Lateral Movement
Until recently, lateral moves meant that your career might be headed for a dead end. Not today. Lateral moves offer much-needed breadth of experience and are often key to achieving one’s career goals.
With IBM operating across different segments, the employees who join have the flexibility to move across divisions. So we have had employees who move from IBM Daksh to IBM Research Labs to our Global Technology Services Division. And this happens at mid as well as senior levels. We encourage high performers to move across business units every two to three years, and this prevents stagnation in their careers.
Taking a lateral move should mean applying current experience in a new job at the same level, but with different duties or challenges. Help employees see that lateral moves can improve skills or shift them from a slow-growing function to an expanding part of the organization.
To Do
To trigger ideas about potential lateral moves, ask your employees questions like these:
Which of your skills can be applied beyond your present job and present department?
If you make a lateral move, what long-term career opportunities would it provide?
What three skills are most transferable to another department?
What other department interests you?
Once you’re armed with answers to these questions you can begin to explore lateral move opportunities with your talented employees.