For context, I work in an organization that's completely pro-bono, so no pay is involved; all volunteer. I'm in the equivalent of the C-Suite for our org. We have meetings with the suite every week.
An employee applied for two roles but didn't get the role she wanted. Instead, she received a role that has more responsibility and power than her previous position, but it's still not the "C-Suite" level position that she wanted (so they wouldn't be part of our weekly meetings). She told us that she thought that both roles were "C-Suite" level and has now candidly confided in me that she will most likely leave if her role isn't made into a C-Suite level. Her mistaking both roles for being "C-Suite" was not entirely her fault since it was ambiguous; our mistake and we have apologized. I'm her friend so she is honest with me, and from my conversations with her her reasoning is that she feels that she has done a lot for the organization these past two years and wants to be recognized with a C-Suite level position; the other role is not enough. She has done a lot, but there are no free positions for her. What can we do to keep her?
I've thought about creating a new position, but a) I'm not sure what we could do and b) I wonder if the "C-Suite" would get bloated if we always added positions when there were high performing people but not enough positions.