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Management & Leadership vocabulary · Leadership Styles and Skills

Step up

Meaning in management & leadership, with examples

/ˌstep ˈʌp/phrasal verbCommon term

In management & leadership, step up means: To take on more responsibility or a leadership role when it is needed, for example when a manager is away or the team faces a difficult situation.

In Turkish: sorumluluk almak, öne çıkmak, elini taşın altına koymak

How it is used

Common in feedback and in talks about potential: 'She really stepped up during the crisis.' You step up to a challenge, step up as a leader or step up into a bigger role. Step up efforts means increasing them.

Example sentences

  1. When our manager was on leave, Elif stepped up and ran the weekly meetings.

  2. We need someone to step up and own the customer relationship.

Common collocations

  • step up to the challenge
  • step up as a leader
  • really stepped up
  • step up into a role
  • step up efforts
  • ownershipIn management, the attitude of treating a task or problem as your own and taking responsibility for getting it done, rather than waiting for someone else to act.
  • leadershipThe ability to guide a group of people towards a shared goal, and the act of doing so, through example, influence and clear direction rather than authority alone.
  • succession planningThe process of identifying and preparing people who can take over key roles, especially senior leadership roles, when the current holders leave or retire.
  • accountabilityThe duty to answer for the result of a task or decision, which includes explaining what happened and accepting the consequences, even if others did the work.

More terms: Leadership Styles and Skills

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