What is necessary to take the leap from Sr. Analyst to Manager of a Rev Ops/Sales Ops team?

The leap from analyst to manager marks the first step in shifting focus from the quality of your individual contributions to your ability to deliver tangible business impact and work effectively with others. This role demands a blend of interpersonal, strategic, and technical skills to manage teams effectively and drive organizational success.

• Being a manager often means becoming a people leader, which requires a track record of mentorship, coaching, and uplifting members of your team based on your tenure and experience. As a manager, you must demonstrate proven mentorship and coaching abilities. Leading involves nurturing talent, fostering professional growth among team members, and setting a positive example in workplace culture. Your role is to guide your team through challenges, helping them to leverage their strengths and improve on their weaknesses.

• Effective communication is vital. A manager must bridge technical and business language barriers between cross-functional teams, ensuring clear and effective exchanges of ideas. This requires not only translating complex data into actionable insights but also advocating for your team's needs and contributions at the strategic level.

• You must also move beyond purely technical skills surrounding data management or solution implementations. Instead, start identifying process inefficiencies, analyze that data, and propose solutions to optimize various business aspects that accelerate the overall customer journey.

• Develop a systems thinking and building mindset. This doesn't necessarily mean creating technology solutions; rather, it involves crafting frameworks that allow you to identify needs, communicate with partners, execute plans, and report on successes and failures in a scalable way, prioritizing lessons learned.

• Being a manager also means you are a culture carrier; you should be seen as a champion of team ideals and an exemplar for others to follow. How do you deliver on the company’s values? How do you establish a bias for action, bridge gaps, inspire teams, and collaborate to deliver ideal outcomes? These are critical aspects of being a manager.

Transitioning from an analyst to a manager involves elevating your individual work to inspire those around you and the teams beneath you to perform at a level you have become known for. You need to apply your impacts and knowledge in a way that is felt throughout the broader organization. Being a manager is not just about managing work; it's about leading people and processes in a way that supports the company’s broader objectives and fosters a positive and productive team environment.