You’re sitting in the leadership meeting watching the room, and you ask yourself, “When is my turn?” You say to yourself, “I can answer that question,” but the one with the title just fumbles. You are stuck in the middle. As a mid-career professional, do you often feel stuck or stagnant? You’ve got plenty of company: a recent survey revealed that over half of the respondents have remained in their current roles longer than they wanted.
Granted, some people are content with staying on their step of the corporate ladder and ending the climb. They enjoy their comfort zone and love their role. Others lack the skills to advance or don’t have the desire to learn what’s necessary to expand beyond their niche. And then some simply don’t want the added responsibility and pressure that comes with a higher position, even though they are quite capable.
Sadly, many mid-career professionals with great potential to impact their company and accelerate their development want a promotion, but either hold themselves back or feel blocked or ignored by those who could help them move up. If you’re one of those people and have become conditioned to think your current position is your ceiling, your final act, remember this: It doesn’t have to be.
It’s time to challenge that belief.
Interior Obstacles: Getting Out of Your Own Way
One of the separators that determines who rises and who falls or stagnates is how they approach opportunity. Some wait to be called; others go after it without hesitation. Go after it proactively and aggressively.
But the latter group is a relatively small percentage of people. Many of us get in our own way, creating obstacles and self-imposed limits due to self-doubt, fear, or other internal barriers. All that leads to hesitancy in pursuing a higher position or never applying for it. (Of course, there are others who get in our way and prevent our ascension, but I’ll get to dealing with that group in a moment.)
When an important position opens, many people who are capable but get in their own way say, “I didn’t think I would get this far. I couldn’t handle that job when it takes everything I have to do this job.” It’s self-denigrating, like they’ll never be able to do more than they currently are. They’re buying into the Peter Principle, which states that the higher an employee advances, the more likely they are to reach a level of incompetence and fail.
The responsibility starts with you to advance your career. People high in the food chain want to see your hunger for it. If you’re standing in your own way, if you’re a “self-stopper,” and you really want that promotion and know you can excel at the job, then you must tear down those obstacles you’ve constructed. And you have to speak up; you can’t keep expecting others to promote you just because you’re good at what you do. Sometimes you have to knock on the boss’s door and remind them, and then convince them how your accomplishments and abilities will transfer to the next level of performance and expectations. There’s no shame in being a self-promoter when you are confident and sincere in helping the organization improve and can walk into the interview with a proven track record.
External Obstacles: Those In Your Way
Of course, as I alluded to earlier, sometimes others, like bosses and decision-makers, get in our way when it comes to advancing our careers.
Here are some ways they do it.
- They have a preconceived notion of who the ideal candidate is.
- They look solely at accomplishments.
- They don’t open the competition enough to discover diamonds in the rough with enough polish to take the position and run with it.
- They never open their eyes and ears to people who could blow them away with creative ideas, talents, and leadership ability that just need to be tapped.
- They feel threatened by a candidate’s potential or feel that other leaders in the company will be
Company leaders need to put the job out there for a large pool of qualified candidates and encourage people by saying, “I really believe that there are great candidates right within us.” But the reality is, many leaders don’t see it that way. They either look outside the company or they just consider one or two people inside the company. They want quick hires, which is all the more reason for you to be proactive and create competition.
Then you have those people who are seemingly perfect for the job but don’t apply. The leaders are saying to themselves, “Please apply, because I can’t just go to you and ask because I’m too high up, and you have a boss in between us.” Again, there may be an opening to make your case.
How I Broke Through from Being Held Back
Companies sometimes get caught up in the perception of job titles. For example, they use terms like “executive director” instead of “VP” or “SVP,” which impacts how individuals perceive their career progression and value. I call this flatlining titles, and I experienced it when I was going for a promotion and advocating for an SVP title.
My male counterparts received that title for comparable or lesser roles, which to me demonstrated the importance of fighting for one’s deserved recognition. Many companies feel they can’t have too many people in the C-suite, so they diminish some titles even though those people with the lesser titles are performing at the C-suite level.
They were ready to promote me. I was to be the first Black and Hispanic female on the corporate level, but they said my title would be VP. I was already a VP and was performing the corporate-level position sans title.
I said, “No, my title will be SVP,” because this guy you just promoted to the same level was made an SVP. He had fewer staff and less experience than I did. I didn’t settle. I pushed for it, and I got it.
I knew the whole title thing was nonsense, and I remember talking during the process to the CFO, who was my boss. I asked her, “How would you like it if they just called you VP of finance and took the CFO title away?”
She just looked at me. She had not considered advocating for me as she was seeing the full impact of the decision. Sometimes, your manager may be scared to be an advocate, and they may not want you to be too high up because they are comfortable having you at a certain level. Other times, they are clueless about the impact of their lack of action. So I advocated for myself. I told her that I wanted to speak to the CEO. I respectfully stated my case, and I got what I wanted, what I deserved.
Always remember that you will have bosses who don’t know how to advocate for you or who don’t want you promoted. They don’t because they are comfortable with where you are; they’re working less, and you’re practically doing their job. But some bosses are watching you grow and will create a space for you. In both situations, you must have your personal elevator speech. Know what you want and be able to express it.
Strategic Steps To Lift You from a Plateau To Power
- Acknowledge what you have been avoiding. Your skills and performance will only take you so far. To advance, you must be part of the voice of change and solution, not just a good performer.
- Uncover the communication skills you lack. Do this by studying the leaders you wish to emulate. Emulate the actions you value in others. It’s a leap of trust that will lift you to the next level.
- Manage up. For a mid-level leader aspiring to go higher, managing up isn’t just a survival skill; it’s a strategic lever. It means proactively shaping the relationship with senior leadership to drive alignment, influence decisions, and amplify impact across the organization. Managing up is a chance to showcase your strategic thinking and elevate your influence.
- Ground yourself. When you look at the advice of the top leaders and speakers on leadership, they all dedicate time to self-grounding. Whether it is meditation, breathing exercises, etc., you must take the time to put your feet on the ground and center yourself.
- Speak your goals. If you don’t inform your boss and leaders who surround you about your goals, then how are you going to be top of mind for opportunities when they arrive? Speak to access guidance, and speak so you can both give and receive clarity.
- Take action with a mentor. Seek an internal and external mentor and be clear about the expectations of the relationship, from network opportunities to problem-solving and sponsorship. To move upward, you need sponsors. You have to create those relationships by consistently engaging.
Don’t settle. Don’t create your own obstacles or let the ones others put in front of you derail your promising career path. Don’t stay where you are when you know, you know you can climb higher.