From Newbie > Sr. Director

1. 📚Being good at the job and willing to learn when I wasn't - This might seem obvious but now as a people leader, I've had a lot of employees ask me about promotions who weren't currently meeting their KPIs. Before anything, make sure you understand how your role is being measured and if you're currently meeting or exceeding expectations.

2. 👯‍♀️Once I got good at the job, helping my peers - I've seen so many high performers choose to stay in a silo and just focus on themselves. The catch is - if you want to be a people manager, you have to show that you can work with people. If you're already at 100% if your targets, don't use your free time to hit 150%. Instead, figure out how to help your peers. Managers are performance multipliers, not solo artists.

3. ⚠️*Respectfully* highlighting problems and bringing solutions to fix them - There's always something to fix or improve in any given organization. A lot of people will choose to either complain or ignore. Stand up by mentioning the problem to your boss and a couple of ideas you've been thinking of to fix it.

4. 🛠️Become "the fixer" - As you share suggestions, find ways that you can be involved in fixing the problem. Maybe you draft a new team playbook, lead a training, work with another department to design a new process. This will show that you're proactive and it will give you experience that you can highlight in future interviews and career conversations.

5. 🧠Knowing the business - The better you understand other parts of the org, the more solutions you can provide. You also will have more people who can vouch for when it's time to make promotion and bonus decisions. Join ERGs, make small talk during lunch, pay attention during company meetings - try to understand what the various departments do and how they work together.

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