Managers in an up-or-out organization are expected to advance. Those who don’t are fired, at worst; at best they’re relegated to the outskirts of the organization or placed in stagnant roles. This sort of environment breeds constant pressure to compete with colleagues for the best assignments and promotion opportunities. Many employers (including ours, the U.S. Army) ratchet up the intensity with a competitive evaluation framework, rating people against one another to separate the highest performers from the rest.