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Ahoy,

Usually I write about stories or lessons that can really help improve a persons leadership abilities.

However, there are quite a lot of readers here that are not yet in a position of leadership, but really want to be.

It’s a huge step, to step into that first position of leadership.

It can be quite a scary change, but before you need to know how to handle that change, or to optimise your leadership style… you need to know how to get there!

So today I want to take you through a few things you can be/should be doing, if you want to secure that first leadership position.

Please read to the end, I’ve got a short 1 question poll that would really help me create content that is best suited to you guys!

There are two positions you may be in as someone that wants their first leadership position.

1. You work for a company and you want a promotion to a leadership role.

2. You either work or don’t work for a company, but you want to look at other places for a leadership role.

Both are perfectly acceptable.

You’ll find people that would be advocates of staying in one place and working your way up, and you’ll find people that believe your best chances are to move somewhere else into a “higher rank”.

Honestly, I’m not here to answer that.

I think there are a lot of personal factors that go into a decision like that. For example, do you even like where you’re at? Or are you just staying in the hope you get promoted…?

If that’s the case, probably try and apply for new positions right?

But if you love where you work, why cut to another company just because you might have a “higher rank”.

Like I said, there’s a lot of factors that go into this, so I wont pretend to know what’s best for you.

So we’ll quickly cover a little bit of both!

The promotion route

Lets not mess about here, if you want a promotion there are really two key things you need to do:

1. Ensure you’re demonstrating the qualities that management expect to see in a junior leader

2. Ask for more responsibilities

If you do these two things, you will stand out.

There are obviously a bunch of other things that will certainly help i.e., it never hurts to tell your manager that you want a promotion and to ask what they expect from you to get it…

But in terms of proving to them that you are suited for the role, these two things are your shortcut.

So what does this look like?

Identify what your company expects from it’s junior leaders.

• How do they work?

• What are their characteristics?

• Do they have any specific skills?

Then learn, develop and engage your way into becoming more suited to the role.

In the Navy we would assess people for promotion based on their ability to perform in a few given characteristics.

As an officer I wrote quite a few reports for people, and saw what it was that got people promoted and what didn’t.

And it was these two things. Perform against the characteristics the navy wanted, and take on more responsibility!

I’ve got to be really clear here: do not pretend to be someone you’re not.

I know people that have done this in order to get promoted but ultimately, they get that first promotion, the cover comes off and they remain at that position for good.

Be yourself. But start to grow.

Asking form more responsibilities is a key indicator to a manager that you’re dedicated to your growth in the organisation.

To take it a step further, you can start to take initiative on doing more without going to management.

But if you don’t know what can help, this can be a difficult first step.

Try asking for more responsibility first, then take initiative on things you think would help.

Applying for new roles

Applying for new roles can be scary and there are a couple of things to watch out for.

Today though, I’m just going to take a moment to focus on experience.

When stepping into a leadership role, more often than not, some level of experience is required/expected.

So firstly, I would ask yourself: What experiences do I have?

Think outside the box, you may even realise that you’ve already been a leader in some way before.

But I want to stress here, do not limit yourself by your experience.

It’s so easy for use to say, “I don’t have enough experience to do that yet…”

The problem is, we keep saying that. When is enough?

This is imposter syndrome speaking. Telling you you’re not quite good enough for the role.

It’s a super common feeling, and to be honest it’s not a bad feeling to have. It can push you to learn more and keep progressing. Which is really helpful. But if it’s causing you to stall, you need to find a way to push through it.

As usually, a quick caveat.

It is entirely possible that you are not qualified or do not have enough experience.

That’s fine, take the time to build that up, then apply. It’s a long game!

So push yourself, but also maintain some level or realism… It’s a tough balance, but if in doubt, shoot further than you think you can.

This has been quite a different one, but I’d love to know what you all thought about it.

I’m thinking of doing a little more targeted at more junior levels of leadership such as this: getting your first leadership position, settling into a first leadership role, how junior leadership differs to senior leadership etc.

So what do you think?

Cant wait to hear your feedback, we’re always trying to make this more clearly align with your needs!

The more you share the better we can make this for you guys, so I really appreciate the feedback.

Either way, I hope you benefited from this weeks edition.

As always, have a great day.

Reece