NEW DELHI: Akaash was one of the best sales executives in the company. Looking at his consistent excellent performance, he was

promoted to sales manager. But he was unable to meet everyone’s expectations and do even better in his new role.

Rishi was one of the best team members and much in demand due to his sincerity, dedication and excellent quality of work. So, he was promoted to team leader, but in the subsequent six months, his performance came down drastically. His team too did not do well and some members even left.

Akaash and Rishi are not isolated cases. There are numerous examples of excellent team members failing miserably as team leaders. This is because while they have the requisite skill set for the role of a team member, they lack skills for the higher position. They are unable to replicate the magic when put in charge of a team. Following are some skills that are critical for those in a managerial or leadership role:

•    Communication

•    Problem solving

•    Decision making

•    Team management

•    Interpersonal skills

•    Pro-activeness and

initiative

It is important that an organisation as well as the individual takes the initiative to build these skills so that concerned employees are able to shoulder higher responsibilities with the same ease and comfort.

Following are some steps that can be taken by the organ-isation:

• Defining functional and behavioural competencies for each position in the organisation• Assessing and measuring the competencies to find out which employees have the requisite competencies for the next level positions• Building the competencies required through training, coaching and mentoring• Grooming and preparing employees in advance for senior level positions so that they can make an easy and natural progression

• Having a career path in place and building con-fidence that organisational initiatives of skill development are aimed at career

progressionThe organisation alone is not responsible for building preparedness for career progression. While focusing on excellence in performance in the current role, employees should also start preparing themselves for the next level. Following are some ways in which they can do so:

• Constant up-gradation of industry and job know-ledge — current as well as future trends

• Volunteering for additional responsibilities  or sharing responsibilities of their supervisors to get more and more exposure

• Identifying the areas of their development and actively engaging in building those areas — individually as well as through organ-isational support

• Having flexibility and willingness to learn and do more It is natural for all employees to expect advancement to the next position as a reward for excellent performance in their current role. It is natural for the organ-isation too to reward good performance by a promotion.

However, succession planning and capability building would facilitate this process and optimise the benefits for both the individual as well as the organisation. If both parties become partners in the path of skill and capacity building, moving up the ladder would become hassle-free and sustainable.

(The author is a learning and development professional and the chief synergist at Kiai Peoplez Solutions at Delhi. She can be reached at kalpanaarora@hotmail.com)