Are you Worried That Your Career Is Plateaued?

How does your career start? You take a job with a big company and decide to do the same kind of work throughout your working life for the same company, or you keep on changing companies as they offer better growth opportunities. Your keep on scaling new heights in your career and keep on climbing up your career ladder. Gradually there comes a phase where one feels that his likelihood of being promoted is low, or where his learning rate won't improve. This period is known as a Career plateau.

Every individual experiences a career plateau at one or more points in his working life. It is perceived as a time of stagnation and lack of progress in one's career and where there is no further scope of growing ahead.

The chances of promotion are also low, thus leading to poor job performance and dissatisfaction with the job.

Career plateaus can be classified as position plateaus and contribution plateaus. Position plateauing occurs when there is limited or no upward movement within the organization possibly due to lack of opportunities within the organization. On the other hand, contribution plateauing occurs when there is a stagnation in one's personal development and growth. Here, there is no further development of one's skills and abilities. It is believed that position plateaus can happen to every employee and does not necessarily mean absence of skills. On the other hand, contribution plateaus happen to specific individuals only and are incompetent due to lack of skills. An employee can be personally plateaued or organizationally plateaued. An organizationally plateaued worker is an employee who has the ability to perform effectively in a higher-level position, but a lack of job openings may prevent his/her promotion. This type of plateau takes place in organizations with pyramid-like structure. This means, career plateauing results because the number of positions available decreases as one moves forward hierarchically in the organization. In contrast, a personally plateaued worker is viewed by the organization as either lacking the ability or the desire to move into a higher-level position. A lack of technical skill or career skill may lead to an individual's lack of promotional opportunity.

Good or bad??
Career plateaus, as they are perceived, are not necessarily negative. A career plateau, as we now know, is a temporary period of stagnation during the career which leads to low performance, sluggish promotion of the individual, frustration of mind and finally quitting the job. Plateaus in career can have positive impacts on one's job performance as optimal levels of stress have. Some organizations believe that healthy plateaus are necessary for keeping employees motivated and keep their energy and enthusiasm high while on work. Successful career plateauing takes place when there is effective job performance and high job satisfaction despite a low likelihood of promotion. It is considered healthy for those who have just accomplished a breakthrough in their careers. Career plateaus are valuable to the individual as they provide an opportunity to explore new and ways of utilizing one's skills and abilities, take more responsibilities and deliver better performances. Individuals who are successful in coping with this stage are more likely plan better for the further stages of their career development, and are less likely to experience frustration and dissatisfaction.

Sources and symptoms
Some sources of plateauing that push an employee towards his career plateau include lack of internal motivation, lack of extrinsic rewards, stress and early burnouts and slothful organizational growth. So how does one get to know that his career has reached the highest point of stagnation? Well, there are many symptoms of the career plateau like when your colleagues get promoted and you don't even if it's due; when lesser responsibilities are handled over to you; when salary hikes are not meant for you; when your responsibilities are transferred to your colleague or some other employees. Besides this, employer may feel that the employee is incompetent to carry a responsibility and lacks interpersonal skills.

Managing the plateau
HR personnel play a vital role in managing career plateaus of their employees. HR personnel can work towards preventing plateaued employees from becoming ineffective. They can show possible avenues for personal growth and development to the employee. Job rotation and job enrichment also act as rational strategies for managing career plateaus. Acquiring new competencies and skill development also are reasonable sometimes, and if nothing works, then there is always an option of switching to a new job.