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Why employees struggle to grow: the hidden barriers to self-development
Insights from coaching experts on what really blocks development at work.
94% of professionals agree that continuous learning is crucial. Yet, how many of them actually make it a priority? If you ask employees, they’ll say they want to grow. If you check their schedules, you’ll see meetings, deadlines, and urgent tasks — but no time blocked for learning.
Recently, we at Elatra conducted the research across 22 companies from different industries to explore the challenges and emerging patterns in talent development in 2025. Among our findings, one key issue stood out: low employee engagement in personal development.
Despite the clear benefits — professional development, job satisfaction, and increased opportunities for advancement — many employees struggle to prioritise their own growth. Why? The reasons run deeper than they seem, often rooted in both workplace dynamics and individual mindset.
To gain a clearer understanding of these issues, we delved into our research and spoke with our coaches who work closely with employees to uncover the five key barriers behind this disengagement. Here’s what we found.
Recently, we at Elatra conducted the research across 22 companies from different industries to explore the challenges and emerging patterns in talent development in 2025. Among our findings, one key issue stood out: low employee engagement in personal development.
Despite the clear benefits — professional development, job satisfaction, and increased opportunities for advancement — many employees struggle to prioritise their own growth. Why? The reasons run deeper than they seem, often rooted in both workplace dynamics and individual mindset.
To gain a clearer understanding of these issues, we delved into our research and spoke with our coaches who work closely with employees to uncover the five key barriers behind this disengagement. Here’s what we found.
Barrier #1
The time poverty trap: when work crowds out growth
"I’d love to upskill — if only I had the time"
Employees consistently rank time constraints as their primary barrier to personal development. A Deloitte study (2023) found that 68% of workers cite excessive workloads as the reason they leave little room for learning.
The modern workplace operates in a relentless cycle of:
☑️ Back-to-back meetings (averaging 3.2 hours per day, according to Harvard Business Review).
☑️ "Always-on" digital communication (Slack messages, emails).
☑️ Short-term performance pressures that prioritise immediate outputs over long-term growth.
👉 The result? Employees are so busy that they have no time to develop skills that could improve their efficiency, creating a vicious cycle that hinders their growth.
Employees consistently rank time constraints as their primary barrier to personal development. A Deloitte study (2023) found that 68% of workers cite excessive workloads as the reason they leave little room for learning.
The modern workplace operates in a relentless cycle of:
☑️ Back-to-back meetings (averaging 3.2 hours per day, according to Harvard Business Review).
☑️ "Always-on" digital communication (Slack messages, emails).
☑️ Short-term performance pressures that prioritise immediate outputs over long-term growth.
👉 The result? Employees are so busy that they have no time to develop skills that could improve their efficiency, creating a vicious cycle that hinders their growth.
"Nobody cares about your career as much as you do". This was feedback I received from a manager in my late twenties. I remember the message feeling like a slap in the face at the time: I was working hard, but I’d also been waiting for others to recognise my good work.
The message was clear, it was up to me to own my career, to own my development. Working with a coach is a great way to get in the driving seat of your career and to ensure that the time spent on your development is wholly relevant and focused on your requirements. Coaching can help you to get further and faster than working on your own", says Melanie Coeshott, a certified coach with 8 years of experience in career and executive coaching.
The message was clear, it was up to me to own my career, to own my development. Working with a coach is a great way to get in the driving seat of your career and to ensure that the time spent on your development is wholly relevant and focused on your requirements. Coaching can help you to get further and faster than working on your own", says Melanie Coeshott, a certified coach with 8 years of experience in career and executive coaching.
Melanie Coeshott
Certified coach with 8 years of experience in career and executive coaching
Barrier #2
Fear of failure and lack of confidence
"What if I’m not good enough?"
Beneath surface-level excuses like "no time" often lurks a deeper issue: fear. Psychological barriers — imposter syndrome, perfectionism, or fear of judgment — silently derail growth.
Consider:
☑️ 52% of professionals avoid stretch assignments due to self-doubt (Korn Ferry, 2023).
☑️ 1 in 3 employees believe requesting training exposes skill gaps (City & Guilds).
The neuroscience behind it: the brain’s amygdala processes learning risks similarly to physical threats, triggering avoidance behaviours (NeuroLeadership Institute). Without psychological safety, employees tend to stick to familiar competencies rather than take the risk of developing new ones.
Many employees avoid development opportunities because:
🔸 They fear looking incompetent.
🔸 They believe they "should already know" certain skills.
🔸 They worry their peers will outperform them.
Research in organisational psychology confirms that self-doubt stifles risk-taking (Harvard Business Review, 2022). Without psychological safety, employees disengage from learning before they even begin.
👉 The result? Missed opportunities for growth, leaving potential untapped.
Beneath surface-level excuses like "no time" often lurks a deeper issue: fear. Psychological barriers — imposter syndrome, perfectionism, or fear of judgment — silently derail growth.
Consider:
☑️ 52% of professionals avoid stretch assignments due to self-doubt (Korn Ferry, 2023).
☑️ 1 in 3 employees believe requesting training exposes skill gaps (City & Guilds).
The neuroscience behind it: the brain’s amygdala processes learning risks similarly to physical threats, triggering avoidance behaviours (NeuroLeadership Institute). Without psychological safety, employees tend to stick to familiar competencies rather than take the risk of developing new ones.
Many employees avoid development opportunities because:
🔸 They fear looking incompetent.
🔸 They believe they "should already know" certain skills.
🔸 They worry their peers will outperform them.
Research in organisational psychology confirms that self-doubt stifles risk-taking (Harvard Business Review, 2022). Without psychological safety, employees disengage from learning before they even begin.
👉 The result? Missed opportunities for growth, leaving potential untapped.
"Fear of failure says, "if I don't do well, there will be bad consequences." Often in a corporate environment, there are controls, policies and support in place to make sure that a person is supported. If we go to a personal standpoint, it's actually fear of failing other people. This is a real fear and often comes from a place of wanting to please others. As a coach, I deal with this fear with curiosity by asking the client, "how is this fear serving you?" When we let our clients shift focus to what is possible and positive, we can encourage them to make small steps to break down that fear.
Self-confidence is a common issue all of us face in every phase in our lives — often when there are new things we are going to embark on. A mindset I encourage my clients to embrace about confidence is that it's a work in progress more than an end state. No one will ever be 100% confident in what they are doing but perhaps just perhaps doing what's in your capacity to be confident at least 1% everyday, that's what matters", says Pat Mallari, a
Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with 15 years of business and HR experience, 7 years of coaching experience.
Self-confidence is a common issue all of us face in every phase in our lives — often when there are new things we are going to embark on. A mindset I encourage my clients to embrace about confidence is that it's a work in progress more than an end state. No one will ever be 100% confident in what they are doing but perhaps just perhaps doing what's in your capacity to be confident at least 1% everyday, that's what matters", says Pat Mallari, a
Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with 15 years of business and HR experience, 7 years of coaching experience.
Pat Mallari
Professional certified coach with 15 years of business and HR experience, 7 years of coaching experience
Barrier #3
Learning-doing gap: learning without action leads forgetting
"Another e-learning module completed. Now what?"
Neuroscience confirms that we retain just 10% of passive learning (lectures, videos) versus 75% through practice (National Training Laboratories). Yet most corporate training stops at knowledge transfer, creating a learning-doing gap.
Symptoms include:
☑️ "Tick-box" compliance training with no real-world application.
☑️ Lack of psychological safety to experiment with new skills.
☑️ Misaligned incentives, where short-term targets (e.g., billing hours) take priority over skill development.
Even when employees engage in training, limited opportunities to practise new skills weaken retention. Without stretch assignments, real-world application, or feedback loops, learning remains theoretical — and motivation fades.
👉 The fix? Organisations must bridge the ‘knowing-doing’ gap by making coaching central to development, ensuring new skills translate into daily work. Paired with hands-on projects, it turns learning into lasting change.
Neuroscience confirms that we retain just 10% of passive learning (lectures, videos) versus 75% through practice (National Training Laboratories). Yet most corporate training stops at knowledge transfer, creating a learning-doing gap.
Symptoms include:
☑️ "Tick-box" compliance training with no real-world application.
☑️ Lack of psychological safety to experiment with new skills.
☑️ Misaligned incentives, where short-term targets (e.g., billing hours) take priority over skill development.
Even when employees engage in training, limited opportunities to practise new skills weaken retention. Without stretch assignments, real-world application, or feedback loops, learning remains theoretical — and motivation fades.
👉 The fix? Organisations must bridge the ‘knowing-doing’ gap by making coaching central to development, ensuring new skills translate into daily work. Paired with hands-on projects, it turns learning into lasting change.
"Learning subjects and disciplines that are not heavily related to the regular job or so-called passive learning do not add much value to employee’s development and growth. Many leaders also struggle to prioritize such activities amid daily demands, to sustainably integrate them into professional set-up.
Working with a coach already partially solves this issue, the way working with a personal trainer does for exercising. People perceive to have more commitment, accountability, and personal attention to their individual needs. I usually address general questions by focusing and narrowing down to individuals’ most important pressing issues. They have the opportunity to work on their most challenging situations on current projects or assignments.
Addressing particular developmental points, setting clear priorities, integrating small but impactful habits, and ensuring consistency helps skills development. Just as a personal trainer structures effective workouts within limited time, coaching guides individuals to embed growth into their routine, making development both targeted and achievable", says Natalia Scherff, leadership coach with 20 years of experience in executive career development.
Working with a coach already partially solves this issue, the way working with a personal trainer does for exercising. People perceive to have more commitment, accountability, and personal attention to their individual needs. I usually address general questions by focusing and narrowing down to individuals’ most important pressing issues. They have the opportunity to work on their most challenging situations on current projects or assignments.
Addressing particular developmental points, setting clear priorities, integrating small but impactful habits, and ensuring consistency helps skills development. Just as a personal trainer structures effective workouts within limited time, coaching guides individuals to embed growth into their routine, making development both targeted and achievable", says Natalia Scherff, leadership coach with 20 years of experience in executive career development.
Natalia Scherff
Leadership coach with 20 years of experience in executive career development
Barrier #4
The recognition void: when effort goes unnoticed
"Why bother if no one notices?"
Human behaviour thrives on reinforcement. When development yields no tangible rewards, motivation fades, and employees begin to question the ROI of self-development.
Research shows:
☑️ 43% of employees would engage more in learning if it were tied to promotions (Gallup).
☑️ Only 28% of firms formally recognise skill acquisition (Deloitte).
👉 As a result, learning becomes a "nice-to-have" activity — an individual burden rather than a core career strategy and shared priority. Over time, this lack of recognition leads to disengagement, and development stalls.
Human behaviour thrives on reinforcement. When development yields no tangible rewards, motivation fades, and employees begin to question the ROI of self-development.
Research shows:
☑️ 43% of employees would engage more in learning if it were tied to promotions (Gallup).
☑️ Only 28% of firms formally recognise skill acquisition (Deloitte).
👉 As a result, learning becomes a "nice-to-have" activity — an individual burden rather than a core career strategy and shared priority. Over time, this lack of recognition leads to disengagement, and development stalls.
"This is such a subtle but powerful barrier — and I’ve experienced it firsthand. I invested heavily in my own growth; staying curious, learning beyond the job, stepping up, understanding how much that learning could support not just me, but the business and the people I work with. But if no one sees it, celebrates it, or connects it to meaningful career progression it starts to feel like, what’s the point?
That silence, the lack of acknowledgment for years of dedication chips away at motivation. As a coach, I now see how common this is. People don’t stop growing because they don’t care — they stop because their effort disappears into a void.
Recognition is fuel.
If you want to create a true learning culture, you have to notice the learners. Celebrate the ones who go the extra mile to develop themselves. Give space to those ready to step forward. And yes — tie growth to real opportunity. Coaching helps build that culture and where development is not only encouraged but seen, valued, and rewarded", says Sandra Rowell, a certified coach with 8 years of experience in executive, leadership and business coaching.
That silence, the lack of acknowledgment for years of dedication chips away at motivation. As a coach, I now see how common this is. People don’t stop growing because they don’t care — they stop because their effort disappears into a void.
Recognition is fuel.
If you want to create a true learning culture, you have to notice the learners. Celebrate the ones who go the extra mile to develop themselves. Give space to those ready to step forward. And yes — tie growth to real opportunity. Coaching helps build that culture and where development is not only encouraged but seen, valued, and rewarded", says Sandra Rowell, a certified coach with 8 years of experience in executive, leadership and business coaching.
Sandra Rowell
Certified coach with 8 years of experience in executive, leadership and business coaching
Barrier #5
Misalignment of goals and priorities: one-size-fits-none training
"Why improve my communication skills when my job requires technical expertise?"
Generic, one-size-fits-all training fails to inspire.
Employees disengage when:
☑️ 62% of employees say training isn’t relevant to their roles (PwC).
☑️ Career paths are opaque: no clarity on how skills lead to advancement.
👉 The power of personalisation? Сoaching and tailored development plans double engagement (McKinsey, 2023). When employees see a direct link between learning and their goals, motivation soars.
Generic, one-size-fits-all training fails to inspire.
Employees disengage when:
☑️ 62% of employees say training isn’t relevant to their roles (PwC).
☑️ Career paths are opaque: no clarity on how skills lead to advancement.
👉 The power of personalisation? Сoaching and tailored development plans double engagement (McKinsey, 2023). When employees see a direct link between learning and their goals, motivation soars.
"As a coach, I often come across this exact point of resistance: “Why should I take this training? It’s not really about me.” And they’re right — people lose interest when development feels disconnected from their reality, their tasks, and their aspirations.
Generic programmes can serve as a starting point, but without personalisation, they fail to engage. People don’t see the link between what they’re being taught and who they want to become. And without that connection, intrinsic motivation fades. We see it in the numbers: completion rates may rise, but engagement and retention drop.
What truly makes a difference is when an employee understands:
Two things are essential here:
Personalised development isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity. It’s exactly in those moments when someone thinks “this is about me” that genuine engagement begins to take root", says Ekaterina Bashtavenko, Certified Executive Coach and an MBA graduate, specializing in coaching top-tier leaders, HR practice and HR consultancy.
Generic programmes can serve as a starting point, but without personalisation, they fail to engage. People don’t see the link between what they’re being taught and who they want to become. And without that connection, intrinsic motivation fades. We see it in the numbers: completion rates may rise, but engagement and retention drop.
What truly makes a difference is when an employee understands:
- what they are learning,
- why it matters to them,
- and how it helps them grow within the company.
Two things are essential here:
- Career pathways. Even if these are still a work in progress, people need to see a direction — to know that growth is possible and to understand the steps towards it.
- Leaders with coaching skills. Managers who can listen, recognise potential, and help employees connect their goals to business outcomes become powerful partners in development.
Personalised development isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity. It’s exactly in those moments when someone thinks “this is about me” that genuine engagement begins to take root", says Ekaterina Bashtavenko, Certified Executive Coach and an MBA graduate, specializing in coaching top-tier leaders, HR practice and HR consultancy.
Ekaterina Bashtavenko
Certified executive coach and an MBA graduate, specializing in coaching top-tier leaders, HR practice and HR consultancy
Conclusion
Breaking the barriers
The obstacles to self-development are real, but they are not insurmountable. To turn self-development into a core strategy rather than a constant struggle, organisations must commit to systemic change:
✅ Protect time for learning – prioritise development hours and treat learning as an integral part of the workday.
✅ Build psychological safety – foster an environment where failure is seen as part of the growth process, not as a setback.
✅ Invest in resources – coaching, mentorship, and structured programmes that guide employees in their journey.
✅ Align development with career paths – personalise learning opportunities and recognise progress, not just results.
The transformative power of coaching shines when employees are actively supported in their growth, not just expected to grow on their own. This approach doesn’t just elevate individual careers – it lifts the entire organisation.
The real question is not whether to prioritise development, but how quickly your company can remove these barriers and unlock its full potential.
✅ Protect time for learning – prioritise development hours and treat learning as an integral part of the workday.
✅ Build psychological safety – foster an environment where failure is seen as part of the growth process, not as a setback.
✅ Invest in resources – coaching, mentorship, and structured programmes that guide employees in their journey.
✅ Align development with career paths – personalise learning opportunities and recognise progress, not just results.
The transformative power of coaching shines when employees are actively supported in their growth, not just expected to grow on their own. This approach doesn’t just elevate individual careers – it lifts the entire organisation.
The real question is not whether to prioritise development, but how quickly your company can remove these barriers and unlock its full potential.
⚡️ Ready to boost employee engagement and motivate your team to embrace self-development? The best time is now — with Elatra by your side, we’ll guide you every step of the way.
Author: Yana Smal
Expert content writer at Elatra
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