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Updated: September 2, 2019 Ask ACE

How to show your full potential to an employer

By Jim Milliken, Consultant

Q: I’ve been a supervisor for five years. I’d like to be promoted, but they tell me I don’t show potential for management. How can I overcome that?

ACE advises: You demonstrate potential for management by developing and practicing basic managerial skills within the limits of your current job.

Fundamental strengths are asking good questions and making sound decisions. The two skills can be studied separately, but in practice they work closely together.

Decision-making starts with thoughtful examination of the situation at hand to determine what is known and what further must be found out to handle it successfully. Being thorough will take some time at first, but make sure you learn it well before you speed up the process.

Good questions are based on that firm grasp of the current reality. The competent manager is a curious person, a problem solver who takes responsibility. This person can’t ignore a problem even when everybody else does. He or she is compelled to stop, look at it, determine what’s causing it and seek out a solution.

Once you understand what seems to be going on, you can employ curiosity, forethought and open-ended questioning. This requires practice, too, but it’s instructive to watch a competent manager doing it at work.

Be careful, though. Not all managers who might seem to be effective actually are. Additional strengths include building skills and confidence of your staff people. Doing that requires more subtle characteristics such as listening, patience and empathy.

Finding yourself a mentor who displays all those strengths is the blue-ribbon solution. Keep an eye out. You may find one.

More likely, it’s all up to you. Your first big management challenge.

If you have a question for an ACE expert, contact Jim Milliken at jim@millikenproject.com.

The Association for Consulting Expertise (ACE) is a nonprofit association of independent consultants who value “Success through Collaboration.” The public is welcome to attend its regular meetings to share best practices and engage with industry experts. For more information go to www.consultexpertise.com.

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