When careers stall: how leaders can reignite growth

Careers don’t always move in straight lines. At some point, every employee will hit a plateau, and experience that feeling of standing still, with no clear next step. 

Left unchecked, this stall can quickly turn into disengagement, quiet quitting, or even resignation.

For leaders, this isn’t just about retention. It’s about wasted potential. Stalled careers drain motivation, dull creativity, and hold teams back from reaching their full impact.

With the right leadership approach, you can help employees find fresh momentum, even when promotions aren’t on the table. 

In this article, we’ll explore the most common reasons careers stall, and how leaders can reignite growth through stretch, visibility, and conversations.

Why career plateaus matter

When employees feel stuck, it rarely stays hidden. 

Motivation slips, discretionary effort fades, and output begins to plateau alongside ambition. Gallup research found that lack of growth and development opportunities is one of the top three reasons employees leave their jobs.

It’s also closely linked to quiet quitting. People don’t necessarily walk out immediately; they often disengage and do the bare minimum until something better comes along. 

The cost to organisations is enormous: low engagement has been estimated to cost the global economy $8.8 trillion in lost productivity annually.

The real reasons careers stall

It’s easy to assume stalled careers are about ambition mismatch or lack of drive. 

In reality, the problem is often systemic, and caused by how organisations structure opportunities and feedback.

The three most common culprits are:

1. Lack of challenging roles. Employees repeat the same tasks without new challenges.
2. Weak feedback loops. Poor or irregular feedback means people can’t see progress or pinpoint what to improve. This leads to career drift.
3. Low visibility of opportunities. Many employees don’t know what growth paths exist within the business. A 2022 LinkedIn study found that employee retention correlated with internal mobility. 

How leaders can reignite career momentum

When careers stall, leaders need to act quickly. The goal isn’t just to retain employees but to recover their motivation. 

Here are three practical levers leaders can use:

1. Make career conversations routine

Too often, career development only comes up during annual reviews. Disengagement may have already set in by this point.  

A better approach is to build career conversations into regular one-to-ones.

Ask questions like:

• What skills do you want to develop this year?
• Are there areas of the business you’d like more exposure to?
• What projects feel like they’ve stretched you the most?

Microsoft research found that employees who have frequent career conversations are 2.5x more likely to be engaged at work. 

2. Design for lateral growth

Not every growth step needs to be a promotion. In fact, some of the most valuable development happens through lateral moves: switching functions, joining cross-functional projects, or taking on temporary assignments.

Why it works:

• Lateral moves are 12 times more predictive of retention than promotions and 2.5 times more impactful than pay increases, according to research on internal mobility.
• Employees who make lateral moves are more likely to be promoted later and see higher pay growth than those who stay put.

Case in point: Google has often highlighted internal mobility as a growth tool, allowing employees to move between teams and disciplines to avoid stagnation.

3. Use projects as growth accelerators

Project-based opportunities are one of the fastest ways to reignite careers. 

Assigning employees to visible, strategic initiatives gives them fresh stretch, exposure to leaders, and chances to showcase capability.

Project-based growth is powerful for a number of reasons: 

• Projects provide stretch without immediate role change, letting employees test new skills safely.
• They create internal visibility by putting talent in front of leadership, opening doors to bigger opportunities.
• They offer leaders a way to assess leadership readiness before formal promotion.

Research shows that engaged employees with meaningful work and visibility perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave. 

Project assignments unlock hidden potential, build confidence, and create real career momentum without the bureaucracy of title changes.

Employee share schemes as a long-term motivator

While projects and conversations spark immediate momentum, leaders also need to think longer term. 

Careers don’t move in a straight line, and during slower phases, employees need reasons to stay invested.

That’s where share schemes can pay off. It isn’t just about financial perks, it’s also a psychological anchor that ties employees to your company’s future.

• 95% of HR leaders say equity compensation is the most effective driver of engagement, and 80% of employees agree.
• Companies with employee ownership (ESOPs) are 3–4 times more likely to retain staff and weather downturns more effectively.
• Equity-based compensation can increase productivity by 10–15%.

“Equity has become a key driver of retention, engagement, and value across the entire organisation.” - Kate Winget, CRO, Morgan Stanley at Work

When career momentum dips, employee share schemes can keep employees committed to the bigger journey, even when short-term growth feels flat.

Summary

Career stalls are inevitable. Every employee will hit a plateau at some point. What matters is how leaders respond.

Dealing with this issue requires consistent, thoughtful leadership with regular career conversations. 

In addition, visible internal opportunities, projects, and equity that ties employees to the bigger vision all help to overcome career stalls. 

At Vestd, we help founders and leaders design employee share schemes that keep employees motivated for the long haul. 

Book a call to find out how.