[MattPalmer1086]

I have found that if you're good at what you do, companies would like you to keep doing it. That limits the potential for growth into new positions.

I'm not particularly good at office politics, and corporate performance management is pretty useless. Moving jobs is how I have maximised my growth, experience and pay.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean that this is the right thing to do in this case. Understanding why no pay rise was given is a huge learning opportunity. I would certainly take no pay rise as a signal that the company wasn't happy in some way. Knowing why that is would be very helpful for personal development, whether staying or moving on.

It would help to approach from the position of wanting to improve and asking if improvement in any areas are needed. Maybe they don't have good reasons, maybe they do and were too scared to tell someone known to be abrasive. A bit of humility goes a long way.

Many years ago someone taught me the value of learning from my mistakes. It's not enough to just acknowledge your mistakes, or apologise for them, which is difficult enough. Then you have to do something about it.