Lateral Move Meaning
A lateral move is basically when a person changes their career and moves to a different position without a much distinct change in their title, salary, or level.
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What Is an Example of a Lateral Move?
A perfect example of a lateral move would be if an employee changes their position within a department to a different position without significantly changing their job level and salary.
Let’s say if someone in the marketing team who works as a content writer switches a role to public relations as a communications specialist within the same company. Now, this type of move will be considered a lateral move.
Is a Lateral Move a Good Idea?
It depends on what your goal is—for example, a lateral move would be considered a lot easier to achieve than taking a promotion. Plus, it can help you learn new skills and open the gate for new opportunities for you right now and for future roles.
But that won’t be a complete answer. If you see, then a lateral move can also be a little risky for your career as with this move, you’ll receive the exact same title and salary, yet, you’ll have to start from scratch for raises and promotions.
Still, many people opt for it and there are many reasons why they do so.
The founder of Cultivated Culture, Austin Belcak, has said that one of the biggest reasons why people make lateral move is when “they realize the path they’re on isn’t the one for them.”
“That can be for a variety of reasons, but typically what it comes down to is value-based, passion-based, … financially, or a combination,” Belcak said. “Typically, somebody who’s going to forego a vertical leap has realized that they need to explore something else, and they already have a clear idea of what that something else is.”
Most people also go for a lateral move when they feel like they’ve reached the final ceiling of their current job—for instance, if you’re directly reporting to CEO already at the age of 32, you may consider a lateral move.
What Is a Lateral Move vs Vertical Move?
A lateral move as we discussed above is when someone moves within the same company, within the same team or department from their current role to a new role where they’re getting the same salary and their level and position also remain the same.
On the other hand, a vertical move as the name suggests is when you’re trying to climb the corporate ladder and you move with promotions after promotions or keep applying for a senior role and eventually have to reach the C-executive level or other levels considered above.
What Is the Risk of Lateral Movement?
There are a lot of risks involved in a lateral movement.
- The number one risk would be that you’ll have to start from scratch for raises and promotions even after having the same title and level.
- Sometimes, lateral movement may also result in professional stagnation as you don’t always get many chances of career advancement in every field and skills development.
- If you continuously just move laterally without taking any promotions or moving upward, it may lead to the lack of career advancement. This perception could also impact your professional image within the organization.
- If you’re not adequately informed about the expectations and challenges that involve in the new role you’re taking, then it may result in disappointment and dissatisfaction.
- You may lose your specialization, which may affect your career growth.
- In some cases, lateral moves may not come with a significant increase in salary or benefits. It may affect your overall compensation and financial growth.
- Moving to a different department, in some cases, may also result in a change in culture. Depending on how you take it, it may can be an opportunity to get to know more new people, but some employees may struggle to adapt to the new team that has a different working style, which may lead to discomfort or dissatisfaction for th employee changing their position via a lateral move.
- Lateral moves might limit your exposure to new networks and opportunities for professional growth. Sometimes, employees may miss out on building connections in other parts of the organization that could have benefited their career.
- If you frequently take lateral moves, then it might lead to questions about your commitment or stability in the organization. Because of that, others within the organization might question whether you stick to your long-term goals and dedication to a specific role or not.