When you outgrow a role before the organisation outgrows its need for you
There’s a moment in senior leadership that no one prepares you for
It’s the moment you realise you’ve outgrown your role. Not because you’re bored. Not because you’re coasting along. Not because you’ve stopped caring. But because the organisation still needs you for who you were, not who you’ve become.
It’s subtle at first. You notice you’re being asked to solve problems you solved years ago. You’re pulled into conversations that no longer stretch you. You’re relied on for strengths you’ve already mastered. You’re praised for work that doesn’t reflect your current capability. You’re needed (intensely and repeatedly) but not in the ways that move you forward.
This is one of the most disorienting experiences for high performing leaders. Not because you’re unappreciated. But because you’re valued for the wrong things.
You’ve evolved but your role hasn’t. And the gap between those two realities creates a quiet, persistent friction that’s hard to name and even harder to navigate.
The subtle signs you’ve outgrown your role
Outgrowing a role doesn’t look like disengagement. It looks like over functioning. You’re still delivering. You’re still performing. You’re still the person people trust. But underneath that, something shifts. You start to feel:
Under challenged but over relied on,
Busy but not stretched,
Needed but not expanded,
Recognised but not elevated,
Trusted but not sponsored, and
Included but not empowered.
You’re doing important work, but not the work that reflects your next level.
This is the paradox. You’re too capable to fail, and too essential to be freed.
Why this happens to product and transformation leaders so often
Product and transformation leaders sit in roles that organisations depend on to keep the system functioning. You’re the connective tissue, the translator, the integrator, and the person who sees the whole chessboard. You’re the one who can:
Make sense of contradictory inputs,
Navigate cross functional friction,
Hold the emotional temperature of the room,
Reframe problems that were defined poorly,
Bring clarity to ambiguous decisions, and
Keep momentum when everything else is wobbling.
These are rare capabilities and because they’re rare, the organisation clings onto them.
Even when you’re ready for more. Even when you’ve outgrown the work. Even when your next step requires letting go of the very things that made you indispensable.
This is the trap. Your competence becomes the reason you’re held in place without a path to progression.
The emotional cost: you start to feel miscast in your own career
When you’ve outgrown a role but the organisation hasn’t outgrown its need for your past strengths, you start to feel a strange internal dissonance. You feel:
Too big for the container you’re in,
Too stretched to grow, but too capable to fail,
Too relied on to step back, but too under challenged to step up, and
Too senior for the work, but not senior enough for the opportunities.
It’s not frustration, it’s not burnout, nor is it boredom. It’s misalignment.
A sense that your internal evolution is outpacing the external opportunities available to you. And because you’re still performing at a high level, no one sees it but you.
The identity cost: you become known for who you were, not who you are now
When you’ve outgrown your role, the organisation continues to describe you using an outdated version of your leadership. You hear things like:
“You’re the one who can stabilise anything,”
“You’re our go to for complex delivery,”
“You’re the person who can handle difficult stakeholders,” and
“You’re the one who keeps things moving.”
These are compliments, but they’re also anchors. They tether you to a past identity. One that was accurate once, but no longer reflects your full range.
You’ve grown in ways the organisation hasn’t witnessed. You’ve developed muscles the role doesn’t require. You’ve expanded your thinking beyond the boundaries of your remit. But the organisation still sees you through the lens of what you’ve already proven, not what you’re now capable of.
This is the identity cost. Your evolution becomes invisible.
The opportunity cost: you lose access to the work that would stretch you
When you’re held in a role you’ve outgrown, you miss out on:
Strategic opportunities that require altitude,
Enterprise level problems that need your judgment,
High visibility initiatives that shape your trajectory,
Sponsorship moments that shift perception,
Work that builds your next level identity, and
Exposure to leaders who could accelerate your growth.
You’re busy but not advancing. You’re valued but not elevated. You’re essential but not expanded. This is not a performance issue. It’s a positioning issue.
How high impact leaders navigate the gap between who they are and the role they’re in
They name the shift (to themselves first)
You can’t navigate what you can’t articulate. Ask yourself:
“What part of my role have I outgrown?”
“What strengths am I still being rewarded for that no longer reflect my edge?”
“What work energises me now and what work drains me?”
“What identity am I ready to step out of?”
Clarity is the first step towards movement.
They stop over functioning in the areas they’ve already mastered
This is the hardest shift. You have to let:
Others take on the work you’ve outgrown,
Teams stretch into responsibilities you used to hold,
Leaders feel the consequences of their own decisions, and
The system operate without you as the stabiliser.
Not because you’re disengaged, but because you’re evolving and making room for new challenges.
They make their next level identity visible
Not through self promotion but through intentional framing. You start to speak from the altitude you want to operate at. You say things like:
“Here’s the strategic pattern I’m seeing,”
“Here’s the enterprise level risk we’re not naming,”
“Here’s the decision architecture we need,”
“Here’s the portfolio shift that will unlock value.”
You show the organisation who you are now, not who you were.
They seek opportunities that match their current range, not their historical strengths
This means looking for work that requires:
Narrative shaping,
Enterprise influence,
Portfolio thinking,
Decision orchestration,
Strategic clarity, and
Leadership range.
Not just work that requires steadiness, reliability, or delivery excellence.
They allow themselves to want more
This is the emotional unlock.
You stop feeling guilty for outgrowing the role. You stop minimising your ambition. You stop shrinking to fit the version of you the organisation still relies on.
You let yourself step into the leader you’ve become.
If you’ve outgrown your role, you’re not being difficult. You’re being honest
This moment isn’t a crisis. It’s a signal.
A sign that your internal growth is outpacing the external structure around you. A sign that your leadership identity is evolving. A sign that you’re ready for work that matches your current capability, not your historical strengths.
You’re not stuck. You’re emerging. And the gap you’re feeling is simply the space between who you were and who you’re becoming.
If you’ve outgrown your role and want to step into your next level, let’s work on this together. Here are three ways:
Influencing for Impact: This practical 2-day workshop is for you if you want to influence a decision maker, influence a change in customer or colleague behaviour, or influence someone to buy something from you,
Executive and Leadership Team Coaching: Work directly with Lai-Ling to problem solve for your specific situation in a confidential setting. This is for you if you want to develop and execute on a game plan that is 100% tailored to you, or
Leadership Development: Invest in the product and transformation leaders in your company with leadership development that is customised for their role. This is for you if you want your people to learn about people and politics.