their industry they don't
know how to pass on their knowledge so
that's why it's a completely different
level of knowledge and communication to
be able to teach it as a much higher
level
and that is what will be expected of you
as a director
so i would suggest here's what i would
suggest
start learning your exact mental models
the mental models that made you
successful both as a manager and will
continue to make you successful as a
director
start to understand them and
understand them to the point that you
can articulate it
communicate it clearly and coherently
and when you understand it look for the
key functional processes and the
competencies in your discipline
and that will equip you with the
modality of communication that will
position you for success
okay so we have a for articulate b is to
become and c is to charter
charter charter what chart of the course
for the company this is a key another
key strategy for
having positioning yourself into a
director position charter the course of
your company you need to be able to
demonstrate that you have the competency
to do that how do you charter the course
because the difference again in this
modality the difference between a
manager and a director is this while a
manager is more involved in overseeing
employees and supervising the
implementation of the team
the director on the other hand is
focused not just on this some this sort
of day-to-day implementations completely
different
directors what they do instead is they
are fundamental at formulating what's
going to be next
what's going to be next on the company's
agenda what's going to be next on their
growth plan what's going to be next on
their innovation trajectory what's going
to be next in their productivity
so you got to understand how am i going
to chart the course to come
and you got to do that chart the course
before delivering instructions to the
managers below you to carry them out
right so that is the key importance and
understand every point that i've shared
with you today shares with you the key
difference between manager versus
director it's time to think differently
it's time to play a different game
and as a director you got to be able to
consistently not you're not involved in
the day-to-day implementation so much
anymore but your day-to-day
what you are dedicated towards is
formulating what is success going to
look like what is it going to look like
for us
and then after that examining and
evaluating the company's process what
are the short call what are the
shortfalls for example
examining what are the bottlenecks that
we're having and what's the system that
we're going to put in place and how is
it working and where is it where is that
system failing
focusing on the goals of the company is
one of the key
the key
implementers of the directors that
director level as well
right so that's a b c a is articulate
b is to become
c is to charter the course and d is to
develop develop what
develop great future managers
think about building a legacy
we all want to have a legacy which means
we want to make our most meaningful
contribution using our knowledge and our
expertise
so this is really much personified in
the director
a director is there to coach and mentor
individuals and when under their
mentorship those mentees become great
managers they become great managers and
they lead teams they are fantastic at
being able to instill processes right
compared with managers who just develop
certain competencies within an
individual contributor because if you
remember this when you're when you're an
individual
contributor during that phase of your
career you had a manager mentoring you
to help you develop certain areas key
areas of gaps or maybe competencies that
you need to improve and that's what
managers do
but at the director level it's much
broader than that you're developing
great managers which then become the
future directors so this is a complete
mindset shift that i encourage you to
adopt right now
rather than focus on what you've been
comfortable with which is helping
individuals coach to develop one
particular competency you've got to
excel at teaching what are the unique
qualifications what are the unique
competencies and abilities
that are required to be a great manager
right so i want to hear from you comment
below what are what's your key takeaway
that you took from this
what is something that that i that i
spoke to that really resonated with you
that you just really realized this is it
i never thought of it this way this is
what i'm going to work on comment below
and commit to that this is the
investment you're going to make in
yourself
all right so i look forward to hanging
out with you again in my next video