Continuing on the thread of local maxima in careers, I realized that people don’t consider their growth in relation to the organization around them. Growth is relative. You might be constantly growing and learning, but if you’re falling behind and not adapting as fast as the company needs you to—you’re not doing well enough. Are you drowning, cruising, outgrown, or doing just right?

Drowning

Often the easiest scenario to realize for everyone except the leader in question. People can tell that the VPE is no longer on top of things like before. Perhaps they even see that you’re slowing things down instead of acting as a catalyst. Unfortunately, this is also the harshest type of feedback which means you’re unlikely to hear about it from those reporting to you or your peers. If you have a capable boss, you might hear the truth during reviews or one-on-one meetings. That’s great, but admittedly rarer than I’d like to admit.

I’ve lost count of the number of times CEOs realized this was the case and approached me for coaching without having the guts or decency to tell their CTO what was going on. Even worse, sometimes they just decide it’s a lost cause and start working toward replacing their tech leader, without ever having given any feedback (and, along with it, an actual chance of improving).

In case that’s you, that’s problematic. You might only find out when it’s too late. However, you can try to proactively assess whether that’s the case. For example:

• Are you viewed as an equal peer by your peers?
• Are you invited to strategic meetings? Are you listened to and heard when you participate?
• Does your boss micromanage you regularly? Not always, but sometimes a sign.
• Do you notice that certain things go around you, like peers regularly talking directly to your employees (even for matters that you would expect them to discuss with you)?
• Do you tend to hear about issues too late, and realize that your team didn’t speak up?
  

If you’re not growing fast enough, the easiest way to address it is to get help.

Local Maxima

I’ve written at length about this recently, but the issue here is that you might feel like everything is fine, similar to the previous scenario. However, the difference here is that the people around you have the same notion. They aren’t equipped to tell that you, collectively, are suffering from lowered expectations and a low bar.

Check out that article for ways to assess whether that’s the case for you and how to snap out of it.

Outgrown

Perhaps a good problem to have, but it could definitely be that you’ve outpaced your organization. That can reach a level where the mismatch becomes problematic. From your point of view, you might feel constricted. You feel less challenged. You’re spending too much time in your comfort zone. You find that you’re thinking ‘bigger’ than the rest of the team.

On the other hand, the issue might become apparent from the organization’s point of view first. That’s when you start hearing that you’re disengaged, thinking too long-term, delegating too much, etc. These are all real complaints that I’ve heard many times before. Assuming the cause isn’t that you’ve grown wholly disinterested in the company, or that you’ve spontaneously stopped being good at your job, the reason is often having outgrown the company.

That doesn’t mean that you should necessarily seek a ‘bigger’ company next. Sometimes, outgrowing a place just means it’s time for you to find a different place to start anew. However, you should also keep in mind that sometimes, but not always, you have the opportunity to pull the company ahead along with you. This is definitely easier for founders.

Just Right

Lastly, you just might be at the sweet spot. You have a healthy tension going on where you routinely have to move outside of your comfort zone, but you are able to study and improve quickly. You’re never in cruising mode for too long, nor are you drowning and having a hard time catching your breath for months.

Remember that life’s too short to waste in a mismatched position for months or years. Assess where you are, where you want to be, and how to get there.