You've been a Senior Manager for a few years but have yet to be able to land that elusive position of Director.

You've interviewed for a few Director positions and have yet to hear back, but you have the feedback on what to do next. Still, you feel like you are in the "Senior Manager Swimming Pool" just treading water. What is your response? Keep delivering against the project portfolio as you know best.

If you don't change how you respond, you'll stay a Senior Manager at your current company. Time is not on your side.

Throughout their career, many Senior Managers continue to do what they do best. They deliver what is requested. Getting the job done is critically important. As a Senior Manager, you know how to do it. You've been tasked again with one of the most pressing challenges in the company: what to do? Deliver.

Listen, you've got to ensure that you deliver in your present role. Continuing to do the same as you've done before, though without taking on a new mindset, may leave you firmly settled in your current band.

If you don't escape your usual ways, other leaders will think you can't move up.

I've been that Senior Manager. Many people have been in this position in that role as well. There is a way forward.

Focus on the "how" you deliver work by lifting yourself mentally from the role

Consider these mindset shifts as essential tools to guide your path:

• Practice the mental exercises needed to pull yourself away
• Assess what resources you have and raise the visibility
• Take on challenges that are visible to leaders
• Promote yourself; deliver through others

You may be thinking that four bullet points will not solve my challenge. Your unique situation will be different from others. But the situation, while notable, is common.

Are you open to looking at your situation from a different angle?

We'll walk through these mindset shifts in stages.

Let’s get into how step by step:

Mindset Shift 01: Practice the mental exercises needed to pull yourself away

Building your mental mindset base is essential to this process.

Consider an elite professional American basketball player in the NBA. For this example, look at Point Guard Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. Stephen is arguably #1 on the list of "greatest shooters ever."

What mental mindset base should Curry have as a shooter?

Every time I rise up, I have confidence that I'm going to make it.

-Stephen Curry

Source: CBS Sports

To build your mental mindset base, practice meditation. Meditating can improve how well you judge your thoughts and actions without bias. You will increase your ability to separate the highs and lows of life to react confidently.

You will learn to pull yourself away mentally. As you become the coach of your own game of life, you will see the actions in front of you differently.

Mindset Shift 02: Assess what resources you have and raise the visibility

Most Senior Managers will wave the white flag of repair in hopes of getting additional resources to support their space.

In some cases, you may get additional help. In most scenarios, you will need to do more with less. Instead of reaching for the helpline, objectively assess your situation and question your options.

What I'm suggesting here is one of the first mental exercises you need to become efficient as a leader. Assess your team, projects, and available funding. Note the economic climate, which has both headwinds and tailwinds.

Be objective in your assessment and apply a dose of proposed options to respond.

Raise awareness of your space with other key stakeholders, your immediate leader, and even your team members. Strengthen your assessment as you get feedback to confirm or deny your assumptions.

The actions you here should start to look different. Think less about how you will solve this challenge and more about how to change the narrative.

You may begin to see a path to establish a vision, milestones, and the journey to a better place.

Mindset Shift 03: Take on challenges that are visible to leaders

This may come easy for you as an ambitious Senior Manager known for delivering the goods.

Take on a challenge for your organization that gives you visibility with the appropriate leadership level.

Why is this important? Why is this a repeatable ask?

This person needs a more significant project—a bigger team. You've done this in the past, but we need to see this from you.

You have yet to build or tell the right story. You are taking on the proper challenge, a critical step. Crafting the story you will tell before even starting is a boss move.

What narrative will you tell? Start thinking about the end state before raising your hand for your team to deliver a challenge.

Mindset Shift 04: Promote yourself; deliver through others

You have the tools now to put it all together. Mentally, you have a base that allows for evaluating thoughts and assessing from afar. You know what resources you have with a leader-vetted plan on how to react. Lastly, you have a single set of challenges critical for your company's success.

Now, you need to execute your narrative through the efforts of others. I'm not talking about delegating. For this move, you need to lift yourself into the position of Director.

As best you can, take these types of action steps:

• Raise the stock of your managers, routing decisions through them
• Encourage intelligent risk-taking and decision-making
• When failure creeps in, ask questions to challenge assumptions, but let your leaders lead
• Position yourself as the guide, not the doer, on your team
• Be selective about who you develop strong relationships with
• Remain visible at as many levels throughout your organization as you can handle
• Communicate and celebrate the actions of your leaders often, weekly, monthly, and quarterly.
• To distribute work evenly, change your team structure and involve more people in your organization.
• Create and test systems that remove your presence as a critical decision-maker
• Take time off throughout the year to help your team become stronger and more resilient.
• Let your key leaders lead from the front in meetings that raise their visibility as work is delivered.

Let's pause here. We will not solve your unique situation. What you have, though, is the tools to change your narrative.

Start doing the job that you seek right now. Make the mental mindset shift.

Expert Tip: Once you have made the mental mindset shift, do something in the physical world to celebrate in your way. A new pair of shoes or cufflinks works wonders for me. What will you do?

Your Homework: Determine your approach to meditation by exploring a few different activities. Find what is right for you.

The Recap -- TL;DR

• Practice the mental exercises needed to pull yourself away
• Assess what resources you have and raise the visibility
• Take on challenges that are visible to leaders
• Promote yourself; deliver through others

Next Steps: Is college worth the grind and money for a solopreneur?