Ready for the next step in your career?  You’ve rounded out your experience, professional development, and people skills, and now you’re ready for a challenge—one that comes with greater notoriety, increased salary, more professional opportunities, and serious responsibility for the success of the business.  We’re talking about becoming a manager.  And we didn’t say it was easy.

The road to management is fraught with challenges and uncertainty: Do you have what it takes to be a manager?  Have you followed a career path conducive to this next step?  Have you built a reputation that will lend itself well to management in your company?  How do you stack up against the competition from both inside and outside your organization?  By following our guide to becoming a manager, you’ll be able to answer these questions and more, and to put yourself in a prime path to becoming a successful manager.

• So you want to be a manager: SAY SO!  Having career aspirations beyond your current position is not a crime.  Many companies consider it a great success when fledgling employees work their way through the ranks to achieve higher positions within the company.  So if your goal is to become a manager, share your aspirations with the right people, such as your current supervisory chain and your Human Resources team.  You can even seek out a manager who might be willing to mentor you.  Your “in the know” team can help you develop the skills you need to promote.

• So you want to be a manager: BECOME A MENTOR.  What better way to show off your management skills than by mentoring a junior employee?  Explore whether a mentorship program exists in your company, or consider joining a professional organization that can set you up with a mentee.  By working closely with a less experienced employee, you’ll be able to demonstrate solid interpersonal skills and the ability to steer employees in the right direction.  Plus it’s personally rewarding!

• So you want to be a manager: SOLICIT FEEDBACK.  Soliciting feedback from a few trusted friends and colleagues, or even your supervisor, can help you assess your readiness to become a manager.  How do you respond to stress, conflict, leadership roles, and deadlines?  Even if you don’t always hear what you want to, you’ll show that you’re open to listening to others and that you’re committed to continually improving yourself as a professional.

• So you want to be a manager: DEVELOP YOUR MANAGEMENT SKILLS.  Being—not just becoming—a manager is demanding work, so you’ll want to put yourself in the best possible position to succeed.  Using the feedback you got from others and what you know about yourself, take an honest personal assessment of your skills.  Which managerial skills are your strongest?  Which could use work?  Which have you not yet explored at all?  Research and train to fill in those skill gaps, and you’ll make yourself a more attractive, well-rounded managerial candidate.