The fact that you care about employee development and are deliberately seeking out ways to do it better puts you ahead of most managers. I can't directly address advancement within a company, but will share some of my own experience.
I founded and led a small software development team within government that was a mix of government employees and contractors, but we acted like a startup and had a strong culture and team ethos. I was under severe constraints about what I could actually offer my team members in terms of advancement, but I tried to deliberately help them grow. I cared about them for their own sake, but also believed they would do their best work for my team if they felt valued, taken care of, and fulfilled in their desire for growth.
I did a one-on-one with team member upon hiring, and then every 6 months or so. We used these meetings for mutual feedback but I also deliberately asked about their goals and we strategized together about how to help them advance towards those goals. I was honest about the limits of what I could do. Even though I couldn't directly promote people, we often found ways to help team members learn new skill sets in the course of their work, take on more leadership, or shift into different lateral roles that would stretch their knowledge and abilities. In some cases I worked with our contractor company to pay for training in new skills adjacent to, but not directly related to, their core duties.
I also acknowledged in our first one-on-one that this job was just one of many they would hold. I hoped they would stay with us a long time, but whenever they left, we would wish them well and help them transition into their next thing. I also told them one of my personal goals for each new hire: that they would be better for the time they spent on our team.
These individuals stayed fiercely loyal to the team. Most stayed for quite a while. Many did leave for higher-paying jobs after a couple years, but it was always a difficult decision for them because they loved the team and the mission so much. When they did decide to leave, we always wrote recommendations and did whatever else we could to help them find their next opportunity.
I had a horrible experience with a manager after having generally good experiences (as did my spouse around the same time at a different organization). I realized later that the thing that was most problematic for me (and my spouse) was that I truly to this day do not believe the manager was acting in good faith.
I'm not saying that there are good or bad managers for other reasons, but I think just having someone who really truly wants everyone to succeed (as opposed to being motivated by selfish or ideological reasons) can go a long way.
The worst is just going through the motions. Work on this useless project to say we worked on career development for the year and check off a box. Then at the start of the year start working on another useless project for next review.
As long as you don't do that I think you are ahead of 50% of managers I have had.
I founded and led a small software development team within government that was a mix of government employees and contractors, but we acted like a startup and had a strong culture and team ethos. I was under severe constraints about what I could actually offer my team members in terms of advancement, but I tried to deliberately help them grow. I cared about them for their own sake, but also believed they would do their best work for my team if they felt valued, taken care of, and fulfilled in their desire for growth.
I did a one-on-one with team member upon hiring, and then every 6 months or so. We used these meetings for mutual feedback but I also deliberately asked about their goals and we strategized together about how to help them advance towards those goals. I was honest about the limits of what I could do. Even though I couldn't directly promote people, we often found ways to help team members learn new skill sets in the course of their work, take on more leadership, or shift into different lateral roles that would stretch their knowledge and abilities. In some cases I worked with our contractor company to pay for training in new skills adjacent to, but not directly related to, their core duties.
I also acknowledged in our first one-on-one that this job was just one of many they would hold. I hoped they would stay with us a long time, but whenever they left, we would wish them well and help them transition into their next thing. I also told them one of my personal goals for each new hire: that they would be better for the time they spent on our team.
These individuals stayed fiercely loyal to the team. Most stayed for quite a while. Many did leave for higher-paying jobs after a couple years, but it was always a difficult decision for them because they loved the team and the mission so much. When they did decide to leave, we always wrote recommendations and did whatever else we could to help them find their next opportunity.