Career advice 101: How you can grow laterally and move higher up on the ladder

Everyone aspires to move higher up on the career ladder. People always think about vertical growth. Though there is nothing wrong with this attitude and mindset, there is yet another aspect of growth that one could consider — lateral career development.

Individuals who are keen on learning new aspects in the professional arena and taking on new challenges can richly benefit from lateral growth opportunities. Today’s business environment and organisational culture throws the doors wide open to their employees to take on new responsibilities, cutting across their respective field of expertise. They understand the utility value of their own employees and will prefer to have them ascend to emerging positions rather than gift it to outsiders. 
Now each of you must be wondering as to what benefit lateral career opportunities will bring you. Lateral career movement is an empowering step that takes you out of your present nature of work to some other area within the same organisation that would give you a good designation and monetary benefits along with additional responsibilities. For example, an engineer can take on the role of operations manager of a new wing within the same organisation or actually go on to head a new division of the organisation. This could be very challenging, but at the same time, it can provide you with an incredible chance to prove your self-worth and professional acumen.

To make the best out of lateral career opportunities in your professional life, you need to get into the right kind of mindset which enables you to make necessary adjustments in terms of skill set and capacity enhancement. The following aspects will give you more insight into lateral career development opportunities. 

Lateral career opportunities will call for a great reflection within your confidence level in terms of accepting new responsibilities that sometimes could go beyond your zone. You will need to have a comprehensive perspective of understanding and be appreciative of the culture of your organisation.