Maturity as a human being begins with childhood, then as teenager, youth, and finally adulthood is reached. Many people get stuck in one of these stages; those people can be described as immature.

The same applies to the managerial career, which necessarily passes through 5 stages of professional growth.

Steve Tobak of Bnet.com discusses the issue, noting the characteristics of each of these stages.

Sponge
Listening and learning from each and every situation, trying to find out how things work in the real world. Although prone to say silly things and make stupid mistakes, real damage will not be done. At this stage it is vital that each time we fail to get back on our feet, shake off failure and try again to get it right.

Proof of Concept
It is believed that one is capable of doing more than feeling useless, even trying to prove it to himself, promising much and doing little or nothing. It's like diving into a swimming pool without knowing how to swim. It is a tough stage but very instructive.

Production
Somehow manages to accomplish tasks and deliver the products, which is seen as a success and gets a pat on the back by bosses.

Permanence
A little more sure of himself, the manager tries to repeat his past successes with the same tricks used before, to realize, too late, he will need to constantly renew his concepts if he wants to stay playing in the big leagues. Failure does not sit well.

Maturity
After a few repetitions of the third and fourth phases, finally recognizes that he is not superman and that he will succeed but also will have failures, and that he must continue to learn from everything. In fact, this stage is not very different from the first, except that now is has experience, which builds confidence and stability.

Source: BNet

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