Latest / The Internal Move Podcast with Fexingo: Lateral Roles, Internal Transfers, and Staying at Your Company / How an Internal Transfer Can Reset Your Work Identity
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's a moment in every internal transfer that doesn't get talked about enough. You walk into the new team, and for the first time in years, the people around you have no idea who you 'are' at work. No memory of that project you fumbled in 2023. No mental model of you as 'the quiet analyst' or 'the guy who always pushes back'. It's a blank slate. Luna: That sounds terrifying and also kind of liberating. Maybe both at once. Lucas: Both exactly. And the point I want to make today is that most people waste it. They transfer and just carry the same habits, the same self-conception, the same invisible labels from the old team into the new one. But if you're deliberate about it, an internal transfer is one of the few moments in your career where you can actually reset your work identity. Luna: Define 'work identity' for me. Because I feel like it's one of those buzzwords that could mean anything. Lucas: Good challenge. I mean the collection of assumptions people make about you based on how you behave — how you communicate, how you handle pressure, what you prioritize. It's the 'you' that shows up in meetings before you even say something. And a transfer lets you consciously change that. Luna: So you're saying the new team doesn't have the baggage. But you still have to actually change, right? It's not just a wardrobe change effect. Lucas: Right. The opportunity is only useful if you actually do something with it. And I've got a specific example that makes this concrete. A friend of mine — let's call her Priya — was a senior financial analyst at a large consumer goods company. She did solid work in a reporting role, but her reputation was very much 'the spreadsheet person'. She was accurate, reliable, but quiet. Her manager once told her she'd never be client-facing because she didn't 'sell' her work. Luna: Ouch. That's a classic box to get stuck in. Lucas: Exactly. So she transferred internally to the corporate strategy team. New boss, new peers, none of whom had ever seen her present. And she decided she wasn't going to repeat the pattern. She went in with a plan to change how she communicated. Instead of leading with spreadsheets, she'd lead with the story, then support it with the numbers. She practiced with a friend. She deliberately spoke up in the first week, even when she wasn't fully sure. Luna: That takes guts. Especially when you're the new person and you don't know the context yet. Lucas: It does, but she knew if she stayed silent for the first month, she'd get labeled 'the quiet one' again. And that's the core of the idea: in a new team, the first few weeks are when people form their impression of you, and that impression is sticky. So if you want to reset your identity, you have to act before the label sets. Luna: So what did Priya actually do in those first weeks? Give me a concrete action. Lucas: She volunteered to present the team's monthly update to the VP — something she would have never done in her old role. She spent a weekend preparing, but she didn't just rehearse the data. She wrote a narrative: here's what's happening, here's why it matters, here's what we recommend. And she used her analyst skills to back it up. The VP noticed. Within three months, she was the person they put in front of clients. Luna: That's a great story, and it makes me think — the reset isn't just about communication, is it? Like, you could also reset how you handle conflict or how much you take on. Lucas: Absolutely. The identity is multidimensional. Maybe in your old team you were the pushover who never said no. New team, new chance to set boundaries. Or maybe you were the chronic over-committer who always burned out. You can consciously dial that back from day one. Luna: But there's a risk, right? If you change too much, people might think you're fake or trying to be something you're not. Lucas: That's a real risk, and it's why the reset has to be authentic. You're not pretending to be a different person. You're shedding the parts of your work self that were holding you back. Priya didn't fake being an extrovert — she's still introverted. She just learned to communicate in a way that made her expertise visible. That's not fake; that's growth. Luna: So what's the practical framework? If I'm listening and I'm thinking about a transfer, what should I do first? Lucas: First, identify the identity you want to shed. Write down the labels you think people in your current team use for you — 'the quiet one', 'the detail-obsessed one', 'the negative one'. Then decide which of those you want to leave behind. You can't change everything, so pick one or two behaviors that feed the label you dislike most. Luna: And then what? You just show up and act different? Lucas: No, because you need a narrative. People will ask why you're behaving differently, even subtly. So craft a simple explanation. For Priya, it was: 'I'm trying to be more strategic in my communication.' That's enough. You don't have to announce it in a meeting, but when someone notices you're more outspoken, you can say, 'I'm working on being more visible with my analysis.' Luna: That makes sense. And then you need early wins to cement it. Because if you say you're going to be more strategic, you need to actually deliver something strategic quickly. Lucas: Exactly. That's the third step. Identify a quick win that demonstrates the new identity. For Priya, it was that VP presentation. For you, maybe it's volunteering for a cross-functional project that requires the communication style you want to be known for. The early win creates evidence that your new self is real. Luna: I love that. And honestly, this whole conversation feels like it could be worth a coffee to someone — not to be cheesy, but you know, if today's episode helps you think through your own transfer, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's what keeps us ad-free and able to dig into topics like this. Lucas: Yeah, and we appreciate that. No pressure, just if it's useful. Now, let's get back to the risk side. Because there's another angle: what about the people you leave behind? They have expectations of you. If you change, they might feel confused or even betrayed. Luna: That's a good point. You're not just resetting for the new team; you're also managing the old relationships. How do you handle that? Lucas: You have to acknowledge the change explicitly with the people who matter. If you have a former manager or a close colleague, you can say, 'I'm trying to push myself in this new role to be more X.' That sets the expectation. It also signals that the change is intentional, not a fluke or a response to the move itself. Luna: But what if they don't buy it? What if they think you're just trying to climb the ladder and leaving them behind? Lucas: That's possible, but you can't control their reaction. What you can do is show that you're still you — just a version that's growing. And honestly, if you're truly changing for the better, most people will come around. The ones who don't might be the ones who benefited from you staying small. Luna: That's a sharp way to put it. So the reset has a political dimension too — it's not just about your own behavior, it's about managing how others perceive the change. Lucas: Right. And that's why you can't do it alone. You need allies in the new team who can vouch for the new you. If you find one person early who sees the potential, they can help spread the word. In Priya's case, her new manager became that ally because she was open about her goals. Luna: So what's the biggest mistake people make when they try to reset? Besides not doing it at all. Lucas: Overcorrecting. Trying to completely reverse your personality. If you were introverted, suddenly acting like a loud extrovert will feel forced and people will see through it. The key is to modify behavior, not personality. Priya didn't become a public speaker; she just became a better storyteller with data. Luna: And what about the timeline? How long does this reset actually take to stick? Lucas: Research on first impressions suggests people form stable judgments within the first few weeks. But to really cement a new identity, I'd say give it six months. The first month is about planting the flag. The next five are about consistently reinforcing it. If you're still acting differently at six months, it becomes the new normal. Luna: So if someone is listening and they're mid-transfer, or just got the offer, what's the one thing they should do tonight? Lucas: Write down the label you want to shed and the behavior that feeds it. Then write the opposite behavior in a concrete, observable way. Not 'be more confident', but 'speak up at least once in every team meeting in the first two weeks'. That's a specific, testable action. And then commit to it. Luna: That's actionable. And it's a much better use of the transfer than just hoping things will be different. Lucas: That's the whole point. A transfer is a rare opportunity. In most careers, you never get a second chance to make a first impression — but an internal move gives you exactly that. So don't waste it by showing up the same way you always have. Luna: Yeah. And I guess that's the deeper lesson: it's not just about the new role, it's about who you want to be in it. Lucas: Exactly. And that's what we're here to explore. So next time you're walking into that new team, remember: you're not just changing your desk. You're changing your story.