Keep them down
We have managers at my company, not leaders. We also don't have a technical career track beyond "architect", but plenty of steps up the ladder for management. As managers they don't want to recognize good performance because then that may cause technical people to ask for raises and for promotions. They don't want to give raises because the almighty shareholder matters more than the lowly employee. They don't want to give promotions because they haven't figured out a technical career track, and besides, it would probably involve paying out more money. So the result is, no encouragement, no recognition of a job well done, no joy. I have received exactly one "thank you" in my years of employment at this company. I suspect it was an accident.
