Professional Progress

Professionals enjoy making progress toward mastery in their field, which means they have a next level in their sights. And whatever the next level is, it’s different from what they do now. It is true that sometimes the next level includes what they do now. But sometimes, it’s letting go of what they do now. Sometimes it’s equipping others to do what they do now. Whatever it is, it’s not more of the same.

For you, your next level includes being different in your thinking and behaving. And the difference is more than deepening your technical competence. Yes, you should continue to develop your capabilities. But the significant difference is almost always in non-technical areas.

New Responsibilities

Unfortunately, taking on different responsibilities is also uncomfortable. When you get into situations that you are ill-equipped to handle, you naturally revert back to what you know—what you used to do and how you used to be. While it may make you feel better, you interrupt your progress toward mastery.

For instance, when you are promoted from a performer to a manager, you still need to deepen your technical competence to perform. But that, by itself, just makes you a better performer. Managing involves non-technical thinking and actions that are not required as a performer; all of which is new learning and behaving. I posted a Message about this that you may want to read.

When you become a manager, you have the additional responsibilities for the team (balancing workloads and scheduling), clients (ownership of the deliverables) and the firm (profitability metrics). Just being a stronger performer isn’t enough. The same goes for managers preparing for partnership. Most new partners initially function as senior managers because they haven’t learned how to be a partner All they know is how to be a senior manager. That’s why the best firms prepare their people for their next level.

New Ownership

Over the last two weeks, I’ve had numerous conversations with candidates in our Partner-Ready Program. Even though they are from different firms, senior managers are working on the same thing—ownership at the next level. It’s a different way to think about themselves and how they interact in their firm.  They are learning how to rid themselves of things that are more appropriate for managers. Or how to tactfully discuss with partners to let go. Or to shift their mindset to a firmwide perspective instead of focusing only on their corner of the firm (specific clients, their team or their office). Our conversations center on finding those places for each Partner-Ready candidate to step in and make a difference in their firm.

Any promotion or role advancement requires more than what you’ve always done. If you don’t know the expectations, ask. If you don’t know how to meet the expectations, get training. Rely on the wisdom and feedback of your mentor or coach. Whatever you do, look for what makes the next level different.