316 Career Plateauing

316 Career Plateauing

From Workplace Psychology with Dr. Martha Grajdek by Martha Grajdek, PhD, MBA

April 20, 2026 · 20 min

About this episode

Dr. Grajdek reframes career plateaus as signals and discusses strategies for overcoming them.

Career Plateauing: When Growth Stalls and Motivation Drops In this episode, Dr. Grajdek reframes career plateaus as signals, not failures. She breaks down the three common forms of career plateaus and discusses the psychological costs of plateauing. Dr. Grajdek explains why impulsive exits or novelty-chasing can backfire, as she offers better options, such as building a “career lattice” through adjacent skills, lateral moves, internal projects, and targeted stretch assignments. Moreover, she discusses the importance of both mentorship and sponsorship at the workplace along with their relevance in one’s career. Finally, Dr. Grajdek offers best practices for organizations. Tune in to learn more. Check out Stress-Free With Dr G on YouTube https://youtube.com/channel/UCxHq0osRest0BqQQRXfdjiQ The Stress Solution: Your Blueprint For Stress Management Mastery https://a.co/d/07xAdo7l

People in this episode

Host: Martha Grajdek

Topics covered

  • career plateauing
  • motivation
  • mentorship
  • sponsorship
  • career development
  • psychological costs

Keywords

  • career plateau
  • motivation drop
  • career lattice
  • mentorship
  • sponsorship
  • psychological costs
  • lateral moves

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stress-Free With Dr G, The Stress Solution: Your Blueprint For Stress Management Mastery

Places: YouTube

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