Ask the expert: Ethics of advancement

Q. I have worked for my employer for more than 10 years and have been promoted twice. I am now in an important middle-management role.

For the past three years, I have been actively seeking to move to another organisation as I have been increasingly dissatisfied with the lack of effective management and leadership where I work. I have come close (number two from a lengthy international search) to being promoted to a much more senior role in other organisations in my industry.

Both times I have been beaten by someone who already has a similar position, so the move was more of a lateral move rather than the upward jump the positions presented for me.

After the last search, I sought feedback from the search consultant and organisation and was told that they would have hired me if I was in a slightly more senior role in my current organisation. Now such a role is opening up with my employer, and I am being encouraged to apply.

I know it seems like this is a good thing, but I feel a bit of a twinge when I think that I will probably use the promotion primarily to move out of the organisation.

A. Given your situation, you are right to feel some ethical conflict about putting yourself forward for a role that you are not really committed to. There is a cost to the organisation (and to others who are passed over for the role if you get it) if you accept the promotion.

On the other hand, if you are really dissatisfied with leadership in the organisation, perhaps this is an opportunity to improve the situation for others and transform where you work for the better.

You have only been asked to apply, you haven't been offered the role yet. Think through, realistically, how long you can commit to the organisation if you have a new job and a new challenge. If you would stay another year or two because of the new opportunity, it may be worth it for you and the organisation to invest in the new role. You may even find it changes your view of where you work and that you stay longer.

In this environment, talented people are moving to exciting opportunities, but it is easier to move to a similar role in a new organisation than to dramatically shift the challenge of your job and learn about a new employer at the same time.

If poor leadership is making you move on, be aware that it is a common problem. It takes determined research on a company to make sure you are not moving to the same set of problems. In the interim, assess your "stickability". If you can stay in the new role for a few years, then move ahead.