Based on an earlier article on the meaning, causes, and implications of career plateau on employee’s motivation and organization success, it can be rightly inferred that career plateau is one of the regular phenomena in an employment circle. No matter how skilled and experienced an employee is he or she will come to the point of plateauing on the job.

However, the question is how an employee can overcome career plateau and what should the organization do to subdue the negative effects of career plateau on work performances and productivity in general.

Broadly speaking the solutions to career plateauing are twofold, namely through organizational initiative and through the intentional career planning strategies of the individuals’ employee.

SOLUTIONS TO CAREER PLATEAU THROUGH ORGANIZATION’S INITIATIVE

• FLATTENED ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE. It should be noted that the 21st-century organizations are gradually moving away from the pyramidal hierarchical structure to flattened structure that pays more attention to lateral transfer, cross-functional experience, co-join and collaborative work pattern that allows for greater involvement by their workforce irrespective of position within the organization. HR should follow the trend aimed at reducing an organization structure that inhabits continuous growth and development by paying attention to teamwork, job rotation, and other job enrichment strategies.

• CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES. For a continuing growth on the job, it is expected that at the point of engagement of employees into the organization the organization leadership and management should design a career development paths that show the routes the employees can take to advance their career within the organization and at the same time attain their greatest potentials. These programmes should involve training plan, educational requirements, expectations on the jobs and other deliverables that are expected to be met. With such a plan in place, the individual employee becomes aspiring and motivated to make a positive contribution that will enhance their careers.

• SUCCESSION PLANNING. Succession planning is essentially planning for the future of the organization by asking the questions do we have the right set of people with the right skills and competencies for the future. Succession planning takes an inventory of the current manpower position of the organization and uses it as a basis for planning for the future. Where this is diligently done and planned plateauing will be significantly reduced.

• REGULAR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT. Managing people to attain success goes beyond the intermittent once in a year or biannual appraisal to a more systemic and consistent effort aimed at establishing a pattern that guide, evaluate and monitor performances to the extent of receiving informed feedback and guidance for future success. Generally, it has been accepted that an effective and regular appraisal would not allow for career stalling since all necessary issues leading to this would have been discovered in the course of performance management.

Click on this link to read: EMPLOYEE-SELF-MANAGED STRATEGIES IN CURBING CAREER PLATEAU