When Muhammed Oladimeji reflected on employee career plateaus in a recent LinkedIn post, he reignited a long-standing workplace debate. When professionals stagnate, who bears responsibility, the individual or the employer?
“The Employee Plateau: Whose Responsibility” he wrote, before asking a sharper question:
“Is it primarily the employee’s responsibility to proactively seek new challenges, or does the employer also play a key role in identifying and channeling their strengths into more productive tasks?”
Drawing inspiration from a piece by industry leader Rilwan Olashile Oladipupo, Oladimeji questioned whether employees fail to challenge themselves sufficiently, or whether organisations neglect to identify and deploy talent effectively.
In Nigeria’s technology ecosystem, where fintech unicorns, AI startups and energy-tech firms compete for relevance, the question carries particular urgency. As the sector matures, career acceleration is no longer automatic. And for many mid-level professionals, the plateau has become a quiet but persistent reality.
The Tech Plateau: When Growth Slows in a Fast Industry
In the early days of Nigeria’s tech boom, career progression often moved at breakneck speed. Engineers became leads in two years. Customer support staff transitioned into product roles. Growth felt inevitable.
But as organisations scale, structures harden. Roles become defined. Risk appetite narrows. The result is a subtle but dangerous phenomenon: high-performing professionals who appear productive, yet no longer evolving.
The plateau in tech is not always visible. It may show up as:
- Reduced appetite for experimentation
- Reluctance to pursue stretch projects
- Comfort within narrow role boundaries
- Disengagement masked by routine competence
In high-growth sectors, complacency can quietly undermine innovation. As Oladimeji observed, some professionals “don’t challenge themselves enough”. Comfort, particularly in stable mid-level roles, can dilute ambition.
Yet the responsibility does not rest solely with employees.
Leadership’s Blind Spot: Underutilised Talent
While personal accountability matters, organisations cannot absolve themselves. Many companies still measure performance through KPIs alone, including revenue targets, sprint completion rates, customer metrics without interrogating whether talent is being underutilised.
“Tracking employee progress and achievements shouldn’t be limited to KPI or performance review discussions,” Oladimeji cautioned.
Employee plateauing often stems from structural gaps:
- Lack of internal mobility frameworks
- Poor feedback loops
- Absence of mentorship culture
- Limited exposure to cross-functional challenges
In Nigeria’s tech space, where startups frequently prioritise survival and scale over talent development, career mapping is often reactive rather than strategic.
Forward-thinking firms now deploy pulse surveys, engagement analytics and structured career progression frameworks to monitor stagnation risk. However, implementation remains uneven.
Oladimeji’s question is pertinent: do employers truly measure employee satisfaction and growth potential, or only output?
The Psychological Shift from Hustle to Habit
The plateau is also psychological.
Early-career professionals tend to operate from ambition and fear of irrelevance. As stability increases, better salaries, titles, routine deliverables, urgency can fade.
In tech, where innovation cycles move rapidly, this shift is dangerous. AI integration, automation and global competition are continuously redefining job descriptions. Employees who stop learning risk displacement.
The global transition towards AI-enabled workflows further intensifies the issue. Professionals who do not reskill or expand their strategic thinking may find themselves outpaced by automation or more adaptive peers.
The uncomfortable truth is that career plateaus often begin long before performance declines.
Winning the Plateau: A Dual Responsibility Model
If the employee plateau is shared responsibility, then the solution must be collaborative.
1. What Employees Must Do
Adopt a builder’s mindset. Tech professionals must treat their careers like startups, iterating skills, seeking feedback and experimenting beyond comfort zones.
Set deliberate stretch goals. Oladimeji urged professionals to think forward:
“Have you set a goal for yourself in 2026? If not, it’s not too late to do so.”
Goals that feel slightly intimidating often signal growth potential.
Pursue adjacent skill acquisition. An engineer learning product strategy. A marketer mastering data analytics. A CX manager exploring automation tools. Career resilience now lies in skill adjacency.
Document impact beyond KPIs. Professionals who quantify value creation, not just task completion, position themselves for strategic elevation.
2. What Employers Must Do
Create transparent growth pathways. Clear progression maps reduce stagnation anxiety and align ambition with organisational needs.
Invest in internal mobility. Cross-functional projects and rotational programmes prevent skill stagnation.
Measure engagement, not just output. Pulse surveys and structured feedback mechanisms can reveal plateau risks early.
Reward curiosity. Organisations that incentivise experimentation and continuous learning build adaptive cultures.
In tech especially, where innovation is currency, complacency is expensive.
2026 and Beyond: Resetting the Growth Conversation
Oladimeji’s closing reflection, encouraging professionals to set bold goals for 2026 resonates in a sector that cannot afford inertia.
Nigeria’s technology ecosystem is entering a more disciplined phase. Capital is tighter. Investors demand efficiency. AI is rewriting operational models. In this climate, plateaued talent becomes a liability.
Yet when addressed deliberately, plateau moments can become inflection points.
The company an employee works for today, as Oladimeji noted, was once someone’s ambitious vision. The same applies to careers. Sustainable growth requires both individual courage and institutional foresight.
In the end, analysts note that the employee plateau is neither entirely personal nor purely organisational. It is a shared challenge and a shared opportunity.
For Nigeria’s tech workforce, the question is not whether plateaus will occur, but whether both leaders and professionals will recognise them early enough to turn stagnation into strategic reinvention.
Talking Points
Muhammed Oladimeji’s LinkedIn reflection highlights an important conversation in Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. The employee plateau is not a failure, but an opportunity.
Professionals can use these moments to set ambitious goals, acquire new skills, and expand their impact within organisations. Mid-level roles, in particular, offer space to refine expertise and explore adjacent capabilities.
At Techparley, we see this as a chance for companies to strengthen their talent strategies. By creating structured growth pathways, encouraging internal mobility, and recognising individual contributions beyond KPIs, organisations can unlock untapped potential and foster innovation.
We see that professionals who proactively upskill and explore cross-functional roles can position themselves as indispensable contributors to evolving teams and projects.
When employees take initiative and employers provide the right frameworks, the plateau becomes a springboard, a strategic moment for reinvention and long-term career growth. Nigeria’s tech workforce is well-positioned to turn these moments into measurable success for both talent and organisations.
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