How to motivate your team when the ladder stops moving

If your company's career ladder is no longer moving people up, Michel Koopman offers strategies to keep your best talent.

By Michel Koopman

For SmartBrief

Data from the ADP Research Institute reveals a surprising trend: Being promoted increases the chance a high performer will quit. Among US employees who received their first promotion between 2019 and 2022, 29% left within one month, compared with 18% among those who weren’t promoted.

Managers at every level have seen this firsthand. When promotions are delayed or feel overdue, employees may view them less as recognition and more as a correction — something they feel was owed to them. Instead of strengthening commitment, the promotion becomes leverage for a new job where they hope to feel more valued.

At the same time, many organizations are promoting less frequently. Maybe growth has slowed. Maybe the structure has matured. Or maybe employees have hit a point where advancing requires new skills or experiences that don’t come neatly packaged with a title change. Whatever the cause, the old promise — “work hard, and you’ll move up” — doesn’t always match today’s reality. And when the ladder pauses, motivation can dip. If the next role feels far away, engagement, energy and loyalty often slip.

The good news: Managers have far more influence than they realize in keeping ambition alive, even when promotions aren’t available. With the right habits and conversations, managers can create a team culture where people feel challenged, supported and valued, regardless of title changes. 

When promotions slow, motivation can, too

High-growth organizations often promise quick advancement: Deliver results, and you’ll move up. But ladders don’t extend forever. The higher you go, the fewer openings there are, with more people vying for them. At the higher levels, promotions depend on more than individual performance and include many softer skills related to influence and strategy. As companies mature, leaders in executive roles also stabilize, while ambitious employees’ expectations may stay high. This mismatch requires managers to help employees adjust and refocus.

Managers can’t prevent slowdowns, but they can reframe the conversation. Instead of measuring ambition solely in titles, they can ask: If promotions slowed tomorrow, what would keep my team engaged? What keeps each person feeling motivated and valued day to day? By recognizing ambition as more than vertical movement, managers can open new avenues for growth and fulfillment.

Redefining reward beyond titles and pay

We all have bills to pay (and they tend to get bigger over time). As such, promotions and raises will always matter, but they aren’t the only motivators. Studies from Deloitte and McKinsey show that employees stay longer when they have meaningful work, learning opportunities and a sense of belonging, even when compensation stays flat.

Take Freeman, where many employees stay for decades. Longevity there is less about rapid advancement and more about a holistic value proposition: strong coaching from managers, meaningful work tied to the company’s mission, and a culture where people feel cared for. For employees, that matters more than frequent title changes.

For managers, the shift is practical: Frame growth as depth, not just ascent. Ask employees what skills they want to build and what problems they want to solve, then create opportunities within existing structures. Growth doesn’t always mean a new title. It can mean becoming the go-to expert in a critical domain or leading a cross-functional project.

Managers as the differentiator

When promotions are scarce, the relationship between a manager and their employees matters even more. Gallup research consistently shows that managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement. The value of how leaders engage their team becomes even more important when promotions slow down.

Great managers don’t just assign work. They coach. They listen. They help employees connect today’s tasks to tomorrow’s aspirations. And, most importantly, they make people feel seen.

Here are a few simple, practical steps managers can start using immediately:

1. Hold monthly career check-ins.

These don’t need to be long — 20 minutes works. Ask questions like: What do you want to learn next? Where do you want more ownership? What would make your role more energizing? This keeps growth in motion, even when job titles aren’t changing.

2. Create peer mentoring pairs.

Match employees who can teach each other something: a strong communicator with a strong analyst, a veteran with a newcomer, or two ambitious peers with different strengths. Peer mentoring builds skills and belonging at the same time.

3. Offer “spotlight” assignments.

These are short, meaningful opportunities that give visibility and stretch experience, such as leading a meeting, owning part of a project or presenting insights in a cross-functional forum. Spotlight work helps people feel recognized in tangible ways.

Build a team culture that keeps ambition alive

You don’t need to redesign organizational culture to keep ambitious employees engaged. You just need a team environment where people feel valued, challenged, supported and connected to a larger purpose. Managers can create this by recognizing progress early, offering learning opportunities and helping employees see the impact of their work, especially when promotions slow down.

Consider a customer service team with limited promotion opportunities. One manager noticed her most ambitious reps growing restless, so she gave them new ways to grow: One mentored new hires, another led a weekly “voice of the customer” review and a third built a quick-reference guide for tricky scenarios. None received new titles, but each rep gained visibility, responsibility and momentum, and the manager saw engagement improve.

Ambitious employees don’t lose their drive because a promotion takes longer. They lose it when they stop feeling seen, stretched and appreciated. Managers who recognize this create teams that people want to stay on.

The future of retention isn’t just about offering bigger, faster promotions. It’s about building environments where ambition thrives, even when the climb slows.

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