Latest / The Internal Move Podcast with Fexingo: Lateral Roles, Internal Transfers, and Staying at Your Company / The Hidden Cost of Your First Lateral Move
Transcript
- Lucas: We talk a lot about the upside of lateral moves—the fresh perspective, the expanded network. But there is a hidden subtraction happening that nobody warns you about. When you leave your home team to join a new department, you aren't just gaining new skills. You are actively burning the social capital you built in your old role. Luna: Right, because your old colleagues now see you as someone who jumped ship. You lose the insider access and the trust they had with you when you were part of the daily grind. Lucas: Exactly. And it goes deeper than just losing friends. You lose your domain authority. If you were a senior engineer known for fixing critical infrastructure issues, and you move to product marketing, that reputation doesn't transfer. The new team starts with a blank slate. You have to earn every ounce of credibility from scratch. Luna: That sounds exhausting. How long does it actually take to rebuild that baseline trust? Lucas: In my experience, it's about eighteen months before you're no longer seen as the 'new person trying to prove themselves.' During that window, you're operating with a handicap. Your first two quarters are spent learning the lingo and figuring out who holds influence. You aren't contributing at your previous level yet. Luna: So you're essentially taking a pay cut in terms of impact velocity. That has to be scary if you have performance reviews coming up soon. Lucas: It is scary. Most companies don't adjust expectations for internal transfers. They expect you to hit the ground running immediately. So you end up working twice as hard just to stay in place while everyone else on your new team has been there for years. Luna: Does this mean some people shouldn't make lateral moves? Or is there a way to mitigate that loss? Lucas: I think the key is understanding which type of lateral move you are making. Not all moves erase your past value equally. A move from backend engineering to frontend development might feel lateral, but you're still an engineer. The core identity stays intact. Luna: But a move from engineering to sales feels like a total identity shift. You're talking to different people, using different metrics, solving different problems. Lucas: Precisely. That's the high-risk category. When you cross functional boundaries, you lose your technical shorthand. Your new peers don't know if you understand the product deeply. They just see someone who used to build things and now sells them. There's always a suspicion that you're overselling. Luna: That suspicion is the real killer. It creates this invisible ceiling where you can never quite get to the top tier of the new team because they don't fully respect your background. Lucas: And here's the thing: your old team remembers you differently too. They might view your departure as a betrayal of shared struggles. You become an outsider looking in. You can't go back to your old projects easily because the work has moved on without you. Luna: So you're effectively stranded between two worlds. Not quite part of the old tribe, not fully trusted by the new one. Lucas: That's the isolation phase. It usually lasts six to nine months. If you survive that, you start building a unique hybrid value. But if you crash during that period, you're left with diminished prospects in both directions. Luna: What do people do wrong during those first six months that makes the crash more likely? Lucas: They try to overcompensate. They bring their old habits into the new role and insist those methods are better. Like the engineer who tries to write code for the sales team. It shows a lack of humility and a refusal to learn the new context. Luna: Yeah, that arrogance is a quick way to burn bridges. Instead, they should probably just listen and ask questions. Lucas: Listening is crucial. The most successful lateral movers spend their first ninety days asking stupid questions. They admit they don't know the rules. That vulnerability builds trust faster than trying to appear competent immediately. Luna: It's counterintuitive. Usually, people want to show off their new job title. Admitting ignorance feels risky. Lucas: It feels risky, but it's safe. People respect curiosity. They don't respect someone who thinks they already know everything just because they transferred internally. The goal is to map the informal power structure—who really makes decisions, who influences budgets, who is respected informally. Luna: That informal map is usually completely different from the org chart. It takes time to discover who actually holds the keys. Lucas: It does. And once you find those key influencers, you need to serve them in small ways. Deliver a report they asked for. Fix a minor annoyance in their workflow. Earn your place through service, not status. Luna: Service over status. I like that. It shifts the dynamic from 'prove me' to 'help me.' Lucas: Exactly. And this brings us to the financial reality. Most people don't account for the opportunity cost of that eighteen-month ramp-up period. While you're rebuilding trust, your peers who stayed put are getting promoted and raising salaries. Luna: So the lateral move might cost you five or ten thousand dollars in delayed raises. Is that worth it for the long-term gain? Lucas: If the long-term gain is a new career path you actually enjoy, yes. But if you're just jumping for the sake of jumping, you're paying a premium for confusion. You need a clear thesis for why this specific lateral move matters. Luna: A thesis. So it's not enough to say 'I want a change.' You need to explain exactly how this new role connects to your future goals. Lucas: You need to articulate the bridge. Why does this new skill set unlock the next door? Without that narrative, you're just drifting. And drifters rarely recover their momentum. Luna: Drifters sink. Got it. So clarity and patience are the two antidotes to the trust tax. Lucas: Clarity for yourself, patience for the process. The market rewards those who can navigate ambiguity. Internal transfers are the ultimate test of that navigation. Luna: It sounds like a lot of pressure for something that seems simple on paper. Just clicking 'apply' on an internal job board. Lucas: It is deceptively complex. But for those who master it, the payoff is immense. You become a generalist leader. You speak multiple languages within the company. That versatility is rare and valuable. Luna: Generalists win in the end. Specialists get siloed. So this pain is just the growing pains of becoming indispensable. Lucas: Growing pains. Yes. And if you survive the eighteen months, you're untouchable. No one can replace you because you've bridged two distinct worlds. Luna: Untouchable. That's the goal. To become the connector. Lucas: To become the bridge. And that is exactly why these moves are so vital for your second career. You're building a resume that tells a story of adaptability. Luna: Adaptability is the currency of the modern workplace. If you can show you can pivot and thrive, you're ahead of the curve. Lucas: Absolutely. Now, if today was actually useful to you, the way these stay ad-free is listener support — buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's F. E. X. I. N. G. O. Luna: Thanks for keeping the signal strong. It really helps us dig into these nuanced topics without the noise. Lucas: Back to the main thread. One final thought on that eighteen-month timeline. Don't underestimate the emotional toll of feeling incompetent again. It's okay to feel like a beginner. Luna: It's okay to be bad at something new. That's how you get good. Embrace the awkwardness. Lucas: Embrace the awkwardness. Because on the other side of that discomfort is a version of yourself that can operate in any room in the building. Luna: Any room in the building. That's the dream. To walk into any meeting and know you belong. Lucas: And maybe wonder which room you'll choose to inhabit next.