In today’s dynamic workplace, career advancement is no longer limited to climbing the traditional corporate ladder. This comprehensive guide explores how lateral career moves—changing roles or departments at a similar level—can strategically accelerate professional growth, diversify skills, and ultimately lead to greater long-term success. Discover why sometimes moving sideways is the most effective way to move forward in your career journey.

Rethinking Career Success Beyond the Ladder

For decades, career success has been predominantly measured by vertical advancement—climbing from one position to the next higher rung on the organizational chart. This traditional model celebrates promotions, title changes, and the upward trajectory as the primary indicators of professional achievement. However, this narrow definition of success fails to recognize the substantial value that comes from broadening one’s experience horizontally across an organization.

A groundbreaking 2021 Cornell University study has challenged this conventional wisdom by revealing that professionals who make lateral moves often experience faster promotions and more significant wage growth in the long run compared to those who remain in a single track. This research confirms what many career strategists have long suspected: breadth of experience can be just as valuable as—if not more valuable than—depth in a single area.

Traditional Approach

Focus on vertical promotions and climbing the hierarchical ladder within a single function or department

Modern Approach

Balance vertical growth with strategic lateral moves to build diverse skills and cross-functional experience

Optimal Outcome

Faster promotions, increased compensation, and greater career resilience through versatile skill development

This paradigm shift reflects the changing nature of leadership roles in modern organizations. Today’s executives are expected to possess a holistic understanding of business operations rather than siloed expertise. By prioritizing breadth of skills alongside vertical advancement, professionals can better position themselves for senior leadership opportunities while developing the versatility needed to thrive in an evolving workplace.

Defining a Lateral Career Move

A lateral career move involves transitioning to a different role, team, or department at approximately the same level of seniority, responsibility, or compensation as your current position. Unlike a promotion, a lateral move doesn’t necessarily come with an immediate increase in title or salary—instead, it offers something potentially more valuable: exposure to new business functions, diverse workplace environments, and alternative approaches to solving organizational challenges.

These horizontal transitions are often misunderstood as career stagnation or even as steps backward. This misconception stems from the traditional emphasis on upward mobility as the sole measure of professional growth. In reality, lateral moves represent strategic positioning that can accelerate long-term career trajectory by building a more comprehensive professional profile.

“The most successful professionals I’ve mentored have zigzagged their way to the top, collecting diverse experiences that made them invaluable to their organizations.”

What It Is

A change to a different role or department at similar level or compensation, designed to broaden experience and develop new capabilities

What It Isn’t

A career setback, stagnation, or failure to advance—rather, it’s a strategic investment in future growth potential

Key Characteristic

Prioritizes skill acquisition and experience diversification over immediate title or compensation gains

Lateral moves can take many forms: transitioning from marketing to product management, from operations to customer success, or from finance to business development. The common thread is the opportunity to gain perspective on how different organizational functions contribute to overall business objectives while developing transferable skills that enhance future employability.

How Lateral Moves Boost Long-Term Career Growth

The strategic value of lateral moves extends far beyond simple exposure to different business functions. Research has consistently demonstrated that professionals who make thoughtful horizontal transitions often experience accelerated career trajectories over time compared to their single-track counterparts.

Comparative career growth percentage over time (based on Cornell University research data)

This acceleration occurs for several key reasons:

Diversification of Human Capital

Lateral moves build what economists call “task-specific human capital”—the varied skills and experiences that make professionals more adaptable and ultimately more promotable. This diversification creates a competitive advantage over specialists when opportunities for advancement arise.

Preparation for Senior Roles

Upper-level management and executive positions typically require broad business acumen rather than deep technical expertise in a single area. Lateral moves provide the comprehensive organizational understanding necessary for these leadership roles.

Compensation Growth Potential

While lateral moves may not immediately increase salary, they are associated with steeper compensation growth over time. Professionals with diverse skills often command higher market value due to their versatility and broader applicability across functions.

Perhaps most importantly, lateral moves help professionals avoid the “expertise trap”—becoming so specialized in one area that their skills become narrowly applicable or potentially obsolete as organizational needs evolve. By continuously expanding their professional toolkit, these agile employees remain valuable in various contexts and can pivot more effectively when market conditions change.

Key Skills and Experiences Gained Through Lateral Moves

The transformative power of lateral moves lies in their ability to develop a rich portfolio of skills and experiences that might remain undiscovered in a single-track career. These competencies not only enhance immediate job performance but also build a foundation for future advancement opportunities.

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional abilities like project management, strategic planning, data analysis, and effective communication that apply across multiple roles and industries. These skills form the backbone of professional versatility.

Learning Agility

The demonstrated ability to quickly adapt to new environments, absorb unfamiliar information, and apply past experiences to novel situations. This trait is consistently ranked among the most desirable by employers seeking future leaders.

Problem-Solving Versatility

Exposure to different departmental challenges develops the capacity to approach problems from multiple perspectives, combining analytical frameworks from various disciplines to create innovative solutions.

Beyond these core competencies, lateral moves often provide invaluable exposure to diverse business metrics, departmental priorities, and leadership styles. Professionals gain insight into how various functions measure success and contribute to organizational objectives, developing a more nuanced understanding of business operations as a whole.

This expanded perspective proves particularly valuable during cross-functional initiatives, where the ability to “speak the language” of multiple departments facilitates collaboration and drives more effective outcomes. In increasingly matrix-based organizational structures, this integrative capability becomes a significant competitive advantage for career advancement.

Perhaps most critically, lateral moves foster adaptability—the capacity to thrive amid changing circumstances. As business environments grow increasingly volatile and unpredictable, this resilience becomes not merely beneficial but essential for sustained career success in the modern workplace.

The Organizational Value of Lateral Career Mobility

While lateral moves clearly benefit individual professionals, they also create substantial value for organizations that encourage internal mobility. Forward-thinking companies increasingly recognize lateral movement as a strategic talent management approach rather than merely accommodating employee requests.

Reduced Burnout

Lateral moves provide fresh challenges and learning opportunities that reinvigorate employee engagement and prevent stagnation, particularly for high-performers seeking growth beyond their current roles.

Operational Insight

Employees who have worked across multiple functions develop nuanced understanding of organizational interdependencies, enabling more effective management decisions aligned with broader company objectives.

Leadership Pipeline

Building a bench of versatile professionals with cross-functional experience creates a stronger succession planning framework for future leadership positions requiring broad business acumen.

Retention Benefits

Organizations offering internal mobility pathways typically experience lower turnover rates as employees find growth opportunities without leaving the company.

Companies that actively facilitate lateral moves cultivate institutional knowledge that might otherwise walk out the door when employees seeking new challenges depart for opportunities elsewhere. This preservation of organizational memory and relationships represents significant value that extends beyond individual productivity.

Additionally, lateral mobility helps organizations become more agile and responsive to market changes. When employees regularly move between functions, they create informal networks that accelerate information flow and break down silos—critical advantages in rapidly evolving business environments.

“Organizations that create pathways for internal mobility retain top talent longer and develop more effective leaders who understand the business from multiple angles.”

Progressive organizations like Google, IBM, and Procter & Gamble have formalized lateral development programs, recognizing that cross-functional experience correlates strongly with leadership effectiveness. These companies have created infrastructure—from internal job boards to talent marketplace platforms—that actively facilitates movement between departments as a standard career development approach.

Practical Tips for Embracing Lateral Moves

Integrating lateral moves into your career strategy requires intentional planning and thoughtful execution. Whether you’re currently seeking a new internal opportunity or planning for future career development, these practical approaches can help maximize the value of horizontal transitions.

Build Cross-Departmental Relationships

Cultivate connections with colleagues in other functions through cross-functional projects, company events, or informational interviews. These relationships provide insight into potential opportunities and increase your visibility across the organization.

Develop Transferable Skills Proactively

Identify and develop key capabilities that apply across multiple roles—project management, data analysis, strategic planning, or communication skills. These competencies serve as bridges between different functional areas.

Articulate Your Strategic Rationale

When pursuing lateral opportunities, clearly communicate how the move aligns with your long-term career goals and how your existing skills will transfer to the new role while benefiting the organization.

When evaluating potential lateral move opportunities, seek roles that will expose you to different aspects of the business: client-facing positions if you’ve been internally focused, product development if you’ve been in customer support, or operational roles if you’ve been in strategy. The greater the contrast with your current experience, the more valuable the perspective gained.

Consider the long-term value of skill acquisition over immediate title or compensation gains. A lateral move that develops in-demand capabilities may initially seem like a sacrifice but often yields greater returns over time through enhanced employability and promotion potential.

Finally, document your cross-functional achievements and articulate the transferable skills you’ve developed through lateral moves. During performance reviews and job interviews, highlight how your diverse background has enabled you to drive results through a broader understanding of business operations and stakeholder needs.

Conclusion: Lateral Moves as Strategic Career Investments

The evidence is clear: lateral career moves represent powerful strategic investments in long-term professional growth. Far from being detours or signs of stagnation, thoughtfully planned horizontal transitions can accelerate advancement, increase earning potential, and build resilience in an evolving workplace landscape.

Research consistently demonstrates that professionals who diversify their experience through lateral moves ultimately achieve higher levels of career success than those who remain narrowly specialized. The initial trade-off—potentially delaying immediate title advancement or compensation increases—yields substantial dividends through enhanced promotability, skill versatility, and career sustainability.

For organizations, creating cultures that value and facilitate lateral mobility generates significant returns through improved talent retention, stronger leadership pipelines, and greater operational agility. Companies that integrate cross-functional development into their talent management strategies build workforces better equipped to navigate complexity and drive innovation.

Higher Promotion Rate

Professionals with cross-functional experience are promoted at significantly higher rates than single-track specialists

Compensation Premium

Average long-term salary premium for professionals with diverse functional backgrounds compared to specialists

As we look toward the future of work—characterized by technological disruption, organizational restructuring, and evolving skill requirements—the ability to adapt and pivot becomes increasingly valuable. Lateral moves develop precisely this adaptability, preparing professionals to thrive amid uncertainty rather than merely survive it.

The most successful careers of the future will likely resemble constellations rather than ladders—collections of diverse experiences connected by transferable skills and progressive responsibility. By embracing lateral mobility as a core component of career strategy, professionals can build the versatility, perspective, and resilience needed to navigate an increasingly complex professional landscape.

Remember: sometimes the most effective way to move up is to first move across. In the modern workplace, the path to the top rarely resembles a straight line—and that’s not a detour, but an advantage.

Career Mobility Resources and Hashtags

As you consider incorporating lateral moves into your career strategy, explore these hashtags to connect with relevant content, communities, and conversations about professional growth and career mobility:

#LateralMoves

Connect with stories and strategies about horizontal career transitions and their long-term benefits

#CareerDevelopment

Explore comprehensive approaches to professional growth beyond traditional advancement paths

#SkillBuilding

Discover resources for developing the transferable competencies that facilitate cross-functional mobility

#ProfessionalGrowth

Join conversations about holistic approaches to career advancement and personal development

#CareerStrategy

Learn about intentional planning approaches that incorporate both vertical and horizontal movement

• #InternalMobility – Discussions about career movement within organizations and company policies that support it
• #LeadershipPipeline – Content about developing well-rounded leaders through diverse functional experiences
• #WorkplaceSuccess – Strategies for thriving in modern organizational environments through adaptability
• #LearningAgility – Resources on developing the ability to quickly adapt to new roles and environments
• #FutureOfWork – Forward-looking perspectives on career development in evolving workplace landscapes

Following these hashtags on LinkedIn, Twitter, and other professional platforms can help you stay connected with thought leaders, research, and communities focused on strategic career development through lateral mobility. Consider sharing your own experiences with lateral moves using these tags to contribute to the growing conversation about non-linear career advancement.Explore #LateralMoves on LinkedInJoin the Conversation on Twitter