Unlock stagnant careers by identifying your unique value and crafting a personalized roadmap to reignite growth, redefine success, and achieve professional fulfillment.
At some point in their professional journey, many individuals face what is commonly referred to as a “career plateau”—a stage where growth slows, promotions become less frequent, and work feels routine rather than challenging. This plateau can occur at any level, from early management to senior leadership, and may be the result of organizational structure, market dynamics, or personal habits and mindset. While a plateau can feel discouraging, it also presents an opportunity for self-reflection, realignment, and intentional career redesign.
This course delves into the multi-dimensional nature of career plateaus, helping participants uncover the underlying causes of stagnation and recognize the subtle signals that progress may be stalling. Key areas of exploration include organizational barriers (such as limited upward mobility, restructuring, or evolving skill demands), personal challenges (including complacency, outdated skills, or ineffective networking), and external influences (such as industry disruptions and generational shifts in the workforce).
The program emphasizes the importance of aligning individual goals with organizational objectives, reframing plateaus as opportunities to pivot, and using lateral moves or skill expansion as springboards for growth.
Ultimately, this session equips participants with actionable tools to overcome career inertia, regain motivation, and chart a deliberate path toward renewed advancement. Whether seeking vertical progression, lateral career diversification, or deeper engagement in a current role, attendees will leave with strategies designed to reinvigorate their professional journey and break through career plateaus with confidence and purpose.
Lynn Fountain has over 45 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 24 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Ms. Fountain has held two Chief Audit Executive positions for international companies. In 2011, as the Chief Audit Executive for an international construction/ engineering firm, she was involved in the active investigation of a joint venture fraud. The investigation included work with the FBI and ultimately led to indictment of the perpetrators and recovery of $13M. Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own training and consulting business and is a regular trainer for the AICPA. Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations” was published by the Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation. -“Leading The Internal Audit Function” and -“Ethics and The Internal Auditor Political Dilemma” were published by Taylor & Francis In addition Ms. Fountain was a contributing author to the certification program exam for the National Association of Accountants. She also has certificate programs on various on-line platforms. Ms. Fountain has performed as an adjunct instructor for the School of Business for Grantham University and developed the first internal audit curriculum for the School of Business at the University of Kansas. Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CGMA, CRMA credentials and CPA certificate (non-active).
This portal is provided as a training and development resource for City of Markham employees. Every course is delivered by a qualified subject matter expert or learning organization, is quantifiable in hours, and is verifiable — you receive a documented certificate of completion for every course you finish, stored on LearnFormula indefinitely.
If you hold a professional designation (for example in engineering, accounting, human resources, or law), courses may be counted as professionally relevant, verifiable learning activities toward your continuing professional development. Individual practitioners are responsible for confirming that an activity meets the requirements of their professional body. For questions about the City of Markham's training and development policies, please speak with your people leader or Human Resources.
