Why Career Growth Doesn’t Have to Mean Leaving
I spend a lot of time supporting people who are looking for their next career step — and just as much time supporting organizations trying to hire, retain, and grow their teams. And the more I sit between these two worlds, the clearer it becomes that we dramatically underestimate the stress sitting on both sides.
Looking for a job is stressful.
Hiring is stressful.
And honestly, neither side talks enough about what the other is going through.
From the employee perspective, searching for a new role can feel emotionally raw. You’re putting yourself out there, hoping someone sees your value, trying to interpret silence, waiting for timelines that rarely make sense, and second-guessing your own experience.
From the employer perspective, hiring is resource-intensive. It’s expensive, time-consuming, disruptive, and often done under pressure. Leaders are balancing budgets, shifting priorities, culture concerns, team morale, and the anxiety of “What if we choose the wrong person?”
Which is why I wish more employees understood how stressful hiring can be — and why I wish more employers understood how many people would rather stay if they could see a path.
Between “stay exactly as you are” and “leave the organization,” there is far more room for possibility — and it sits inside two underutilized internal career pathways:
Pathway 1: Stay and Grow
Pathway 2: Grow Laterally but Strategically
These are powerful levers for individual development and organizational stability. Here’s how they work.
Pathway 1: Stay and Grow
(When your next step is right where you already are).
When someone feels restless, they often assume the only solution is to leave. But in most coaching conversations, the restlessness isn’t about the job — it’s about the absence of growth. People want to feel stretched. They want to contribute at a higher level. They want to be recognized as someone capable of more. And often, all of that can happen exactly where they are.
Why this matters for employees: Staying and growing gives you the stability you need while giving you the challenge you’re craving. You already understand the culture, expectations, workflows, and personalities — so any new responsibility builds directly on your strengths.
Why this matters for employers: Hiring externally is expensive and slow. Developing the talent you already have protects institutional knowledge, supports morale, and strengthens culture. When employees see a clear path forward — not vague promises — they stop guessing. And when they stop guessing, they stop looking elsewhere.
What this looks like in real workplaces
Example 1 — Expanding scope without changing roles: A program coordinator notices the team struggling with data tracking. She volunteers to streamline reporting, builds a simple dashboard, and becomes the “go-to” for operational clarity. Within six months, she’s helping to lead cross-team updates — organically creating a pathway to expanded responsibilities.
Example 2 — Building toward a promotion with stretch work: A team member begins supporting her manager during busy periods — preparing materials, coordinating initiatives, and handling light leadership tasks. Over time, she demonstrates she’s ready for a more senior role.
Example 3 — Deepening mastery where there’s enthusiasm: A customer service associate excels at de-escalation. He leans into this strength, becomes a peer mentor, and eventually contributes to redesigning the onboarding program — a clear step toward a training role.
Example 4 — Filling a gap that unlocks opportunity: A nonprofit staff member notices the grant tracking process is scattered. She takes the lead on organizing it, improving workflow and creating a natural advancement path for herself.
Pathway 2: Grow Laterally but Strategically
(When sideways is the smartest way forward).
We don’t talk enough about lateral moves. Many employees assume they “don’t count,” and many employers assume they’re a sign of dissatisfaction. But growing laterally but strategically can be one of the healthiest forms of career development — and one of the strongest ways an organization retains talent.
Sometimes people have outgrown the context of their role, not the company itself. They need new exposure, different work, broader relationships, or simply a fresh environment to activate their strengths.
Why this matters for employees: A strategic lateral shift increases your visibility, broadens your network, and sets you up for a future promotion more effectively than staying stuck in one lane.
Why this matters for employers: Lateral mobility builds agility. People bring institutional knowledge with them into new spaces — which reduces the cost, risk, and learning curve of external hiring. It also builds collaboration across teams and strengthens succession plans. But employers must communicate this clearly: A lateral move is not a step backwards. It’s a step into a wider field of opportunity.
What this looks like in real workplaces:
Example 1 — Moving to a team with broader visibility: A finance analyst moves laterally into Operations to gain exposure to leadership, vendors, and strategy. Her influence increases, and she becomes a strong candidate for future project management roles.
Example 2 — Growing cross-functional skills for leadership readiness: An HR generalist takes a lateral move into Communications to strengthen storytelling and engagement. When she returns to HR, she’s far more strategic — and eventually steps into an HR Business Partner role.
Example 3 — Leaving a high-burnout function for one with more growth potential: A paralegal moves laterally into Compliance. The pace is steadier, the work aligns with his strengths, and he becomes a valued internal partner — dramatically improving retention.
Example 4 — Joining a team aligned with emerging priorities: An events coordinator shifts into Community Engagement, an area gaining visibility across the organization. The move positions her perfectly for future leadership in external affairs.
A Final Thought: We Lose Too Many People We Could Have Developed
The longer I do this work, the more convinced I am that we lose too many people we could have developed, and we hire too many people we didn’t need to hire. Employees often underestimate how much opportunity exists inside their own organizations, and employers often underestimate how eager people are to stretch, learn, and contribute in new ways. Internal pathways — staying and growing or moving laterally with purpose — aren’t consolation prizes; they’re strategic moves that build stronger careers and stronger workplaces.
Employees: Before assuming you need to leave, look for where you can expand.
Employers: Before assuming someone is headed out the door, look for where they can be challenged.
A CEO said to me recently, “I want to give people chances. I want to grow them. But they have to raise their hand.” That line stayed with me, because it captures the heart of internal mobility — it’s a partnership. Employers need to create pathways, and employees need to show up for them. When both sides lean in, people grow, organizations thrive, and far fewer good people are lost along the way.