No matter how much I think I know my team’s career aspirations, I’m still caught off guard.

While leading an IT support organization, I had to backfill a talented manager who was approaching retirement. Just as we began interviewing candidates, one of our employees, Arjun, approached and asked: “Can I be considered for the job? I'm interested in leadership."

The manager and I exchanged shocked glances. Despite years of performance reviews and career conversations, Arjun never expressed interest in leading people.

"That’s wonderful, Arjun. Let’s spend time unpacking this together." 

Have a Clear Ask

Always have a clear ask. Like Arjun, make your leadership aspirations explicit. While good leaders should invite conversations about career aspirations, never take for granted that they'll intuit yours. 

Leaders are remarkably busy, especially in remote environments where we're jumping from crisis to crisis.

Remote work eliminates those water cooler conversations and casual break room interactions where aspirations naturally surface. Without these micro-moments, every interaction becomes intentional, making it that much more important to be direct about your career interests. 

When you articulate specific leadership interests and propose concrete next steps, you make it easy for your manager to support your growth. 

Be empathetic to their workload while taking the reins on your own development.

Propose Stretch Assignments

The most effective way to position yourself for leadership is working with your manager on stretch assignments that provide meaningful exposure to leadership responsibilities. 

Ask what components of their role they find most challenging or time-consuming. Volunteer for projects that align with organizational priorities, not busy work, but initiatives that demonstrate your ability to handle broader responsibility and think strategically.

In remote environments, volunteer for cross-functional projects that force you to collaborate across teams - these opportunities are gold for demonstrating your ability to break down silos.

Boring Meetings = Hidden Gold

You know those department all-hands where you find yourself tuning out and multitasking? 

Those may be opportunities to position yourself as a leader. While everyone else zones out when "their team isn't presenting," set yourself apart by demonstrating active curiosity about others’ challenges.

This organizational context becomes a valuable resource as you advance, the intelligence that helps you anticipate business needs and make connections across teams. Gathering and wielding this information will separate you as a leader among individual contributors.

And, YES, turn your camera on! 

Nonverbal communication, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, plays a substantial role in how people interpret and respond to information. Research¹ found that communication relies 55% on facial cues, 38% on tone, and just 7% on words. 

Why go into key meetings without your full range of communication?

Payoff

Remember Arjun? His one clear ask led to us appointing him as the interim manager while he developed skills. 

Within a few months, he outmatched every candidate we interviewed, and we awarded him the position. Arjun crushed it in his new role, and he continued to make his aspirations known, earning more promotions. 

He leads his own division now. Powerful stuff wouldn’t you say?!

Source for citation: UT Permian Basin Online. (2023). "How Much of Communication Is Nonverbal?" University of Texas Permian Basin.