We have all seen that colleague at work who is seen as ‘dead wood’. They are dissatisfied, their performance is lacking, they have low levels of productivity and they are just plain ineffective. Maybe you are that colleague, you’re the ‘lump on the log’ and you feel like you have reached your breaking point. You have plateaued.
What is career plateau?
Career plateau is what happens when you are at the point in your career where your chances of advancing, gaining more responsibility, and moving up the hierarchy are very low (Inkson, Dries & Arnold, 2015).
The plateau can be viewed negatively – a serious issue – and it is for sure a difficult thing to come to terns to. However, it is all about perspective. You can choose to look at that glass half empty or you can choose to see that it is really half full.
Adjusting to the plateau
The reality is that many individuals are able to adjust to the plateau and accept it. You can choose to see that you are a master at your craft – you can perform the job extremely well and you can take an interest in other things the workplace has to offer such as getting involved with other departments, making meaningful connections with your colleagues, creating a new initiative at work, or starting a department-wide fundraising contest. There are also other areas in one’s life that can lead to rich fulfillment including spending time with family, volunteering in our community, engaging in a hobby or leisure activity, and mentoring someone starting out in the field (Inkson et al., 2015).
Employers can do their best to combat career plateau in their employees as well. The signs can be quite visible and employers can try to redesign work roles to accommodate for changes in an employee’s values and goals, they can add mentoring opportunities to one’s role, or even provide increased job assignments and project work (Inkson et al., 2015).
Sometimes, the career plateau can get the best of us. If we really become ‘dead wood’ at work, then we need to change something and fast. We need to find something new to give us meaning and Inkson et al. (2015) suggest that an intervention may need to happen – one initiated by the employee or their employer.
Making the change
Of course, some employees see the career plateau as the spark that finally ignites and gives them the fire to finally make that change – the one they’ve wanted to make for a while. Maybe it’s a move into a new career or an entrepreneurial venture into self-employment. Inkson et al. (2015) talk about teachers who abandon their profession and become store owners, for example. They say that for women especially, this can be a response to consistently feeling underappreciated and undervalued at work, even discriminated against. Unfortunately, I feel many of us women can relate to these feelings but that’s a subject for another post.
Self-employment isn’t always the be all and end all – sure it gives one a sense of freedom but with it also comes great challenges. When you’re starting out, you have to do all you can to market yourself and sell your product or service above the competition and you can’t be too picky about who your customers or clients are. Not to mention the fact that self-employment isn’t always well paid – especially not at the start of the venture. However, regardless of these temporary pitfalls, there is evidence that this pursuit of self-employment is enjoyable and functional for many. Roborgh and Stacey (1987) studied a sample of people who were ‘mid-career changers’ and discovered that even though they were worse off financially, they were much happier than the general population (Inkson et al., 2015). Go figure.
As a young professional in the workforce, I myself felt like I had hit a career plateau last year and it led me to pursue self-employment. Even though there has been challenges and pitfalls in my own self-employment journey, it has been well worth it because I can work with clients on my own terms with services I know firsthand are valuable and actually work, and I can do something I really love and am proud of every day.
If you feel like you are hitting the career plateau in your own life, reach out to me today and let’s chat! We’ll figure out how to get you back on track feeling excited about your career path. Customized coaching is what I do and I can’t wait to help you break out of the plateau and find meaning again!
Hope to hear from you soon, Sabrina
References
Inkson, K., Dries, N., & Arnold, J. (2015). Understanding careers. SAGE Publications Ltd.
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