Employee engagement surveys often highlight frustration with career development. Here’s how to shift the conversation and create more satisfaction—without relying on promotions alone.
Employee engagement surveys often highlight frustration with career development. Here’s how to shift the conversation and create more satisfaction—without relying on promotions alone.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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Hey, it’s Rachel Cooke, your Modern Mentor! I’m the founder of Lead Above Noise, where we help leaders activate performance and engagement without burning out. Whether it’s bootcamps, keynotes, or Pulse Checks, we help teams achieve meaningful change. If that’s what your organization needs, let’s talk!
So, a lot of the work I do with clients begins with an employee engagement survey. Well, technically, it begins when the client gets their survey results…and then calls me instead of banging their head against the wall. (Though I suspect sometimes they do some banging before making the call). Besides the point.
For some companies - really for many of them - the survey is an important data point. And also a source of huge frustration. Because what’s just so common is that certain questions generate negative responses year over year - things that feel outside of a manager’s ability to control. And this creates a cycle of frustration.
Like, take career development and progression. Consistently an area in which employees are unhappy - at so many companies year over year. From my vantage point, here’s what it looks like:
Employees feel stuck, like they’re working their [bleeps] off - they’re ready for the promotion they think they deserve. That just isn’t coming.
Managers feel that disappointment directed at them. But they’re like “what am I supposed to do? I can’t promote everyone on my team. And frankly I can’t promote anyone when a role doesn’t exist.”
And organizations or senior leadership? They’re feeling tired of what they perceive as a sense of entitlement. I hear things like “who is managing the expectation that hard work will get you promoted every 2-3 years? Where do they all think they’re going?”
It’s a tough cycle. And whether or not we can solve it completely, who knows. But without a doubt we can improve things. Significantly.
For me, it begins with how we conceptualize career growth and development. How we frame it and talk about it. If we shift and expand our minds, it becomes a more solvable problem. Unless you prefer the head-beating approach. If it’s working.
So let’s talk, today, about how we can all play a role in moving the needle in the right direction on the career advancement front.
Let’s start with some math.
For future reference, when I start a sentence like that, you should generally run. But this time, I think we’re good.
Because every organization - no matter how relatively flat it may be - will always have more space at the bottom than the top. And when all the folks at the entry point are vying for the same few spots at the top - it becomes a breeding ground for disappointment and unhealthy competition.
So we have to open the aperture on what actually constitutes career growth, development, and advancement.
So, what do we do instead? Let’s redefine career development.
Career development isn’t just about moving up—it’s about growing in meaningful ways. It’s having a sense of the journey you’d like to be on, and always feeling like you’re moving - in some way toward it. Sure, maybe with a promotion. But also, maybe, by expanding your skills, your confidence, your network, your industry expertise…
If you’re someone (no shade) who has consistently given this one a thumbs down on your company’s engagement survey, here are a few things you can play with.
Here are a few ways to reframe career growth:
For managers, the focus is on guidance, not guarantees.
Managers often feel caught in the middle—they see the frustration on engagement surveys but can’t manufacture promotions. Instead, they can focus on helping employees see the broader opportunities for growth.
Here’s how:
Finally, what can organizations do?
Organizations have a role to play in reshaping expectations and providing meaningful growth opportunities. Here are some ideas:
So, there you have it. The frustration around career progression isn’t about entitlement—it’s about misunderstanding. By redefining what growth looks like and focusing on broad development rather than narrow promotions, we can create workplaces where employees feel fulfilled, managers feel empowered, and organizations see engagement rise.
If your team or organization is struggling with these challenges, let’s talk. Whether it’s a workshop, keynote, or Pulse Check, I’d love to help you create clarity and momentum.
Join me next week for another great episode of Modern Mentor. Until then, visit my website at leadabovenoise.com, and follow Modern Mentor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Thanks so much for tuning in, and have a successful week!
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