12 Shocking Roadblocks Sabotaging Your Career Growth
Are you a driven experienced professional that isn’t seeing the career growth results you want and you don’t really know why? If you’ve done all the right ‘things’ (work hard, take on tough tasks, learned new skills, tried to do your very best), but nothing is really moving the needle: this article is for you.
What keeps you stuck an unfulfilled at work has less to do with how great you are at your job and more to do with things that you may not have even considered. I am willing to bet that the reason you feel frustrated at the lack of results in your career isn’t due to any of the following reasons.
- It’s not your education
- It’s not your training
- It’s not the certification(s) you have
- It’s not about who you know (not completely)
- It’s not about how much you know
- It’s not based on your experience
- It’s not much to do with how long you’ve been at your company
You went to school. You probably got decent grades. You chose a profession and you studied. You may have even got some experience on the job before you ‘officially’ started your career. On the job: you work hard and maybe even put in extra hours. You try to be the very best at what you do. You might even take on extra work. More than likely, you have the right credentials and/or plenty of experience. You might even think to yourself that your experience/work ethic/results should speak for themselves.
The problem is, you still aren’t seeing results and you don’t understand why. After all, you did all the ‘things’ you need to do to move up! You checked all the boxes … now what?
This is the major gap between what we think gets results and what actually works. We put entirely too much emphasis on hard skills. The key ingredient to turn your skills into real growth is often practically ignored. We rely on proving how great we are by trying to be the best, working really hard, and hoping that our results will see us through. If nothing else, perhaps networking to know all the ‘right’ people will get us better opportunities.
The gap I’m talking about could ruin your amazing network’s impact for you or result in a career dead-end. I’m talking about what is so often (pathetically) referred to as ‘soft skills’. There’s nothing soft about them. It’s real and if you don’t develop them – the gap is so big you will land right on your face. Ignoring so-called soft skills has hard consequences.
Soft skills sound, well, soft. Squishy, intangible, and fluffy. Easily downplayed and overlooked. I felt the same way for a good portion of my career until I hit career quicksand. The real truth is, your career success is a direct result of your expertise and your interpersonal skills. Not one OR the other. You need BOTH.
These are the most common (shocking to many) career roadblocks I see in successful experienced professionals that hold them back from achieving their potential:
1. IQ vs EQ
It’s not how much you know, it’s how much you care. You can be brilliant but if you have behavioral issues that interfere with your interpersonal relationships (either at work or at home) – you won’t get the opportunities to leverage your brilliance. Your IQ does not define your success. Your mindset, your behavior, and your communication skills are an essential part of your ability to develop your career successfully.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Do you place a lot of importance on credentials, education, or years of experience?
- When you think of the people you work with – do you associate them by who they are or what position they have?
2. Ignoring Your Impact
You have more impact than you realize. Most of us don’t think we matter and consequently, we aren’t intentional with our actions and words. Because your impact defines your reality, you either care about your impact on others or opt-out of having an opinion. It’s like voting. If you don’t vote, you can’t complain about who got elected. If you aren’t intentional about your impact, you can’t complain about where your life takes you.
Questions to ask yourself:
- How often have you gotten yourself in trouble or upset someone by a casual remark or how you phrased something?
- Do you find it difficult to keep other people’s feelings in mind before you engage in conversation or share your thoughts?
- Are you reluctant to share your ideas with others because you think it doesn’t really matter?
- Do you feel like you make a difference at your workplace – or anywhere else? Do you act differently in places that you feel that you have more impact – if so, how?
3. Attitude
You need to control it, not the other way around. No one dictates your attitude but you. Not life, not other people, not even the annoying person that just stole your improvement idea. You get back what you put out in life. Let’s put it this way, I’ve noticed a direct correlation between a person’s attitude (mine included) and results. Your attitude is like your life filter.
You filter ALL of your life experiences through your attitude (ie: perspective). Your attitude also drives how you respond to your life experiences. If you are expecting negativity, that’s probably what you interpret in situations. If you are more optimistic, then you expect (and therefore find) more positives. In any given situation, how you respond or react is entirely up to your state of mind (your attitude).
Questions to ask yourself:
- How often do you allow life circumstances to dictate your mood? How long does this last?
- What do you do when you are faced with challenges – do you immediately think the worst or seek to find a solution?
- Have you ever noticed that your bad days tend to last all day and everything seems to go wrong?
4. Perfectionism
Striving for perfectionism is like living a constant struggle to achieve the unobtainable and it’s actually quite awful. You can never be perfect. I know – I’m a recovering perfectionist. What I mean by ‘recovering’ is, you will always be a perfectionist – but you can lessen its impact on your life by being aware and intentionally controlling your unreasonable expectations. No matter how you look at it, perfectionism is a recipe for disaster both professionally and personally.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Would you say that you set very high expectations on yourself or others? What happens – do you often achieve these expectations? If so, at what cost (physically or mentally)?
- Is it hard to feel like you’ve accomplished much in a given day, week, or month?
- How hard are you on yourself when you make a mistake? What happens and how do you feel?
5. Overachieving
Being the best doesn’t make you a better person. It doesn’t guarantee you a promotion, a pay raise, or even a pat on the back. In fact, it can do the opposite. There’s a difference between doing a great job and overachieving. Overachieving, as strange as this may sound, is not always helpful for your career. It took me years to figure this one out.
We have been brainwashed to think that, by being the best – or over-delivering, we are guaranteeing a great future. This is not always the case. It also can make other people intimidated by you which equals jealousy and dislike. To make matters worse, you can become the ‘fixer’ and dig yourself into a non-replaceable position that doesn’t allow you to move up.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Do you find that you like to correct others mistakes and just add a little bit more value to make sure that something is 100% correct?
- Do you find that other people like to give you the ‘hard’ work that no one else seems to be able to do?
- Do you take pride in over-delivering in your work – if so, how often do you tend to do this?
- Do you feel like you have to prove yourself? If so, why? … No, really – dig deeper and ask why?
6. Working Harder
Doing more usually results in more of the same. When it comes to career growth: what we want is something different (hopefully better). Working hard and hoping someone will notice is often a wasted exercise. From time to time, people can be working really hard on things that don’t even matter.
Understand and meet expectations (exceed occasionally when strategically smart to do so). Also important: establish robust reporting and feedback loops with your direct line leadership so they actually KNOW what you are doing! Don’t assume people will just figure it out on their own. Other people are busy with, guess what, their issues – not yours.
Questions to ask yourself:
- How healthy is your work/life balance and how easy is it for you to ‘turn off’ work after hours?
- Do you feel like you have to work longer hours, come in early or stay late (even work weekends) to prove that you are good enough?
- Do you feel a weird sense of pride in your long working hours?
7. Over-Committing
I was a rampant over committer professionally and personally. I’m not sure why I thought I had more time in the day than anyone else. The result of my over-commitment syndrome, I wasn’t able to showcase my skills because no one can do everything well. If you spread yourself too thin and you just end up disappointing yourself (and possibly others as well).
Over-commitment creates a huge challenge for well-meaning professionals because, instead of providing outstanding work, you are struggling to accomplish your accountabilities. Instead of standing out by being an ‘accomplisher’ – you might suffer from constant underperformance. This is a frustrating and career-killing place to be.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is it hard for you to say ‘No’ to things that people ask you for? Do you volunteer for additional work or responsibilities easily? Are you afraid of upsetting people so you just go with it (even if it’s too much to ask)?
- Do you feel that you are more likely to be considered an ‘achiever’ if you take on more work?
- In your mind, does being super involved in a lot of different things equal being successful or prove that you ‘have what it takes’?
8. Defiant Independence
Figuring things out on your own is great but no one develops inside of a vacuum. Your career success is only as good as your ability to collaborate with others. Independence doesn’t mean it’s a great idea to tackle everything on your own to prove how awesome you are. You’re more likely to alienate yourself and stress out your manager. Involve and evolve!
Independent thought and decision making skills are excellent examples of high emotional intelligence (known as EQ). Not involving others in your journey are traits found on the lower end of EQ. As a bonus, when you engage others (even when you don’t feel you need to) to bounce ideas around – they get a boost. Others feel like you appreciate their input and it is a great way to acknowledge your respect for their expertise.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Is it important for you to figure things out on your own – does that make you feel like you are more intelligent, competent, or capable?
- Do you struggle to ask for help from others? If so, why? Are you afraid of looking ‘stupid’?
- Is it a struggle to keep others in the loop on your decision-making and/or do you feel like this makes you look ‘weak’?
9. Super Professionalism
Being super professional also makes you super unapproachable. Gone are the days where formality gets you ahead. You don’t look smarter, you just come off like a snot-nosed self-important jerk that thinks less of everyone else. If you mistakenly remind people how insignificant they are and they will remind you how isolated you can become.
Become ‘real’ to people without being an over-sharing weirdo. The challenge is knowing what to share and when. In highly competitive environments, it may be frightening to let your ‘guard’ down. As a rule of thumb, don’t share something that can hurt you later. Regardless, it doesn’t hurt to show a genuine interest in others and take time to get to know them personally. A sub-trait of this character expression is a tendency to be very fearful of failure and often is linked to perfectionism.
Questions to ask yourself:
- Would you say that keeping your work and personal life separate is important to you? If so, why and what are you concerned about when it comes to sharing personal information?
- Do you find it difficult to really consider what people do in their personal lives as important or even relevant to your professional environment?
- Do you feel that you need to put on your ‘work mask’ when you go to your job each day? If so, how does that mask vary from your personal life?
10. Complacency
Wallowing in your comfort zone too long can lead to complacency. What’s interesting is that even overachieving driven professionals can exist in this space for a time – sometimes by intent. While being a comfort zone part of the time is useful for a healthy mental balance, if you never challenge yourself you will never improve.
Effective career growth means that you will need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable from time to time. While this habitual way of thinking and behaving impacts your interpersonal relationships less than other habits – it does hurt your career growth. Sometimes complacency is expressed in the lack of motivation to change one’s habits. It can manifest in a feeling that: “This is the way I am.” Know that no one is locked into any one way of thinking, behaving, or communicating.
Questions to ask yourself:
- If you think you could benefit from a change of pace or a career move – do you find that you give reasons for not pursuing these opportunities because you are comfortable where you are? What types of reasons to you give yourself?
- Have you ever caught yourself saying or thinking: “This is who I am and other people can just get used to it”? Do you feel that this attitude makes you more ‘authentically’ you? Do you sometimes find that you defend a habitual way of behaving to yourself or others?
- Do you feel that you’ve acted a certain way for so long that you really can’t change?
11. Growth Assumptions
I assumed that I would grow through experiences. Actually experience is NOT the best teacher – evaluated experience is. Adding more years to your life doesn’t equal wisdom. Wisdom isn’t automatic, neither is growth. If you do not practice reflection it can be very difficult to establish an objective perspective and therefore equally difficult to learn from your experiences.
What I see very commonly in career journeys is that people either plow forward, meander along, or drift aimlessly. In each of these cases, there may be assumptions around growth. Even for those that are very driven, if the practice of periodic reflection and evaluation is not followed through – you could suffer from career stagnation. One day, you might wake up to realize that you have driven really hard into a career position you don’t like!
Questions to ask yourself:
- Do you feel that you should be promoted because you have either: shown hard work ethics, gone above and beyond, and put in the time at your job or in your career?
- Have you found that you tend to just step into any open opportunity that is presented to you? How often do you spend time considering how these moves may affect your career long-term?
- How often do you take time to intentionally develop yourself? Do you feel that, if you are expected to learn something, your workplace should provide the training for it?
12. Un-Self-Aware
You are blind to your blind spots, but other people aren’t. Even the most self-aware person, in my experience, really only has less than 50% of a realistic self-assessment picture. Those that are not self-aware with fixed mindsets can be reactionary not thoughtfully responsive in situations. Instead of being intentional about your thinking, behaving, and communication – it’s done from habit.
From time to time, the lack of self-awareness is simply because most people aren’t even cognizant that they have control over their mindset, actions, and communication! It took me over 30 years before I realized that I had a choice in these 3 areas. Self-awareness is essential for growth because you cannot improve upon something you don’t fully understand.
Consider: The best way to uncover ‘blind spots’ is to have a 360-degree review with input from those you work closest with.
Stop the Sabotage for Career Growth
It’s time to take the blindfold off and develop a deep understanding of who you really are. Most importantly, understand what is actually holding you back from seeing the career results you want. You cannot grow something you don’t know.
Here’s a myth-buster for you: career growth has less to do with your technical expertise and more to do with your personal growth. We often have it backward. We think we can focus on ourselves after we grow our careers. As a result, we fall victim to career myths like expecting your experience, hard work, expertise, or credentials to get you career opportunities.
If you feel like you might be a victim to one (or more) of these career roadblocks, self-awareness is the first step. Connect with a mentor – someone you trust who is unbiased in their support. If you leverage a 360-degree review, find a qualified and experienced professional to assist you with developing an action plan for career growth. You will be amazed at how powerful specific, small, and significant changes can be in your career!
If you feel like you’ve done all the right ‘things’ in your career (training, skills, expertise, knowledge, hard work, professionalism, and putting in extra effort) but aren’t seeing results … we should talk.
Did any of these roadblocks sound familiar to you? Do you want to learn how to take the steps to remove the roadblocks between you and your career potential? Reach out to and schedule a consultation call to see how we can work together to get you the results you want to see in your career.
