If you're feeling a little tired of the career ladder metaphor, then this article is for you.
It's tiring to think of your career as an endless ladder you must always climb. And, if you're "lucky" enough to reach the top, well, then what? What if you arrive at your goal to find it feeling a little empty?
A career ladder is described as "the series of progressively higher positions that can be attained in one's working career conceived of as a ladder to be climbed toward greater responsibility and financial success."
What is a Career Ladder?
Since we're all likely familiar with the idea of a ladder, let's explore some common examples of the career ladder, and how it works in a hierarchal work organization.
- Earning a bachelor's degree or formal education in a certain field and progressing through a career, with "upwards" movements via promotions and increased responsibilities.
- Starting with an entry-level job in a new industry and upskilling to move to the "next rung" of your career, expertise, and job title.
- Working your way from an entry-level position to the highest level throughout your career.
- Following a path cut by someone else and using their guidance to get to their position.
If this sounds familiar, it's because the career ladder is a very traditional way of thinking about a career path and career growth. The overarching problem with a career ladder is that it only offers one direction in exchange for participation—an upward direction.
The “career ladder” metaphor exploded in the 1960s, in the wake of World War II. An entire generation of office workers was told that the way to succeed was to work hard, to climb, and to (metaphorically) step on the fingers of anyone else trying to climb the same ladder. As people worked hard, they did receive their promotions, but there was a cost.
In 1968, Laurence J. Peter introduced “The Peter Principle,” which popularized the idea that we are all promoted to our own level of incompetence. Translation? The ladder-climbing career hierarchy works right up until it doesn't.
Anyone actually navigating a career in the present day knows that careers tend to take a more winding route. Your great work, increased technical skills, and career growth don't necessarily need to translate to higher-level jobs at your organization for you to be "successful."
Let us reiterate that. The next level of your career might not be above you. You might use your professional growth to take transferable skills to an entirely new industry, in a new direction, and maybe even right back to an entry-level job. Figure out what success looks like to you.
Rather than constantly straining your neck to look up to the next step, consider what it looks like for your career to move laterally, horizontally, left, right, or even backward.
Let's talk about the career river and the career jungle gym as alternatives to the rickety old ladder.
Wherever your career goals are right now, here's how to open yourself to a new way of looking at your professional development.
What is a Career River?
In 2021, journalist and consultant Bridget Thoreson challenged the upward-obsessed idea of the career ladder and provided an alternative.
Instead of moving from rung to rung on a career leader, she challenged her Twitter followers to consider the career river. The career river aims to eventually reach the ocean, "a thriving, wide-open ecosystem fed by other rivers to explore."
How to Navigate a Career River:
Per Thoreson's advice, here's how to navigate a career river:
- Create the goal of reaching the ocean
- When your career river presents obstacles, find a way to navigate around it or carver your way through it,
- Regard others pursuing their own rivers as partners rather than foes. Ask them to join your river instead of stepping on them to get to the next step on the ladder.
- Use your career river to feed an ecosystem rather than continuing to climb a singular-serving ladder.
- Look at all the curves and changes in direction as part of the journey rather than setbacks.
- Rather than getting "stuck" on a career ladder, a career river will always flow, even if slowly.
- Finally, a career ladder that falls is broken. Conversely, a career river becomes a waterfall—and it keeps flowing.
So why does a career river work better than a career ladder? A career river allows you to relegate the idea of the linear career path. Instead of getting caught in a linear progression, it offers the ability to "go with the flow" or, better yet, create a new flow that suits you.
The career river allows employees to forge a more fluid path by learning new competencies, creating unexpected partnerships, and exploring related fields.
What is a Career Jungle Gym?
When is the last time you hung from a jungle gym? Or, if you have playground-aged children or family members, when is the last time you watched a child navigate the playground?
It's fascinating stuff. Bathed in brightly-colored leggings and t-shirts, kids will climb to the highest point of a jungle gym, fling themselves down the slides, leap across the monkey bars, and do it all again.
There's no big plan. There's no big goal. They are at the jungle gym to explore—and that's what they do. Imagine taking that approach with your career.
In her best-selling book Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg introduced the idea of a career jungle gym instead of the career ladder. Crediting Pattie Sellers as the first person to explore this idea, Sandberg inspired everyone to get back on the monkey bars and navigate their careers more like a jungle gym.
How to Navigate a Career Jungle Gym
The first rule of career jungle gyms is that there aren't really any rules at all! Just like the playground, it's relatively lawless.
The best ways to traverse a career jungle gym are different for everyone—and it can be different daily. The magic is in shedding your ideas about a strict, clear path to success. Per Pattie Sellers, here's how to play!
- Think broadly about career opportunities.
- Sharpen your peripheral vision.
- Swing to opportunities on your left…or your right.
Unlike the career ladder or the career river, the jungle gym is not laser-focused on a singular destination.
We're not traveling to the top, nor are we looking for the ocean. Instead, the career jungle gym allows you to make in-the-moment decisions that change your course. The trick is being open to changing the course in the first place!
Trying the career jungle gym does not mean you're making wild decisions like a three-year-old dangling upside-down on a swing set. Your decisions are still measured and strategic. However, instead of making decisions based on security and "rules," they are rooted in curiosity, flexibility, and resilience. This blasts your career door open to new opportunities you might not have imagined.
In Conclusion
When navigating your career, maybe the career ladder works best for you. If your current job is a step on your mapped-put career ladder levels, proceed! However, if you're feeling bogged down by hierarchies, job descriptions, job grades, and compensation levels, the river or jungle gym might be worth a try.
Whatever you choose, know that you are always in control of what success means to you and your life. We have a few more articles exploring the idea of success. Give them a read!
- 4 Steps to Build + Achieve Your Own Vision of Success
- 5 Reasons You Should Consider the "Good Enough" Job
- Letting Go: 10 Things We're Not Doing Anymore
- 20 Ways to Advance Your Professional Development
