How does a manager get promoted to executive?

Do you know how to stand out from your peers to get promoted to the executive suite?                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

There is more than enough advice about how to be a good executive and lots of critique on bad ones. But there is scarce little advice on how to transition from manager to executive. It's a big leap and not necessarily a natural one.   Most career advice focuses on how to do the job, not how to get the promotion. Since it is my job as a coach to give career development advice I gathered anecdotal information to find answers.  What you find here is advice from the executives who promote their direct reports (managers) to executive positions.

The difference between manager and executive is not always easy to discern from the outside looking in.  Many mangers feel they are already doing the job of an executive but they lack the fine grain view to understand how the jobs are different.

Doug Brown, CEO/President of Seattle's All Star Directories has hired and promoted dozens of managers and executives during his executive years.  Doug's experience includes reinvigorating failing companies, working with startups and carrying others to high levels of success.  His teams demonstrate high morale and get the job done even under the toughest of times.

Doug believes: "Every job includes three categories of work: the Critical Few, the Functional Mandatory and the Trivial Many.

By definition, the Critical Few are those responsibilities and assignments that represent an individual's highest value to the institution. While others may contribute to these endeavors, accountability for the Critical Few being achieved is assigned to a single individual. 

The Functional Mandatory are tasks that must get done, but they add much less enterprise value than the Critical Few. The Trivial Many are the avoidable distractions resulting from poor execution on the Critical Few and the Functional Mandatory.

Compared to the priorities of a manager, an executive's Critical Few have a much higher degree of difficulty and have a much greater impact on the institution's long-term performance. For example, a manager assigns and reviews recurring work executed by individual contributors; an executive is responsible for hiring the right managers. A manager is responsible for reporting results; and executive is responsible for the results. A manager is responsible for reinforcing the culture; an executive is responsible for creating the culture.   

The transition from manager to executive requires a change in perspective. The Critical Few for each position are dramatically different."

The first queries I sent out to my executive contacts resulted in this list of what a manager can do to get noticed:

• Volunteer for more responsibilities
• Do what you can to stay visible
• Learn all you can
• Cooperate with other departments
• Deliver on your groups' charter
• Stay up to date on the market and your area of expertise

Add to this list my advice:  Be a good listener.  Even if you can't accommodate other managers' priorities in your decisions, knowing you understand their needs goes a long way towards being considered as a good collaborator, which is a major plus in an executive.  Collaboration gets noticed.

For more detail, I asked a few executives chartered with promoting and growing their teams.

Paul, Senior Director, Technology:

Paul is a senior director who manages a technology team of over 65 people from QA to Architecture.

He watches how his direct reports manage their relationships with those who help define the products.  Do they encourage their people to question, to push back, to challenge to ensure the instructions are clear and meaningful?  This sort of management is key to Paul because he knows the importance of the internal sell for any executive.

He also places a high value on those direct reports who come to him with solutions rather than problems.  In his eyes, anyone can whine or complain and point out problems, but only a true leader acknowledges and accepts challenges  by proposing solutions for discussion.  The proposal need not even be right; to Paul it is the approach that defines the prospective executive from the manager.

One of the toughest bars, in Paul's opinion, is how the managers handle employees who are not producing.  He watches how long it takes to manage out those who are not performing, and he monitors the manager's ability to convey and meet expectations with the team.

Do they require games and incentives, or do managers employ positive reinforcement to motivate their troupes? Do they deliver what is expected in a timely manner? If not, is he informed of delays to allow him to plan accordingly?

MS, Vice President

MS is a Vice President with over 300 people in his department at a world-renowned company. His nine direct reports are charted with succession planning and therefore the requirements for transitioning from manager to executive are perpetually on the table.

The questions are always the same.  Do managers convey the charter for the group, the mission for the department and the goals of the company?  Does each individual understand their role in delivering on that mission?

MS believes the most important factor to being a successful executive is being a successful manager.

The first place he looks is the morale of the team being managed.  He looks to see if each individual contributor knows what is expected.  Is there a metric by which they can judge their own performance?  And is there a clear and apparent consequence for not meeting those performance goals?

On an administrative level, are reviews and status reports delivered on time?  Do the manager's individual contributors feel their career development is a priority for their manager?  When conflicts arise, is the manager able to diffuse any problems so they do not affect others, the schedules or the company image?

MS will not promote managers who avoid confrontation, no matter how excellent their performance.  He and his direct reports are sensitive to the attributes of the passive aggressive manager who avoids making the hard decisions.

Other common questions

Recurring issues mentioned by CEOs to Directors:

Can the manager make the sale? I.e., can they organize a presentation of what is needed or wanted and sell that to their own manager?  And then sell it to their direct reports and get buy-in?

When managers make decisions do they take into consideration the priorities and agendas of other departments and the company? 

And last, but certainly not least, how do managers implement ideas or plans with which they do not agree? Once they have had their say, are they able to back the idea and execute or do they sabotage, delay or complain?

And you thought it was just about impressing your manager?  You work in a team.  Here's Doug's personal commentary:

Conclusion

While each executive has a different list of performance metrics to consider before promoting a manager, if you heed the guidelines above, you will no doubt get the attention of the people who will promote you. And if you are an executive in search of your next manager to promote, perhaps these ideas will guide your choice.

I suppose the overarching theme is:  Perform like an executive to become an executive. 

What do you need to see to promote someone?  Add your comments.  Or contact me with your ideas.