This is the one I hear about constantly: “The company is small. The team is small. People have been here forever. Nobody’s leaving. There’s no room to move up.”

Here’s the thing, as a manager, you’re busy. You were probably a strong accounting or finance professional who delivered results, and that’s why you got promoted. And chances are, no one ever handed you a playbook for the people side of managing: coaching, development, career planning. So now you’re trying to get your own work done and carry the weight of developing your team.

Try flipping that. If you delegate parts of your workload to a team member, it frees up your time and gives them a chance to learn something new. That’s a win-win. Those regular one-on-ones are what build the trust that makes delegating feel natural, for both of you.

Also, career growth doesn’t always mean a new title. Sometimes it just means a new skill.

That said, sometimes career growth is about the title. A staff accountant doesn’t want to be a staff accountant forever. A senior accountant eventually wants to be called a manager, even if they’re managing processes rather than people.

Staff and senior-level accountants are getting harder to find, which means companies need to become more creative with titles and paths forward. Don’t default to “well, we’ve never done it that way” or “you need three years here before we call you a senior.” Think outside the box. This matters even more in a small team. If there’s no path up, someone will leave for that title jump elsewhere.

Ask yourself: what can I hand off to someone else on my team that frees up my time and gives them room to grow? Sometimes that small bit of momentum is exactly what keeps someone motivated to stay.