From Specialist to Steward: A Career Progression Playbook

Career progression is rarely linear. It’s iterative, often messy, and shaped as much by mindset as by milestones. Whether you're just starting out as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) or already navigating the complexities of senior leadership, the journey from specialist to steward demands more than technical excellence - it requires adaptability, judgement, and a clear sense of personal direction.

This playbook is designed to offer clarity in that journey. It sets out a structured framework for professionals who want to grow with intent, lead with impact, and build a career that reflects both competence and character. While job titles may vary across organisations, the expectations and accountabilities at each level tend to follow a recognisable pattern. Understanding these patterns - and knowing how to position yourself within them - is key to unlocking your next opportunity.

Each stage in this guide outlines the core accountabilities, transition focus, skills and experience, softer skills, challenges, and tactics to progress. From the reliability and depth expected of an SME, to the strategic foresight and systemic influence required of a Vice President, the playbook provides a practical lens through which to assess your readiness and plan your next move.

Importantly, this isn’t just about climbing the ladder. It’s about evolving your leadership identity. As you move up, your span of control increases, and so does your exposure to ambiguity, competing priorities, and the need to influence without direct authority. You’ll be asked to let go of the comfort of your original specialism and embrace broader, more complex responsibilities. That shift can be disorienting - but it’s also where the most meaningful growth happens.

Alongside the technical and operational dimensions, this guide also explores how to build your personal brand iteratively. Your brand is not a slogan - it’s the lived experience others have of working with you. It’s shaped by how you show up, how you lead, and how you respond when things don’t go to plan.

Whether you're feeling stuck, preparing for promotion, or simply curious about what’s next, this playbook is here to help. It offers a clear, actionable roadmap for navigating your career with confidence, clarity, and purpose.

Let’s begin.

Organisational roles and how to position yourself for promotion

The following is a practical overview of a typical career progression path. While job titles may vary across organisations, the core accountabilities and expectations tend to follow a consistent pattern.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

You are responsible for delivering your regular activities in a timely repeatable manner and to an acceptable level of quality. Your focus is on building domain knowledge and in performing consistently.

Accountabilities

• Deliver high-quality outputs with precision and consistency
• Become a technical reference point for peers and stakeholders over time
• Continuously improve personal expertise and contribute to process enhancements.

Skills & Experience

• Develop deep technical expertise
• Work towards precision, reliability, and consistency
• Ability to explain complex concepts in your specialism clearly.

Softer Skills

• Judgement: Knowing when to escalate, when to act
• Collaboration: Working across silos without losing focus
• Curiosity: Staying current and inquisitive.

Challenges

• Comfort in specialism can become a trap
• Limited exposure to suppliers or customers on the internal value-chain.

Tactics to Progress

• Volunteer for cross-functional projects; offer to be cross-trained in adjacent specialisms
• Shadow your team leader to better understand broader business context
• Start mentoring junior colleagues.

Team Leader

You oversee the day-to-day work of a small team, ensuring compliance and timely delivery. You begin to lead through delegation, feedback, and basic performance management. You will support others through your expertise.

Accountabilities

• Oversee daily operations and ensure team compliance with standards
• Allocate tasks effectively and monitor performance
• Provide feedback and support to team members, escalating issues appropriately.

Skills & Experience

• Basic people management
• Task prioritisation and delegation
• Performance monitoring.

Softer Skills

• Empathy: Understanding individual motivations
• Negotiation: Balancing team needs with business demands
• Judgement: Handling minor conflicts and escalations.

Challenges

• Letting go of 'doing' and embracing 'enabling'
• Navigating peer relationships that now include authority.

Tactics to Progress

• Seek feedback from both team and manager
• Document and share small wins
• Learn to advise, not just instruct.

Manager

You drive team outcomes by managing workflows, developing talent, and representing your team in broader forums. Your role expands to shaping team culture and influencing delivery across functions.

Accountabilities

• Lead a team to deliver against KPIs and operational goals
• Shape team culture and drive engagement
• Represent the team in cross-functional settings and resolve delivery challenges.

Skills & Experience

• Operational planning
• Talent development and succession planning
• Stakeholder engagement.

Softer Skills

• Influence: Getting buy-in without formal authority
• Resilience: Handling setbacks and ambiguity
• Judgement: Making trade-offs under pressure.

Challenges

• Balancing delivery with personal development
• Accepting that not everything is within your control.

Tactics to Progress

• Build relationships outside your immediate team
• Take ownership of cross-team initiatives
• Start shaping team culture intentionally.

Senior Manager

You translate strategic goals into operational plans, manage risks and budgets, and lead multiple teams. You are accountable for team development, stakeholder alignment, and navigating ambiguity.

Accountabilities

• Translate strategic objectives into operational plans across multiple teams
• Manage budgets, risks, and performance metrics
• Develop talent and ensure succession planning is in place.

Skills & Experience

• Strategic thinking and planning
• Financial and commercial acumen
• Change management.

Softer Skills

• Ambiguity tolerance: Making decisions with incomplete data
• Judgement: Balancing short-term delivery with long-term value
• Negotiation: Aligning competing interests.

Challenges

• Moving further from technical comfort zone
• Leading through influence, not just instruction.

Tactics to Progress

• Develop a clear leadership narrative
• Build visibility with senior stakeholders
• Invest in your team’s growth—your success depends on theirs.

Director

You lead leaders, shape enterprise-wide initiatives, and act as a strategic advisor to executives. Your accountability includes governance, transformation, and mentoring for a high-performance culture.

Accountabilities

• Lead leaders and oversee complex, multi-team functions
• Shape governance, policy, and enterprise-wide initiatives
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders and drive transformation.

Skills & Experience

• Enterprise-wide thinking
• Risk and reputation management
• Talent strategy and succession planning.

Softer Skills

• Judgement: Navigating political and ethical complexity
• Negotiation: Influencing outcomes across departments
• Brand building: Becoming known for something beyond your role.

Challenges

• Coping with ambiguity and shifting priorities
• Maintaining authenticity while scaling influence.

Tactics to Progress

• Sponsor initiatives that align with corporate strategy
• Mentor emerging leaders
• Be visible in forums that shape the future of the business.

Vice President

You set vision and direction for major business areas, steward long-term value, and represent the organisation externally. You are accountable for innovation, systemic impact, and cultural leadership.

Accountabilities

• Set vision and strategic direction for major business areas
• Represent the organisation externally and internally at the highest levels
• Drive innovation, transformation, and cultural alignment.

Skills & Experience

• Board-level communication
• Strategic foresight and scenario planning
• Organisational design and culture shaping.

Softer Skills

• Judgement: Making decisions with systemic impact
• Negotiation: Managing complex stakeholder ecosystems
• Personal brand: Leading with clarity, consistency, and credibility.

Challenges

• Operating in high-stakes, high-ambiguity environments
• Balancing visibility with vulnerability.

Tactics to Progress

• Articulate a compelling leadership philosophy
• Build coalitions, not just teams
• Stay grounded—your values are your compass.

Building Your Personal Brand

At every stage of your career, your personal brand evolves. It’s not a logo or a tagline—it’s the lived experience others have of working with you.

Here's how to build it:

• Be consistent: In tone, values, and follow-through
• Be visible: Share insights, celebrate others, contribute meaningfully
• Be reflective: Learn from feedback, adapt, and grow.

What to Avoid:

• Over-engineering your image
• Mimicking others at the expense of authenticity
• Waiting for permission to lead.

Career Booster Guidelines: What to Prove at Each Stage

To move forward in your career, it’s not enough to simply perform well in your current role - you need to demonstrate readiness for the next. At each stage, there are three key achievements or behaviours that signal you're prepared to take on greater responsibility.

From SME to Team Leader you’ll need to show consistent reliability and ownership of your specialist tasks. You must be able to explain technical concepts to non-specialists, which signals your ability to communicate across levels. Finally, a willingness to mentor or support junior colleagues shows you’re developing a leadership mindset.

From Team Leader to Manager, the focus shifts to how you manage others. You’ll need to demonstrate effective delegation and task prioritisation, showing you can manage team capacity. Constructive feedback and performance coaching are essential to building trust and capability. Proactive problem-solving and sound judgement in escalation situations show you’re ready to lead under pressure.

From Manager to Senior Manager, you must prove you can operate beyond your immediate team. Taking ownership of cross-functional initiatives demonstrates strategic thinking. Balancing delivery with team development shows maturity in leadership. Visibility and influence outside your team indicate readiness to operate at a broader organisational level.

From Senior Manager to Director, the emphasis is on enterprise thinking and strategic execution. You’ll need to show you can plan and deliver across multiple teams. Developing talent and succession plans signals stewardship. Being recognised as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders confirms your credibility and influence.

From Director to Vice President, you must demonstrate vision-setting and enterprise-wide impact. Leading transformation or innovation shows courage and capability. A strong, authentic personal brand - built on clarity, consistency, and trust - signals you’re ready to shape the future of the business.

Each of these transitions requires more than technical skill. They demand judgement, resilience, and the ability to operate in increasing ambiguity. By focusing on these key indicators, you can position yourself not just for promotion, but for meaningful, sustainable leadership.

Feeling Stuck? Here’s What to Do

1. Audit your impact: What have you changed, improved, or built?
2. Seek stretch assignments: Look for roles that challenge your current skillset
3. Ask for feedback: From peers, reports, and leaders
4. Reframe your narrative: What story are you telling about your career?
5. Invest in others: Often, the path forward is through the people you lift.

Final Thought

Progression isn’t linear. It’s squiggly, iterative, often messy and always deeply personal. But with clarity, courage, and a commitment to growth, you can move from specialist to steward - without losing the essence of who you are.