If you’ve reached the 10-year mark in your career, you may be at a crossroad as you decide the next best move to further your career. For many people, it would appear that taking a management position is the only way to reach the next level. However, the perks of being a manager don’t always outweigh the drawbacks of moving into a management position – especially if you have invested time and money in developing more functional hands-on skills. Moving into management is not always the best approach to career advancement.

Alesia Benedict, in Career Path Divergence Navigating The Ten-Year Fork In The Road offers insight into the two paths for advancing your career explains:

“Somewhere around the ten-year mark...professionals often face a choice between the skills-based side of their professions or taking the management track. This time of choice can be a very difficult period for professionals since the decision they make will directly impact the rest of their careers.”

Click here to read her full article.

Here are some questions to consider when deciding if a management position is your next best career move:

Will you be comfortable with having less hands-on responsibility? This means stepping back and letting other people do without micro-managing or intervening in how they choose to accomplish assignments. It can be very challenging to not step in and take over, especially if it means that things may not always go as smooth as you like. Part of being a manager is learning how to coach better performance resisting the desire to just do it yourself.

Can you handle negative responses, enforcing disciplinary guidelines, and having difficult performance conversations? Management is not for the thin skinned, as you will be subject not just to praise for successful leadership, but criticism when things go wrong even if it us undeserved.

Are you willing to acquire skills that you lack in order to be a more effective manager? Good managers don’t just develop over night. Many companies have special training programs for first-time managers. And finding a mentor or trusted advisor who can help with developing your leadership style and give you honest feedback is critical to long term success.

How confident are you in your ability to make decisions and take responsibility for the outcome? There will be times when you have to step in and make a final decision or a hard choice – your employees will be looking to you for guidance. As manager you will be responsible for both the benefits and consequences of the decisions you make, and being indecisive will more than likely ruin your credibility.

Can you successfully handle the change from friend to boss? This is an important question if you are being promoted to manager within your current group. New boundaries and relationships will have to be established with colleagues you used to be on the same level with. Until you begin to connect with the other managers, it may be lonely during your transition.