The Hidden Truth About Career Potential: Why Top Performers Still Get Stuck

"I should have been promoted by now."

Those words hung heavy in the air during my recent coaching session with Tonya, a mid-career professional who had joined a larger company with high hopes and expectations.

With years of experience under her belt, she had made a calculated decision to step into an individual contributor role at the bigger company, confident that her past success would fast-track her advancement.

Three years later, frustration was evident in her voice as we chatted:

"I had such high hopes when I first came here. At my previous company, I would have been promoted by now."

Sound familiar? If you're nodding your head, you're not alone. This scenario plays out across the corporate landscape, affecting even the most talented professionals.

The Uncomfortable Truth About Professional Growth

Here's the reality that many high-achievers struggle to accept:

Potential isn't enough to get you promoted.

In fact, in organizations where exceptional talent is the norm, your capabilities matter far less than your tangible results.

Let me share something that transformed my own perspective on career advancement. As Marshall Goldsmith brilliantly put it:

"What got you here won't get you there."

This isn't just a catchy phrase – it's a fundamental truth that many of us learn the hard way.

Think about it - every time you switch companies, take on a new role, join a different team, or get promoted, you're essentially entering a new game with different rules, players, and success metrics. Yet, many of us keep playing by our old playbook, wondering why we're not winning anymore.

The High-Performer's Blind Spot

I've seen this pattern repeatedly: exceptional professionals who feel stuck, not because they lack ability, but because they're applying yesterday's success formula to today's challenges.

In my coaching, I've observed some consistent patterns:

• Nearly all high performers experience periods of feeling "stuck," regardless of their capabilities
• Companies rarely promote based on past performance
• Most advancement decisions are heavily influenced by strategic impact and organizational alignment

These insights aren't just anecdotal - they're reflected in numerous conversations with executives, people-leaders, and professionals across industries.

If you’re struggling to navigate these challenges, here are some provide pathways to bridge the gap between potential and promotion.

1. Decode the "Good to Great" Algorithm

When I first started working with Tonya, something she said struck me deeply:

"I've done a lot of work for this team. I've completed so many tasks and led several important projects, and I just don't get why it's not enough for me to get promoted to the next level."

This moment perfectly captures a challenge that many high performers face, especially when joining larger organizations. In these environments, where exceptional talent is the norm, simply being "good" becomes the baseline expectation. This was Tonya's reality – moving from an environment where she was a standout, to one where everyone around her was equally capable and accomplished.

The transition from being a big fish in a smaller pond to swimming in an ocean of high achievers requires a fundamental shift in how we think about excellence. When everyone is good, good becomes average, so it's crucial to find ways to be great.

In Tonya's organization, like many others, there was a clear recognition system for standout employees. The key to advancement lies in understanding what makes these recognized individuals different – what sets them apart in an environment where everyone is already performing at a high level.

You can do this by identifying the top performers in your organization and looking for recurring themes in their success stories. What behaviors do they embody?

Once you understand the activities and mentalities that lead to success, you can replicate it in your own career.

2. Master the Strategic Value Game

When Tonya first joined her new organization, she embraced every opportunity that came her way. With a genuine desire to make a positive impression, she volunteered for any task her new boss mentioned, accumulating a substantial portfolio of tactical projects and initiatives. Her intention was admirable – show initiative, demonstrate capability, and prove her worth to the team.

However, after a year or two of this approach, Tonya found herself feeling unfulfilled and stuck. During our coaching session, she shared her frustration, which led to a pivotal moment in our discussion where I asked Tonya to pull up two things: her organization's goals and her list of completed work.

As she read them side by side, the realization hit her – none of the work she'd done was strategically relevant to her organization's primary objectives.

This is a critical lesson that transforms careers: the volume of work matters far less than its strategic alignment.

Many professionals, like Tonya, fall into the trap of saying "yes" to everything without assessing the strategic relevance of each opportunity. They become known as reliable task-completers rather than strategic contributors.

Ask yourself these four questions to assess the strategic value of the work you’re doing or considering:

1. Does this directly support organizational goals or mission?
2. Is this a leadership-identified priority?
3. Will this create measurable improvement or a competitive advantage?
4. Is this scalable or will I be a single point of failure for completing this and similar tasks in the future?

3. Understand Your Impact Scope

As we dug deeper into Tonya's experience, another important pattern emerged. She shared how she had taken on a significant mentoring role with junior team members, collaborating with them on projects and helping position them for success.

Her manager frequently expressed appreciation for these efforts, and Tonya took pride in being a player-coach on the team.

However, this revealed a crucial blindspot in her career strategy. During our discussion, I posed a question that shifted her perspective:

"If you're sharing responsibilities on many of these projects with more junior team members, how are you differentiating the scope and complexity of what you're managing compared to what the more junior team member is managing?"

The question hit home.

While Tonya was successfully showcasing her mentorship skills, she wasn't currently in a management role and wasn't effectively demonstrating next-level capability as an individual contributor.

She had inadvertently positioned her junior team members to demonstrate impact beyond their current level, while not doing the same for herself.

This is a common challenge for experienced professionals stepping into new roles: finding the balance between being a supportive team member and creating space for your own growth and impact.

The solution isn't to stop helping others – it's to ensure you're also focusing on having a role and level-appropriate impact scope, working on solving complex problems independently or in collaboration with team members and leaders who are at the level you're trying to reach.

The Strategic Career Reset

If you're feeling stuck like Tonya, remember: it's never too late to course-correct.

The key is understanding that career advancement isn't about potential – it's about strategic alignment and demonstrated impact.?

If you’re ready to transform your career trajectory, start by answering the following questions:

• What does excellence look like in my current environment?
• How do my efforts align with organizational strategy?
• Where can I create unique, measurable value?

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