Several times in my career I could have pivoted to do something more enjoyable but was stymied. These moves wouldn’t have required me leaving the organization, but they would have required the organization to move me into another role.
To be precise, both times I sought to pivot, it was to the same place within the company, and twice I failed. A former employee of that business unit returned and wanted her job back, only to leave a year later. I applied again and was told the position had been changed to an entry-level one.
These are valid reasons for turning down an employee who seeks a lateral move, but are they smart reasons? If the employee is highly valued, what is the cost of not listening to them when they tell you repeatedly that they want to make a switch?
From an organizational perspective, if the employee is doing well in their current role, and is important to you in that role, you might think the smart move is to keep them there, but that may not always be the case.
Lessening the Chances of Retention
An employee in 21st century America is not an indentured servant, though it may feel that way sometimes. That means they are not obligated to accept your decision to leave them in place, rather than working with them on a development plan that would take them where they want to go.
Your best employees are not with you unconditionally; they are free to search elsewhere and leave you altogether. Their usefulness in their current role should not be used against them like punishment, pinioning them in place when want to try other things.
Increasing Disengagement
When an employee doesn’t leave due to lack of opportunity, fear, or inertia, they can mentally leave you.
The employee can continue meeting their obligations but do so while exerting as little effort as possible. They don’t have the genuine interest and enthusiasm that separates adequate from great employees. They may not bother to think of better ways of doing the job, and they may think so little of their work that they rarely, if ever, come up with new ideas to keep the products or services they create fresh.
The Opportunity for an Orderly Transition and Training
A great benefit of allowing desired lateral moves is you keep the high-performing employee in-house. They become a resource for the employee who takes over their old job. They can even be part of the new employee’s training and then remain available to answer questions or provide advice.
In the process, the employee who has transitioned into a new role gets experience mentoring a new employee. This is a valuable skill, which then can be used to help the employee rise upward in their new business unit. As they grow into more senior positions, they will understand how to prepare another employee to assume their former responsibilities.
Creating a Growth Culture—In All Directions
When an employee is doing work they love, they likely will be even better at it than they were in their former role. That is true for both upward and lateral moves.
A new lateral role can require them to learn new aspects of the business and challenge them differently. The employee may discover that the new role is more aligned with their interests, but they lack needed skills. With their strong interest in the new role, they are motivated to master those new skills as quickly as possible. That kind of inward motivation is the growth engine of corporate learning.
Does your organization’s culture encourage both vertical and lateral career changes?