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Considering management? Before you take the title of boss, ask yourself these questions.[/caption]Perhaps you’ve been at your place of employment for a couple of years and are seeking more responsibility, or, you’ve been asked to help build a team that you’ll one day help supervise. Whatever the path to becoming a manager, you may have found yourself questioning your ability to supervise and ultimately serve as a leader to others. Are you management material? Here are five questions to ask yourself to see if this is the career path for you.

Questions to Ask if You're Thinking of a Management Role

Are You Willing to be Accountable For The Performance of Others?

When you’re the member of a team you’re just responsible for your own work and performance. When you’re leading the team, you’re responsible for the performance of the entire team. And if a member of your team messes up, you’re culpable, and will be expected to remedy the situation.

Are You a Great Communicator?

As a leader, you’ll need to be the facilitator of clear, constant communication with your team from conveying tasks that need to be done, to providing feedback and recognition for a job well done–effective managers must possess excellent communication skills.

Can You Motivate Others?

Managers are the cheerleaders of the team who encourage others to not just do their very best, but also go above and beyond in order to develop themselves further as contributors and star performers. What each individual contributor of the team needs to succeed varies and as a manager, you’ll need to figure out what that is and utilize it effectively to drive performance.

Can You Make Tough Decisions?

When a team member is struggling to make a tough call, you’ll be looked to as an advisor, and have to help your employee work through a variety of challenging situations. You’ll also likely encounter circumstances where you’ll be the one making tough decisions, including letting a person go when things aren't working out.

Are You a Teacher and a Self-Driven Learner?

The best performing teams are ones that have not only mastered their work, but also ones who are hungry to learn more in order to continually improve. Leaders not only provide training for new hires, but they are also charged with providing ongoing learning opportunities for the team to keep them on top of their game and challenged. As such, managers who find greater long-term success are ones that are hungry to learn and are continually developing themselves professionally as well.

Are You Prepared to Makes Some Sacrifices?

In any job, things happen that will require a manager step up to make things happen–sometimes at the sacrifice of something else equally as important. Crunch times may require more or later hours and missing out on personal time outside of work. Becoming a boss may mean supervising those who were once just colleagues, which can alter the dynamics of a workplace friendship.

Management Isn’t for Everyone

If you found yourself answering no to the above questions or questioning your desire or ability to take on more, it is a sign that you may not be ready or right for a managerial or leadership role now or even in the future. Being a manager isn’t right for everyone and that’s okay.Many employees make the mistake and view management as the only way to “move up” in an organization. This is hardly the case. Developing new skills to take on a more responsibility in a current role to move to a more senior non-manager position, or transferring to a different department and subsequent new role entirely are also ways to progress your career without leaving your employer, or taking on the responsibility of being a manager.

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