The State of the Promotion
Research Initiative by The Step Manager
We leverage real experiences and voices in an effort to create a more transparent, effective, and human-centered approach to career growth and people management.
Mission
The State of the Promotion is a research initiative designed to uncover what actually influences career advancement, management effectiveness, and workplace development across industries. We aim to elevate the voices of individual contributors, people managers, and teams navigating the often invisible dynamics behind growth, feedback, and promotion. Our findings will inform better tools, training, and insights for professionals and organizations seeking to build better career systems from the inside out.
Our Research themes
Individual Empowerment
& Career Navigation
We explore how individual contributors experience visibility, feedback, and career progression inside today’s organizations. Through this lens, we aim to understand the personal blockers, unwritten rules, and cultural signals that shape advancement—and how ICs can better advocate for growth, clarity, and opportunity in systems that are often unclear or inconsistent.
Line Management
& Organizational Influence
We investigate how people managers approach growing their teams while managing up, down, and across the org. Our study focuses on the structures, habits, and challenges that shape a manager’s ability to deliver feedback, support development, scale team performance, and influence talent outcomes in dynamic environments.
Our Objectives
Capture the lived experiences of professionals and managers around growth, promotion, and performance support.
Understand the shifting nature of organizational structures and its impact on career growth and management techniques
Identify patterns and blockers related to age, gender, organizational size, and workplace culture.
Track month-to-month trends in clarity, feedback, visibility, and motivation.
Elevate actionable insights for both employees and people managers—what’s working, what’s missing, and what matters.
Publish an annual benchmark report that equips leaders, HR teams, and individual contributors with tools and context to create better paths forward.
Who Should Participate
Individual contributors looking to grow, get promoted, or change direction
People managers navigating team development, feedback, and support
HR or L&D leaders looking for data to inform better systems
