Latest / The Promotion Memo with Fexingo: Getting Visibility, Sponsors, and Executive Presence / How One Employee Got Promoted by Mapping Adjacent Skills
Transcript
- Lucas: So you're in a role that you're good at, maybe even great at, but the next step up the ladder doesn't exist in your department. Or if it does, it's held by someone who isn't leaving anytime soon. Luna: Right. The classic 'I'm ready for more but there's no opening' trap. Most people wait and hope. A few people leave. But I think there's a third path. Lucas: There absolutely is, and it's one of the most underused promotion strategies I know. It's what I call a skills adjacency move. You don't wait for the job above you — you identify a different job, maybe in a different function, where your current skills are surprisingly relevant, and you make a case that you're the best candidate because you already know the company. Luna: So instead of climbing the ladder, you're stepping sideways into a different ladder? That sounds risky. Lucas: It sounds risky, but the data on internal mobility actually favors it. A 2024 LinkedIn analysis found that employees who moved laterally into a new function were 40 percent more likely to be promoted within two years than those who stayed in their original function. The key is that you're not starting from zero — you're mapping your existing skills to an adjacent role. Luna: Okay, I want to hear a concrete example. Give me a person and a story. Lucas: Let's talk about Sarah Chen. That's not her real name — we're protecting her privacy — but her story is real and it's from a mid-sized SaaS company in Chicago. Sarah was a product marketing specialist. She'd been in that role for about three years, and she was good at it. She ran launch campaigns, she synthesized customer feedback, she created sales enablement materials. But her manager was a director who had been in that role for eight years and wasn't going anywhere. Luna: So she can't get promoted to director of product marketing. What does she do? Lucas: She looks across the hall. The company had an open senior product manager role. It reported to the VP of product, a different chain. Sarah had never worked in product management, but she looked at the job description and realized something: about 60 percent of the required skills she already had. Customer empathy — yes, from her research. Cross-functional coordination — yes, from launch campaigns. Data-driven decision-making — yes, she was fluent in the analytics tools. The gap was in technical depth — she didn't have a background in engineering or product architecture. Luna: But that's a big gap. How did she address it? Lucas: She built a skills adjacency map. Literally a spreadsheet with three columns: required skill, her current proficiency, and a plan to close the gap. For the technical piece, she identified two things she could do: first, she enrolled in a nine-week online course on product architecture, and second, she volunteered to shadow a senior engineer during their sprint planning meetings. She gave herself a three-month timeline. Luna: And then she just applied for the job? Was that the pitch? Lucas: Not exactly. She didn't want to blindside anyone. She scheduled a career conversation with the VP of product — not to ask for the job, but to say, 'I'm interested in this path. Here's my skills map. Here's my gap-closing plan. What else would I need to be a credible candidate?' She made it a collaborative exploration, not a demand. Luna: So she flipped the dynamic from 'I want this' to 'Can you help me become ready for this?' That's smart. Lucas: Exactly. And the VP was impressed. He said no one had ever come to him with that level of preparation. He gave her two additional suggestions: one, that she lead a small product initiative as a stretch project, and two, that she find an internal mentor who had made a similar transition. She did both. Four months later, when the senior product manager role was formally posted, she applied and got it. Luna: Four months. That's fast. But I bet most people don't even know where to start building that map. What's the practical first step? Lucas: First, you need to identify the target role. Don't just guess — look at actual job descriptions. Internal postings, LinkedIn, O*NET if you want a government database. Gather three to five descriptions for the role you think you want. Extract the top ten skills that appear in at least three of them. Luna: And then you rate yourself against those skills honestly. Lucas: Right. Use a scale from one to five. One means you've heard the term. Three means you've done it with guidance. Five means you could teach it. Be ruthless. The point is to find the 30 to 40 percent gap, not to pretend you're already perfect. That's what makes the plan credible. Luna: But what if your current role doesn't have any obvious adjacent target? Like, you're a legal operations manager and you want to get into product design. That's a big gap. Lucas: It's a bigger gap, but the same framework applies. You'd look for the intersection. Legal ops involves process design, data analysis, and stakeholder management. Product design also involves user research, iterative testing, collaboration. The adjacency isn't in the subject matter — it's in the underlying competencies. You might need more training, but the map still works. The timeline just stretches from four months to maybe a year. Luna: I think the hardest part is actually having that conversation. Most people are afraid to tell their manager they want a different job. They think it signals disloyalty. Lucas: And that's a real fear. But the framing matters. You're not saying, 'I'm leaving this team.' You're saying, 'I want to grow within the company in a way that uses my best skills.' The best managers actually want to hear that, because keeping talent inside the organization is cheaper and better than hiring externally. A study by the Corporate Executive Board found that internal hires are 20 percent more productive in their first year than external hires. Luna: That's a powerful number to have in your back pocket if your manager hesitates. Lucas: Exactly. You can say, 'I know the company, I know the culture, I know the customers. I just need to build two specific skills. Here's my plan. Can I count on your support?' That turns it from a request into a partnership. Luna: Let me ask about the flip side. What if your manager says no? Or what if the target role doesn't exist yet? Lucas: If your manager says no, ask why. If it's because you need more experience in a specific area, that's useful feedback — it refines your map. If it's because they don't want to lose you, that's a different conversation. You might need to make a case for why retaining you in a different role is better than losing you entirely. And if the role doesn't exist, you can sometimes create it. Sarah's role existed, but I've seen people use adjacency maps to pitch a completely new position. They show the gap in the org chart and say, 'I can fill this if you create it.' Luna: That's a much bigger ask. But I've seen it work in startups especially, where the org chart is fluid. Lucas: Yeah, it's easier in a company that's growing fast. But even in established companies, there's often hidden demand for a role that sits between two functions. Think about the person who can translate between marketing and engineering — that's a rare skill. An adjacency map can prove you're that person. Luna: I want to bring up something I've noticed. A lot of people, especially women, wait until they meet 100 percent of the job requirements before they apply. But men often apply at 60 percent. The adjacency map actually plays into that — it gives you a structured way to prove you can close the gap. Lucas: That's a great point. The map is an antidote to imposter syndrome. It's not about feeling ready; it's about showing the data that you're on a path to being ready. And it's a document you can share. It makes your ambition visible and tangible. Luna: And that visibility is half the battle. Which actually reminds me — you know, conversations like this are exactly why people keep listening to this show. We try to give you frameworks you can actually use. Lucas: Yeah, and it's funny — the show itself runs on listener support. A couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these episodes ad-free and focused on real strategies. If you've gotten something out of our episodes, buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo — that's buy me a coffee dot com slash f-e-x-i-n-g-o — helps us keep going. Luna: Absolutely. And it's a way to say this kind of content matters to you. No pressure, just if it's useful. Lucas: Alright, now back to the map. Let's talk about how you maintain momentum after you get the role. Because getting promoted is one thing, succeeding is another. Luna: Yeah, what's the failure mode? Someone gets a senior product manager role via adjacency, but then they're in over their head. Lucas: That's real. The key is that your gap-closing plan doesn't stop when you get the job. It becomes your 90-day plan. Sarah, for example, continued her mentorship with the senior engineer for her first three months. She also set up weekly check-ins with the VP of product to review her progress. She was transparent about what she didn't know. That earned her more trust, not less. Luna: So the map becomes a living document, not just a one-time pitch. Lucas: Exactly. And the other thing is, you need to build relationships with the people who have the skills you're learning. If you're moving into product, befriend a senior engineer and a designer. They'll cover your blind spots. That's the sponsorship piece — it's not just about visibility, it's about having allies who will vouch for you when you make a mistake. Luna: That's a good note to end on. The promotion isn't the finish line — it's the starting line for a new set of skills. Lucas: And that's the whole point of an adjacency map. It's not a shortcut. It's a strategic route that acknowledges where you are and where you want to go, with a real plan for the gap in between. If you're listening and you feel stuck, I'd encourage you to spend an hour this week building that first column. Luna: Name the role you want, list ten skills, rate yourself. That's the start. Thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week with another strategy.