A few months ago a close friend asked me for some advice regarding his situation at work, and, with his permission, I wanted to share both the situation and the advice I gave him. This is a very common challenge that many Millennials face in their roles given the generational workforce dynamics occurring today, whether they are in leadership roles or not. While I have not directly been in the same situation it’s one that I see constantly around me that affects many people.

Alex (not his real name) is very passionate about his company and the industry he’s in. He has been in the same role for a couple of years and has been able to master it sufficiently where it’s no longer challenging. He wants to learn about different areas of the business, possibly even move to a different area, so that he can expand his knowledge and contribute more to the company. I call this “the itch,” where you want a change to advance or challenge yourself in a new way that isn’t driven by something negative; it’s just a feeling where it’s time for something new.

The issue is his manager. She is not willing to let him move to a new position, take on stretch assignments with other teams, or grow his responsibilities within the team. Alex feels boxed in. He suspects that it’s due to him being a top-contributor and his manager does not want to lose his skills from her team given the overall risk to the department’s ability to deliver its mission. He has made attempts to ask for more challenges but has been rebuffed each time.

His manager has been in her role for many years and has made it clear that she has no intention on moving to a new role. She’s had a long career and Alex’s view is that she is coasting to retirement while trying not to rock the boat in the process. Like your retirement portfolio as you near retirement, lowering risk is a logical approach for many managers reaching the latter stages of their careers so one can empathize with what Alex’s manager is likely doing. However one can equally empathize with Alex’s situation where he wants to do a lot more but is being blocked due to his risk-averse manager.

When he reached out to me we had a few lengthy conversations over a couple of weeks. I gave him the following suggestions:

• Initiate a career discussion with his manager where he asks for her help in planning the next 2-3 years of his career, then identify some immediate next steps that will help reach the identified goals.
• Reach out to executives in other areas of the company to seek out opportunities that may exist that he and his manager may not be aware of, and to network.
• Network with others in the company to build broader relationships and build his presence
• In parallel, look for roles at other companies in case nothing works out internally.

I checked in a few weeks later. He had followed the first three suggestions and parked the fourth as he genuinely wanted to make it work at the company. The career discussion with the manager didn’t go well. Alex felt his manager deflected a bit and made some half-hearted promises to look into opportunities. A few months later he was offered an opportunity to move into a temporary management role leading a team of 60(!) people while the current manager was on a medical leave. This had nothing to do with the career discussion they had nor Alex’s career interests so he felt this was more of a checkbox exercise to say an opportunity was presented. He connected with some executives but most deferred him to his manager; this suggests a broader risk-averse culture amongst the leadership team at his company. He continues to network as well. However, his situation has not changed and his frustrations are increasing. He may start looking externally, which in my mind is a shame given that his company may lose a motivated top-contributor.

What ideas or advice do you have for Alex? Should he continue to wait it out and hope for some change? Should he leave his company? Please share your suggestions and stories in the comments.