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Career stagnation can be driven by personality patterns, not lack of competence.

Traits that support early success can become liabilities as roles and expectations change.

Aligning personality patterns with your next step can open new professional opportunities.

When people feel stuck at work, they often assume the problem is a skills gap. They need more experience, better credentials, or another certification. But in many cases, missed opportunities have less to do with competence and more to do with how your default personality patterns are showing up on the job.

You can be very good at what you do and still be overlooked for what comes next.

Kelly: Dependable, Organized, and Passed Over

Kelly was indispensable at work. She would respond to your email within six hours (often sooner) and her door was always open if someone needed a hand. When a task needed to get done, people trusted her to handle it. Early in her career, this level of conscientiousness served her well. She built credibility and avoided making mistakes.

But when leadership opportunities opened up, Kelly was never selected. When she asked for feedback, she was told that no one questioned her competence, but she wasn’t seen as someone who would lead change or set innovative new directions.

Kelly’s personality hadn’t suddenly become a liability. It just wasn’t aligned with what her desired next role required.

Leadership in her organization demanded visibility, assertiveness, and innovation. Kelly’s quest for inbox zero took time away from big-picture thinking, and her tendency to wait until she was absolutely sure before speaking—once an asset—now worked against her.

When Traits That Helped You Succeed Are Now a Liability

Early career success often rewards consistency, diligence, and compliance. But advancement tends to require a different configuration of traits: comfort with uncertainty, influence, visibility, and strategic risk-taking.

The agreeable team player who keeps the peace but never negotiates for resources.

The conscientious perfectionist who never delegates and becomes overwhelmed.

The introverted expert who avoids self-promotion and stays invisible.

The anxious high-performer who hesitates to take on assignments that stretch them.

In each case, personality traits that once supported success begin to narrow what’s possible.

It is Possible to Shift Your Traits So They Align With Your Next Step

Most people view personality as their underlying essence that explains how they think, feel, and behave. Yet this colloquial understanding of personality doesn’t line up with personality science.

Instead, personality traits are a description of your patterns, not the cause of them. And people adjust how they think and behave all the time. This can happen when we’re thrown into a new role or environment that pulls for you to show up differently. For example, maybe you have to start running meetings while you’re filling in for a coworker who is on leave; as you share your ideas more, you might start to think about yourself as someone with leadership potential.

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In other words, personality is not set in stone. And you don’t have to wait for changes in your environment to draw new habits and thinking patterns out of you. You can intentionally try on new behaviors that better align with the roles you desire.

This doesn’t mean forcing yourself into an inauthentic mold. Kelly didn’t need to become reckless or domineering to advance.

But she did need to practice new patterns alongside her existing strengths.

Keep her door closed for periods of time to focus on innovation.

Delegating to others so she has space to lead.

Speaking up when she has a good idea, even all the details aren’t yet worked out.

These were small shifts in behavior—but over time, they changed how others perceived her and how she perceived herself. And given that personality is one’s characteristic pattern of thinking and behavior, Kelly’s answers on a personality assessment would change if she kept these new habits up over time.

If you’re feeling stalled at work, consider looking beyond new professional training and competency development.

Instead, you might ask yourself: Who do I need to become to achieve success in my next step?

Indeed, career growth often requires becoming the person who can hold the next role, not just the person who excelled in the last one.

When personality adapts, opportunity tends to follow.

If you're interested in learning more about intentional personality evolution, I offer a free Masterclass that covers my science-backed framework to align your personality for success in your next step. Learn more here.

© Psychology Today