Are you ready to upgrade yourself to the management level? If a person wants to transition from being an outstanding individual contributor to a manager who oversees operations, they will have to go through four stages of promotion and develop themselves to be ready as a manager.

The first stage is the responsibility upgrade. As an individual contributor, you only need to be responsible for completing specific tasks. When someone assigns you a task and clearly defines the metrics for completion, once you achieve those metrics, the task is considered complete.

However, as a people manager, you are responsible for achieving goals. You need to understand that your employees can only complete tasks, but cannot bear the responsibility of a manager. Even if an employee with poor performance fails to complete their task, you must take full responsibility. Your responsibility is to find solutions to any problem that arises and achieve the ultimate goal.

The second stage is the communication upgrade. You need to transition from using your own hands to using other people’s brains. When you are an individual contributor, your brain is the decision-maker, and your hands are the executor. You think, and your hands immediately act.

There is no loss between your decision-maker and executor. However, once you become a people manager, your executor is no longer your own hands but your subordinates’ hands. You need to turn your thoughts into your subordinates’ actions.

At this point, you not only need to communicate clearly with your subordinates about what you want them to do but also why you want them to do it. You need to make your subordinates understand your ideas from the bottom of their hearts so that they can execute them completely instead of just pretending.

The third stage is the relationship upgrade. Yesterday, you might have been cursing the same person with your subordinates, but today you are their manager. Your relationship with them has changed. You need to establish a new relationship with them based on trust and respect. You need to understand their strengths and weaknesses and help them grow. You also need to be able to handle conflicts and maintain a harmonious relationship with your subordinates.

The fourth stage is the personality upgrade. As an individual contributor, you only need to focus on completing your own tasks. However, as a people manager, you need to have a broader vision and understand the company’s goals and strategies. You need to align your team’s goals with the company’s goals and ensure that your team’s work contributes to the company’s success.

To become a people manager, you will have to overcome four challenges or obstacles including your responsibility upgrades, communication upgrades, relationship upgrades, and personality upgrades. Then are you ready to upgrade yourself with those four stages or challenges?