It’s the moment you realise that you’re stuck, and you don’t know what’s going on.

You’ve built a solid track record over the years. You’ve gained all the qualifications. You’ve ticked all the boxes. You’ve delivered remarkable results – that’s what your performance reviews indicate, year after year. 

And yet, you’re in your 30s and 40s and you feel stuck, stalled and sidelined.

What’s going on?

Something’s going on for sure. And you’re not alone. Many high-achieving women hit an invisible wall in their mid-career years. After working for 10-15 years and building momentum, things start to slow down. 

Promotions don’t seem to be coming your way despite having done a lot of the heavy lifting. Stretch roles are allocated to others even when you’re better qualified. You’re seen as reliable and valuable in your current job – and that you’d be hard to replace. And your chances of getting on the senior leadership track have disappeared. 

Yet, mid-career is when your skills, ideas, experience and leadership potential are most valuable. You should be thriving, but you’re not.

You wonder if there’s something wrong with you, or whether you’re missing something. The self-doubt and frustration start to creep in. 

The truth is that according to Harvard Business Review “mid-career women face unique biases” and “unfair assumptions about their ambition” as they balance career gaps, work, children and often elder-care responsibilities.

If you’ve felt overlooked, invisible or stuck in the mid-career stall, here are two things you can do.

1. Elevate your strategic voice – to be seen as a leader not just as a capable resource and a doer, shift from describing your work in terms of task and activities and talk about the impact you’re making instead. Position yourself as someone who creates change and thinks at the whole of business level rather than at the functional level.
2. Raise your visibility – stop waiting to be noticed and start placing yourself in rooms where you will be seen. Speak up at every meeting, volunteer for cross-functional or transformation initiatives and opt into panels and working groups.

And if you need support with getting out of the mid-career stall, let me help you.