If you’re a growth-minded woman leader in IT who loves learning, progressing, and achieving new levels in your career, you may already be thinking about how to prepare for your next advancement opportunity.
Whether you want to grow as a leader, transition into management, or become an executive-level director one day, there are steps you can begin taking now.
And that preparation can start early in your career.
Moving into higher levels of leadership takes more than excelling at the job you have today.
As your career progresses, expectations change.
The opportunities you pursue, experiences you gain, and how others perceive you as a leader can prepare you for greater responsibility.
And sometimes, you may be ready for that next level sooner than you realize.
In this week’s episode, we’ll talk about what you can begin doing now to prepare for future leadership opportunities and claim a greater seat at the leadership table.
How to Build the Skills, Influence, and Experience to Advance
Claiming a greater seat at the leadership table may be a term you don’t normally hear, or you may have heard it expressed differently in your work environment.
When I talk about it, I’m referring to growing your voice, influence, and responsibility as a leader.
It can mean being invited into conversations you weren’t part of before, being asked for your perspective before an important decision is made, taking responsibility for larger or more complex initiatives, or having greater influence across teams or departments.
It can also mean moving into a leadership position where you’re helping shape strategy and direction. And it isn’t limited to women who want to become directors or move into executive management roles.
You can begin earning a greater seat at the leadership table much earlier in your career by preparing yourself for opportunities that expand your influence, experience, and responsibility.
And I want to make an important distinction here: claiming a greater seat at the leadership table isn’t only about getting promoted.
You can increase your influence and leadership responsibility long before your title changes.
In fact, some of the experiences that prepare you for your next position often happen while you’re still in the one you have today.
You begin earning a greater seat when people trust you to think beyond your role.
As I think back on my own career, there were skills and competencies I had to develop that helped me advance into the positions I was seeking, grow my expertise, become a people and thought leader, and eventually become someone who was sought after for higher leadership roles.
And those experiences taught me that advancing as a leader isn’t about one accomplishment or one promotion. It’s about intentionally building the skills, experiences, relationships, and confidence that prepare you for greater responsibility.
Here are seven areas you can begin developing throughout your career.
1. Deliver results first.
One of the most important ways to gain credibility and develop a great reputation in IT and with your stakeholders is to consistently deliver successful results.
Simply said, it’s about doing what you say you’ll do, solving complex problems, and delivering high-quality work.
2. Start thinking beyond your own area.
Instead of thinking only about the technical solution, start asking:
- What business problem are we solving?
- Who will be affected and how?
- What are the risks?
- What is the full lifecycle cost?
- What happens if we don’t do it?
And when you’re thinking about who will be affected, consider everyone—stakeholders, end users, and other IT organizations. This can sometimes get overlooked when you’re focused primarily on delivering the technical solution.
You need to understand the broader impact.
That’s when you begin moving from technical contributor to business-minded IT leader.
3. Develop sound judgment—not just expertise.
Senior leaders aren’t expected to know everything, but they are expected to make recommendations even when they have incomplete information.
You have to avoid falling into analysis paralysis, trust the information you’ve gathered from your team and other experts, and trust your gut to know what’s right.
4. Take on stretch assignments that expand your scope.
Look for opportunities to participate in or lead cross-functional initiatives, manage a large project involving multiple IT organizations and stakeholders, present findings and recommendations to senior leadership, or participate in strategic planning meetings.
These experiences can help you grow beyond your current responsibilities and begin thinking more strategically.
And don’t wait until you feel completely ready, or you may miss the opportunity.
5. Learn how to influence people you don’t manage.
This is where having allies, advocates, and a network of supporters can really help.
You want your good reputation to precede you. When it does, people are more likely to trust your judgment and follow your lead even when they don’t report to you.
It requires building credibility, gaining support, navigating disagreement, and creating alignment.
6. Develop and elevate other people.
Recognize the potential and strengths of people on your team and others you work with—and provide feedback often.
Volunteer to mentor, help people develop their talents, give them opportunities to stretch, and create more leaders within your team.
7. Start using your voice before someone gives you the title.
A woman can have a lot of leadership experience and still be sitting at the table thinking:
I’m not the most senior person here.
They probably know more than I do.
Maybe I should wait.
What if I’m wrong?
But claiming a greater seat at the table means recognizing that you were invited into the conversation because your perspective has value.
And it also means you don’t need to wait for someone else to tell you when you’re ready to contribute at that level.
As you develop these areas throughout your career, something begins to change.
You’re not only preparing yourself for your next promotion. You’re becoming someone who can be trusted with bigger problems, broader responsibility, and a stronger voice in the decisions that affect your organization.
And when those opportunities come, you’re better prepared to step into them with confidence rather than wondering whether you belong there.
This is also one of the ways women leaders in IT learn to thrive in a male-dominated field. It’s not about becoming more like the men around you or changing the way you naturally lead.
It’s about developing the experience, credibility, relationships, and confidence to claim your place at the table and contribute in a way that’s authentic to who you are.
Earning a seat at the table is an honor. Believing you belong there—and using your voice once you’re there—helps quiet the internal dialogue that can hold you back in your career.
Stay empowered and lead assertively!