People management has long been considered a benchmark for professional success. Moving into a leadership role with personnel responsibility is often seen as a sign of further development and the next logical step for top performers. However, the assumption that a career must inevitably lead to personnel management leads many talented professionals to feel that their strengths and interests are in the wrong place.

A common pattern: A brilliant software engineer is promoted to team leader and realizes that the new role requires a completely different set of skills. Anyone who has great specialist knowledge is not necessarily good at personnel management. Leading people requires mentoring, strategic decision-making and the ability to resolve conflict – skills that are not always automatically developed in professional roles.

If companies push top talent into leadership positions without suitable support or alternatives, they risk two things: losing excellent specialists – such as engineers and developers – and getting weak managers. This can lead to employees no longer doing the work they enjoy. And taking a step back can feel more like failure than a wise career decision.

The automatic step into personnel management is often a symptom of gaps in a company’s training offerings. High-performing specialists stall in their development because there is a lack of structured learning paths to deepen their specialist knowledge. At the same time, newly promoted managers often do not receive appropriate qualifications in human resources management, which is a problem for both individuals and teams. Further training is crucial in this phase, and companies must provide appropriate learning opportunities for this.

Everything speaks for dual career paths

Not everyone is suited to – or interested in – human resources management. One CoderPad survey from 2024 showed: 36 percent of employees in the IT industry do not want to take on management responsibility. Some people are particularly good as professionals. Others shine in human resources management, technical management or as mentors. Forward-looking companies recognize this and offer a real choice: the management career or the specialist career. This two-track career system enables growth in line with strengths, interests and motivation.

Retain top talent by valuing expertise

Those who offer both management and specialist careers not only increase satisfaction. This is also how companies retain top talent. Those who see a future that fits their own interests are more likely to stay, achieve more and drive innovation. At the same time, this promotes a culture of continuous learning in which growth is not just reserved for those who manage people.

Companies don’t just need board members or managers who oversee executives with human resources responsibility. You need top performers at all levels. This requires that they consciously create and value roles that do not involve personnel management – with clear development paths, equivalent compensation and visibility.

Support employees to find their way

Effective support for career paths goes beyond general promises of career opportunities and theoretical structures. Companies need a clear separation between management and specialist careers, defined criteria for promotion, fixed times set aside for learning and managers who can coach learning and development in both career paths. It is also important to be clear about what knowledge and skills you will develop in management and specialist career roles. Development must be focused on skills, not titles.

In order to achieve this clarity, a learning infrastructure is needed: curated curricula, mentoring, groups in which specialists can exchange ideas, as well as visible milestones so that specialist careers become something completely normal in the company. Offer in the SAP context SAP Learning Journeys and Skills and Knowledge Validation Programs structured resources designed to build and maintain skills and knowledge. They enable further development at different levels of detail and speed and are independent of title changes. SAP certifications serve as neutral milestones. They validate knowledge and skills, create transparency and make specialist careers comparable to careers in human resources management.

Redefine professional success

Professional development does not necessarily have to mean a career in human resources management. Those who offer dual career paths and invest in learning infrastructure and credible certification for both paths can develop the full potential of their workforce. Successful companies will be those that design both paths so that employees can make a contribution – and that recognize that the value of employees comes from their contribution and skills, not from their position.

Diana Rösner is Head of Certification Transformation at SAP.