our role as a manager is dynamic and complex. You deliver business results, improve processes, and keep everyone productive. You’re also expected to recruit the right people, train them, keep them engaged, and prepare them for the next step in their careers.

We have substantial opportunities here in Alaska, which is encouraging, but we risk not having enough people to capitalize on them. We need great managers, and it is essential work, but it’s a lot! Many managers want to succeed and grow in their roles but aren’t sure how to do that.

Maybe that’s you.

Your role is unique, and you can’t count on others to give you the proper training, support, or mentoring to succeed. That doesn’t need to slow your progress or growth.

You can use the following process to create clarity and direction for your role. As you progress and master becoming a manager, you’ll be able to use this process to help your employees create self-directed plans for development.

If you make the implied explicit, the hidden visible, and the elusive achievable, progress is inevitable. You experience success, your employees progress, the organization grows, and Alaska continues to thrive.

Development within a role isn’t linear nor easily measured by clear milestones. It is a continuum and happens unevenly and incrementally. Progress is often unrecognized or unacknowledged, but it doesn’t have to be. You can be a successful manager if you understand what is required and gain the necessary abilities.

I’ve defined three stages I call the 3 Ps of Progression. You can use these to understand how far you’ve developed within your role and create reasonable expectations for yourself and others.

The 3 Ps of Progression are Practice, Perform, and Pioneer.

The Practice stage is when you learn about the role, how things work, and how to perform. You are expected to ask questions, gain understanding, and make some mistakes at this stage.

Once you know the basics of your role and understand what is required for success, you are in the Perform stage. This is where you get good at your role. As a manager, mastering this stage means you can effectively delegate tasks, easily handle unforeseen situations, and confidently articulate to others why you are successful. People at the end of this stage can feel like they’ve plateaued and may start looking for a new job. However, there is a third stage.

The Pioneer stage is where you do something special in your role. This is the stage where you improve operations, contribute meaningfully, and help the organization advance.

Pick the stage you think you’re at for your current role. If you’re new to the role, you’re probably in the Practice stage. Maybe you’re getting a handle on things and feel ready to move into the Perform stage for your role. Or maybe you recognize you’re comfortable and need to consider your Pioneer stage.

Now that you know where you’re at, start planning to master that stage and progress to the next.

To be considered for a promotion, you must master your current role, which means you need to know where to focus your development efforts. The job description from human resources (HR) may provide some guidance, but most of the time, it is written for administrative or legal reasons and isn’t helpful.

You need something specific to your position and the stage you’re at. You need a personalized development plan which you can create for yourself.

There are four domains to include in your development plan. These are Skills, Results, Systems, and Relationships. For each domain, brainstorm some of the elements needed in your role to master your current stage.

For example, if you’re at the Practice stage, what essential skills do you need? Who do you need to build relationships with? What systems must you understand? What results are you responsible for?

As you brainstorm, some of your items won’t make sense for the stage you’re at. Plug them into the appropriate stage, even if it isn’t the one where you are. Eventually, it will be helpful.

The elements you include for each domain will be unique to your role, but here are some ideas for a generic manager role.

Practice Stage:

• Skills: communication, time management
• Results: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) (team productivity, efficiency, retention, and engagement)
• Systems: HR systems, accounting systems
• Relationships: boss, employees

Perform Stage:

• Skills: delegation, project management, decision making
• Results: organizational and industry KPIs
• Systems: people and processes, integrated systems
• Relationships: customers, executive team, peers

Pioneer Stage:

• Skills: change management, negotiation
• Results: defining, validating, and delivering on new KPIs
• Systems: personal systems, creating new systems, enterprise tools
• Relationships: executive sponsors, key employees, strategic network

Now that you have items to focus on in each domain, it is time to set goals, take action, and progress in your role. For each domain, pick one item and decide on the next action you can take to move forward.

For example, if you’re in the Practice stage and need to develop a relationship with your boss, your next action might be, “Get feedback from my boss about my skill development plan.” Or, if you’re building relationships with your employees, it is, “Have a weekly check-in with each of my employees.”

Try to set only one goal in each domain. It is tempting to want to select multiple goals for each area, but you risk diluting your focus and priorities. Ask yourself, “What is the highest value thing I could do in this area?” and constrain your goal to that.

Then, once you complete a goal in a domain, set another one. That’s how you create momentum and mastery of your role. Regularly evaluate yourself and where you are within the stage. As you get closer to transitioning, start reviewing the elements in the next stage and continue building your development plan.

Creating this development plan will give you insights and guide your growth. It also becomes a tool you can use to seek support.

Ask others who have been in the role what they think is necessary to master each stage of progression. Get their input on the elements they would include in the domains. Then review the development plan with your supervisor.

You will refine what is needed at each stage as you use the development plan and get feedback from others. Over time, the matrix of elements for each domain and stage will become more stable. Then it can become a development tool for the organization.

If you can implement this yourself, you will develop and achieve more as a manager. You will be successful, which is what your employees, your organization, and Alaska needs.

You can use this same process to hire and retain staff as your organization grows. When you have development plans for the different roles on your team, you improve your ability to recruit and retain great talent.

When you can articulate a plan for employee development to candidates, you become a more attractive employer. If you are confident that you can support someone through the Practice stage and even accelerate the process, you can hire from a broader pool of applicants.

When you provide a roadmap for an employee to Perform in their role, you will improve retention because they can consistently progress and grow. By articulating a Pioneer stage in a role, you give your employees a chance to make a difference, stretch themselves, and be proud of contributing something significant.

It starts with you, progresses to you helping your employees, and then they help others. This is how Alaska meets the challenges ahead. People step up, figure out what is needed, take action to meet the need, and bring others with them.