When we start out in our management careers, we all aim for the top slot - the CEO position. We study hard, listen to the advice of our bosses, and then we plunge into the work.

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	Jim Stroup

But, oddly enough, this focus to excel in your early career can, if you’re not careful, imperil your potential for success later on.

For example, if you start out in a large organization, your initial assignment will be in a particular department. As conscientious and hard-working as you are, you will concentrate on your tasks and make every effort to stand out in your work.

But as time goes by, you find yourself in a special corner of the company, and you are enjoying success there. You are comfortable with your knowledge and status. Moreover, you are growing increasingly unfamiliar with and uncertain of the operations in other departments. The company and your bosses are happy with your performance, increasing your own satisfaction. So everything seems perfect, and you’re right in your comfort zone.

But put all of that together, and where do you really find yourself? Possibly, in a cul-de-sac, but definitely not on the fast-track to the CEO spot.

There are advantages, obviously, to being good at your current work. But bear in mind that when the time comes for you to move into upper management, you will need to become a generalist. After all, you will be assuming greater responsibilities for the operation of the organization as a whole - not just the narrow part of it you happen to be in at this, or a similar, point in the early years of your career.

It is true that at these higher levels, you may still be assigned a specific portfolio, covering a defined range of managerial or organizational activity. But in order to excel at these levels, you will need to have developed not only a broader perspective of the company, but experience in a wider range of managerial skills.

But, of course, for the moment, you are quite comfortable, and your bosses are raining down praise upon you. So, you give more to, and attain more ability in, what you are being rewarded for. And you begin to notice after a time that you are being assigned more of what you give yourself to and what you have developed a reputation for expertise in.

And this is the irony. It creates two possibly unsatisfactory avenues for your career. On the one hand, you may simply become a functional expert and spend your working life as a manager specializing in that area. On the other, you may be so bewildered by the dramatic change that comes with an upper-level managerial assignment that you simply fail.

Make no mistake: this is a major shift in managerial thinking and practice. As we have seen, it is entirely possible - even
probable - that your career hasn’t prepared you for it. This is a key reason why so many managers, including unquestionably intelligent and generally capable people, nevertheless fail, or, at least, underperform at that level.

Once there, at first they’re not sure what to make of the puzzling environments they now face. All too often, they resolve this conflict by coming to rely on the belief that what got them there must be what their bosses promoted them to that level to provide. So, they blunder ahead in the same old fashion, confused and increasingly distraught as they uncomprehendingly see progress and control slipping away.

Some outfits are aware of this problem, and try to address it in various ways. For example, they may have an assignment program that rotates young managers through the various departments. The specific purpose of this is to acquaint them with a thorough grasp of the workings of the company at the daily operational level.

That’s not bad, but it still doesn’t go far enough to prepare you for high-level management. Some companies try to address this issue with orientation sessions, or even training programs, for managers newly crossing the executive threshold. Unfortunately, though, these efforts by themselves are nowhere near enough. And, worse, many organizations don’t even offer them; they simply expect you to pick up the knowledge you need.

You will do well, then, to be aware of this issue as your first set of promotions near, and to keep it in mind when you approach the early steps to upper management. Ultimately, it is you who are responsible for making sure you’re ready, that you “pick it up.” So, what do you do?

The first thing many people think of is taking classes, attending workshops, or enrolling in an advanced management degree program. These are legitimate options. But be careful that you don’t, as many do, come to think that educational steps like these alone will transform your abilities at work. What’s more, they will likely represent a heavy investment in both money and time.

There is a benefit in gaining from the experience and knowledge of others, which is essentially what activities like those above enable you to do. But the key is to make the required capabilities your own. You do this by exercising and expanding your intellectual and interpersonal capabilities. You must be proactive in this endeavor.

To begin with, widen the range of your interests and activities. For example, you will find it is very helpful - even important - to develop the habit of reading outside of the technical or operational specialty you are accustomed to. In fact, you should regularly read outside of the field of business or management altogether.

Similarly, develop your life outside of work - engage in new sports, travel, and entertainment. Take up a new hobby. Get involved in your community organizations. Commit to a local charity. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how this improves not just the quality of your life, but your effectiveness at work.

Practices like those above enhance your ability to think creatively. They help you discover and integrate perspectives that contribute to your work that you otherwise would never have considered or even understood were available.

Most importantly, they will encourage you to develop a broader sense of curiosity about things, processes, and people. This will help you better gather, appreciate, and assess influences and information that are germane to your work, and that will make your decision-making ability sharper and better informed.

Put this together with your hard work and detailed learning and experience in your early assignments, and you will find yourself ready for greater and broader managerial responsibilities. You will find that the generalist perspective and abilities you are developing are showing up in your work and being noticed by your bosses alongside your specialist competence. You’re back on track to the top!

About the Author

Jim Stroup is an international management consultant specializing in organizational leadership and strategic planning. Learn more at www.managingleadership.com/blog.

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