Honestly,
Someone once told me that sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward.
It was good advice.
I just wasn’t convinced I was stepping back.
I was a people manager with direct reports and the responsibilities that come with managing a team.
I wanted to move from the sales side into HR. I had received my HR generalist certification, was working with a mentor, and was doing everything I could to make that transition. Recruiting offered the most accessible way in.
The opportunity I eventually found was a recruiting coordinator role.
The hiring manager offered that advice about stepping back, and I understood what she meant. I would be moving from managing people to being an individual contributor.
On an organizational chart, that might have looked like the wrong direction.
From where I was standing, it looked like an opening.
I wanted to get into HR.
Here was a way in.
I was willing to consider that progress.
And there was another part of the move that suited me beautifully.
I like being an individual contributor.
I enjoy working with a team. I like helping people, exchanging ideas, and being part of something we accomplish together.
I also like knowing what I am responsible for and being able to focus on doing it well.
There is something deeply satisfying about finishing my work and knowing it is finished.
Management adds a different set of responsibilities. You are thinking about your own work and the conditions that allow other people to do theirs. Staffing. Coverage. Coaching. The conversations that need to happen before the other conversations can happen.
That work matters.
I had done it.
I did not need to keep doing it simply to prove that I was moving forward.
In the coordinator role, I could put my energy into learning the field I wanted to enter and doing my own work well.
I knew what I was responsible for, what I could do, and when my work was done.
I would leave at three-thirty with a smile on my face.
A friend of mine, who was still a manager, finally asked me to stop walking past her desk smiling on my way out the door.
Apparently, my career setback was getting on her nerves.
But I couldn’t help it.
I had not even taken a pay cut. In fact, they gave me a little extra to help cover parking.
So, to review this apparent setback:
I was in the field I wanted to enter.
I was enjoying the work.
My pay had not gone backward.
And someone was helping with the parking.
I have had worse setbacks.
The hiring manager’s advice still has value. Sometimes the route into the work you want involves a lateral move. Sometimes you take on a different scope of responsibility to learn something new. Sometimes you accept a tradeoff because you understand what it makes possible.
Careers do not always move neatly upward.
But we should be careful about deciding which direction someone else is going based only on a title.
What looks like a step back to one person may be exactly the move another person has been preparing to make.
And we need to stop assuming that everyone wants to be a manager.
Being good at a job does not automatically mean someone wants to manage other people doing it. It does not automatically mean that is the role where they would flourish, either.
Some people want to lead teams.
Some want to become exceptionally good at a particular kind of work.
Some want to change fields, deepen their knowledge, or contribute in a way that fits how they work best.
Those are ambitions, too.
If we only recognize growth when someone gains direct reports, we miss a lot of people doing meaningful work—and a lot of perfectly sensible career decisions.
The useful question is what the move brings someone closer to.
For me, it brought me closer to HR, closer to work I enjoyed, and closer to the kind of responsibility I wanted.
You could call it a step back.
I was too busy leaving work smiling to argue.
Reflections
1. What does moving forward mean to me beyond a title or the number of people I manage?
2. Do I actually want to manage people, or have I assumed that is what I am supposed to want next?
3. When I encourage someone’s growth, am I considering where they would flourish—or simply pointing to the next box on the organizational chart?
From the Toolbox
1. Name the destination. Identify what you want to move toward: a different field, deeper expertise, people leadership, or work that better fits your strengths. Mine was HR. Recruiting was the way in.
2. Compare the whole opportunity. Look at the work, compensation, learning, responsibilities, and daily experience. The title does not tell you whether you will leave smiling. Neither does it cover parking.
3. Separate performance from preference. Being excellent at a job does not automatically mean someone wants to manage the people doing it—or would flourish in that role. Ask before mapping out their future.
4. Build a practical bridge. Identify what would help you make the transition: relevant training, a mentor, experience on a project, or a role that gets you closer. A useful next move does not have to be your final destination.
5. Check whose definition of progress you are using. After a move, consider what you are learning, how the responsibilities fit, and whether you are getting closer to what you wanted. Someone else’s idea of a step back does not have to become your assessment.
