Latest / The Internal Move Podcast with Fexingo: Lateral Roles, Internal Transfers, and Staying at Your Company / How an Internal Transfer Can Help You Build a Cross-Functional Network
Transcript
- Lucas: Let me start with a number that stopped me this week. LinkedIn's 2024 Workforce Report found that internal hires who build what they call a cross-functional network — people in at least three different departments — are one point six times more likely to get promoted within eighteen months than those who stay siloed. Luna: One point six times. That's not a tiny edge. But I think most people hear 'cross-functional network' and picture forced happy hours with the engineering team. Lucas: Exactly, and that's the wrong image. The real opportunity shows up when you make an internal transfer. Because a lateral move is basically a forced reset of your network. You walk into a new team where you don't know anyone, and suddenly you have a natural reason to talk to people you would never have met otherwise. Luna: So the transfer itself is the networking strategy. I like that. Give me a concrete example. Lucas: I've been looking at how Procter & Gamble handles internal mobility. They're famous for it — something like sixty percent of their open roles are filled internally. There's a case of a marketing manager named Sarah — I'm paraphrasing a case study from their internal portal — who moved from the beauty division's marketing team to the product development group for home care. Luna: Completely different function. Marketing to R&D. That's a jump. Lucas: Right. And she said the hardest part wasn't learning the new product lifecycle. It was that she had zero relationships on the supply chain side. She needed to coordinate with procurement to source a new surfactant, and she didn't know who to call. So she started what she called a 'coffee circuit' — she scheduled fifteen-minute chats with everyone on the procurement team's org chart. Luna: Fifteen minutes. That's smart. Low ask, high return. Did she map the org chart first? Lucas: She did. She printed the department org chart and highlighted three types of people: the decision-makers, the information brokers — people who've been there forever and know where the bodies are buried — and the rising stars she'd want as allies later. Then she targeted those first. Luna: So she didn't try to meet everyone. She found the key connectors. That's the difference between networking and just collecting business cards. Lucas: Exactly. And this is where I think the internal transfer gives you an advantage that an external hire doesn't have. When you join a new company from outside, you're a stranger. People are cautious. But when you transfer internally, you already have company context. You know the culture, the acronyms, the unwritten rules. You can bypass the 'where did you work before' small talk and get straight to work. Luna: That's a good point. The trust is pre-loaded. You're not starting from zero credibility, just from zero relationships. Lucas: If today was actually useful — and I hope it's giving you a practical framework — the way we keep this show ad-free is through listener support. It's a buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo kind of thing. If you've ever gotten value from an episode, that's where you can keep it going. Luna: Yeah, it's a small thing that makes a big difference. We don't have sponsors, so it's just listeners who find this helpful chipping in. It keeps us honest. Lucas: Alright, back to the framework. So you've mapped the org chart and identified your key connectors. The next step is to actually build the network in a way that sticks. And I think the mistake people make is treating it like a transaction — 'I met you, now I need something.' The better approach is to find small, low-stakes ways to collaborate. Luna: Give me an example of low-stakes collaboration inside a transfer. Lucas: Say you've moved into a new role in data analytics, but you need to understand how the sales team uses your reports. Instead of sending a formal requirements document, you ask a sales rep if you can shadow them for one hour of their day. You watch how they actually use the data. That builds a relationship, and it gives you context you'd never get from a meeting request. Luna: And the rep feels heard. They're not being interrogated, they're being observed. That's a much warmer entry point. Lucas: Exactly. And once you've done that with three or four people, you start to have a coalition. The research on internal networks — there's a great paper by Rob Cross at the University of Virginia — shows that the most influential people in any organization aren't the ones with the biggest titles. They're the ones who bridge different groups. An internal transfer puts you in a perfect position to become that bridge. Luna: Because you have one foot in your old department and one foot in the new one. Lucas: Right. You're a walking bridge. And if you maintain those old relationships — which most people drop when they move — you can actually increase your influence. I've seen this play out at a media company I used to work at. A colleague of mine moved from editorial to the product team. He kept meeting with his old editor friends for lunch once a month. Six months later, when the product team needed to launch a new feature, he was the guy who could get the editorial team on board quickly. Luna: He was the human API. That's a great example. So it's not just about building new ties; it's about not severing the old ones. Lucas: Exactly. And here's a practical tip I want to leave you with. When you do those initial coffee chats, ask one specific question: 'What's a project you're working on where another department could help?' That question does two things. It shows you're not just there to take; you're there to contribute. And it gives you a list of opportunities to insert yourself into cross-functional work. Luna: That's a good question. It's forward-looking and collaborative. I'm going to use that myself. Lucas: Do it. And then after you've helped on a few of those projects, you start to accumulate what I call 'shared credits.' People remember that you showed up for them. When it's time for your next move — or when you need a champion for a promotion — those credits come back. Luna: So really, the internal transfer is just the starting point. The real work is the network you build after you arrive. And that network is what makes the transfer pay off in the long run. Lucas: Exactly. One transfer can reshape your entire career trajectory if you treat it as a network-building opportunity, not just a role change. Next week, we're going to talk about a specific tactic: how to ask for a 'listening tour' in your first thirty days. Luna: That sounds like a practical one. I'll bring some examples from my own experience.