Should I accept a promotion if I do not want to manage people?

Being offered a promotion can make refusal feel like a confession of inadequacy. Yet being good at your present work and wanting to manage people are separate things.

I would distinguish ‘I do not want this work’ from ‘I am afraid I will not do it well’. The first deserves respect. The second may deserve curiosity, training and time. Neither can be settled by the pleasure of being chosen.

Ask what an ordinary week in the role contains: difficult conversations, less hands-on work, responsibility for other people's progress. Notice your response to those activities rather than to the title.

You can appreciate the recognition without accepting the job it accompanies. Try to make the decision after the compliment has had time to wear off.

Jing asks whether you would enjoy the work once the compliment fades. I would add a less comfortable question: what would accepting mean for the people you would manage?

They would not be props in your experiment with a more impressive title. They would need attention, decisions and someone willing to have conversations that cannot be delegated back to them.

You need not already possess every skill. Willingness to learn matters. But if you regard the central duties as an unfortunate price to pay for advancement, the price may be paid by others too.

Ask whether your organisation offers another way to grow: greater expertise, more responsibility for a project, better recognition of the work you already do. There is no reason every form of progress must lead to the same kind of chair.

Jang has reached the chair, which is where my expertise begins. I once worked in office furniture. We had several models designed to make a person look promoted before they had done anything.

The promotion itself is often a peculiar reward. You make excellent violins, so we take away your tools and give you six violin makers who are not speaking to one another. Congratulations. Here is a calendar full of meetings about glue.

I propose a different ceremony. The director presents you with a better salary, announces that your skill is valuable, and permits you to continue using it. Someone cuts a ribbon. Nobody acquires subordinates.

If the company finds this impossible, ask whether ‘career ladder’ is merely the name of the only piece of furniture they bought. A competent supplier should be able to offer a table.