What type of skill sets and experiences do I need to build in order to strengthen my career and move from being a sales manager to Director level and above?

Moving from a Manager to a Director means that you have the skillset to not only take action on tasks or initiatives given to you, but to be the one that provides the strategy and vision that creates the initiatives and tasks. Being proactive in identifying risk or future problems, thinking through possible solutions and what is best for your business, employees and customers, is key to moving from managing to directing. As a Director, you become more concerned with the broader business outcomes and how your team(s) impact those outcomes, as well as you take ownership in providing insights to the business to influence and determine the strategy.

You can start to build these skills as an individual contributor. Don't wait for a leadership opportunity to learn when to speak up and provide information that can help the business, don't wait for someone to call on you to help solve a problem. Be proactive, think broader than your job, and be willing to do work that you're not compensated for to achieve the overall business goals.

Strategy. That's the major difference between a Manager and Director.

If you can operationalize strategy, that makes you a great manager. But if you can identify why things are or are not working, and know what to try and measure (creating a strategy), that's the makings of a great director.

My steps are:

1. Have great data. Always be able to track what you are doing down to the smallest activity. The data should be measurements of success, both as a point-in-time and over a time period. This will tell you if something is working or not.

2. If things are or are not working, identify why. Is there something we can do more of? Is there something we should start or stop?

3. Test the theory. Put it into action, and as always, have data to measure what you do.

When you see results trend positively, you picked a good strategy. Then start over and keep going!

This is applicable in any role, any level, inside and outside of management.

My mantra on career advanement has been always around doing the role before you get the title. I have always asked my manager that apart from delivering on my targets what more can I do for him/her. 

Specifically around a sales manager moving to a sales director, the biggest difference is from moving to managing ICs to managing managers. It is a very different trait when you are leading 2 or more layers of sales people under you. The shift focuses a lot more from showing the reps how to run the deals to coaching your managers on how to run the business. 

It is a transition from being too much in the business to moving to being on the business. 

My biggest learning there is to build more on your Emotional Quotient and leadership skills as you strive for Director+ roles. Having said that, never move away from the customers. Always try to stay connected to the customers to understand the pulse of the market even if you are at a VP or above level. This way you will always stay relevant to the business and also able to make better GTM decisions

There are a number of critical skills required to be successful in sales leadership, but these four are most critical in my opinion.

• Time Management

  • When leading a team of reps or managers while also working on the business and not just in it, time becomes even more sparse and it's critical to manage it effectively. Highly recommend getting familiar with the Eisenhower Matrix and using it as a mechanism to decide what gets your time and when. I'm always working on improving in this area personally!

• Coaching and Accountability

  • It's one thing to be able to learn, improve and hold yourself to a high bar consistently. It's another thing to get others to do these things. Understanding how to get buy-in, how to diagnose gaps and opportunities, how to effectively coach and how to hold people accountable are critical skills for any leadership role.

• Managing Complexity

  • For Director role specifically, being able to uncover problems and opportunities and put together and execute a plan to attack or exploit them is critical. As part of that, it is necessary to also be able to navigate relationships cross-functionally and ensure that you're aligning your incentives with those of your key partners.

• Mission-first Mindset

  • Once you get into leadership, it is no longer about you first- it is about the customer, the business and the broader team. Being able to solve for the right things in the right order is crucial to being an impactful leader and a trustworthy teammate.