Horizontal and vertical career growth: examples to follow

A horizontal and vertical career growth plan presents two internal promotion options that can help your business’ talent retention strategy. 

The growing demand for new professional development options within organizations is associated with the evolution in the perception of investment in human capital.

This fact raises a new horizon in which companies are increasingly aware of the importance of a framework of action involving their employees and even the teams themselves seeking to take greater responsibility for their careers.

We invite you to discover in this article what both types of growth consist of, as well as examples so that you can understand the implications for the company and its employees.

What is horizontal career growth?

The horizontal career growth plan is a way to progress in the job through specialization but without changing positions.

Usually, when we think of career progression, we refer to a vertical, hierarchical movement that does not lead to a job with more responsibilities and higher pay.

Horizontal development, however, offers the possibility of progressing while maintaining responsibilities but increasing competencies and skills through career plans aimed at improving skills and competencies.

Thanks to this strategic and innovative business development, these two closely related aspects can be deployed:

1. Improve the organizational structures of the company.
2. Enhancing the capabilities of the teams.

In this way, horizontal development becomes a talent retention technique and transforms teams into true experts in their work areas.

What is vertical career growth?

A vertical career growth plan focuses on a hierarchical process by which an employee moves to a higher-ranking position than the one they hold.

Traditionally, it has been one of the stimuli in the talent retention strategy and has been integrated into the professional development plan of organizations as one of the most important goals.

However, it has often been frustrating to wait until there is a vacant position in the organization to apply for. This waiting creates apathy in workers, who may start looking for a place in another organization.

On the other hand, the vertical growth paradigm favors the development of horizontal careers, especially in sectors that demand flat structures.

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Difference between vertical and horizontal growth in business

The difference between vertical and horizontal growth in business can be illustratively addressed by the following points:

• Type of mobility. Vertical growth implies a hierarchical movement to positions of greater responsibility, while horizontal growth moves the employee to different roles in the organization but does not imply a hierarchical promotion.
• Objective. Moving up the company hierarchy increases leadership. In the case of transversality, the aim is to diversify skills and experiences in different departments or areas of a project.
• Development of new skills. Vertical growth allows the person to develop team management skills, strategic decision-making or stress management. As for horizontal growth, what is sought is that the person acquires versatile skills by accessing an integral vision of the organization.
• Advantages for the company. The vertical displacement in a company increases its specialization within a specific area. In the case of horizontal growth, it promotes empathy, understanding of other teams’ problems, and cultivates people’s versatility.
• Compensation and benefits for the employee. Hierarchical advancement generally entails a salary increase. This is not usually the case when moving across the company, but it does provide employees with the possibility of increasing their employability by acquiring experience and technical skills in demand in their sector.

It is important to note that horizontal and vertical growth are not mutually exclusive, i.e., the same employee may, after having undergone a transversal displacement in the company, be promoted to a position of greater responsibility. This is explained by the fact that, thanks to this experience, he or she has been able to acquire a complete vision of a department or project.

In the same way, a new leader can be introduced to the different roles of a department in order to better supervise it.

Thus, the two perspectives of evolution are often complementary; moreover, growing horizontally in a company increases the likelihood of growing vertically.

In the same vein, moving horizontally once a person has been promoted will help him or her to improve his or her leadership.

Horizontal career growth examples

One of the most illustrative examples of horizontal growth is the transfer of an employee from one department to another.

For example, a person may move from a company’s editorial department to the marketing department to gain experience in customer acquisition techniques and be able to apply them when creating editorial content for the brand.

It may also happen that a marketing manager is circumstantially transferred to the sales department of an organization. This allows them to gain experience interacting directly with customers to better adapt their strategies or the development of products and services.

It is also considered a horizontal career grow to acquire new technical skills within the same position, such as learning to use new machinery or a specific design program.

In any case, the result of this type of growth within the company helps the employee to increase his or her value within the organization.

Vertical growth examples

Vertical growth implies, as we have explained in previous lines, a promotion to a position of greater responsibility.

In this context, the employee has had to demonstrate his ability to assume the tasks in his job for long enough to be prepared for an increase in responsibility.

There can be several scenarios such as:

• A leadership-focused promotion. This is the case for a person who has helped build a customer service team in a sales department and has demonstrated successful supervision and team development. Their vertical growth may come from being asked to lead multiple teams or new projects.
• A promotion to an executive position. This may occur when a marketing manager in a country market is promoted to multi-country coordinator for merit in the performance of his or her duties.

Fundamentals of the evolution of horizontal growth in career planning

As we have already mentioned, many companies are changing from vertical internal promotion based on hierarchy to horizontal career growth, an expansion supported by the evolution and training of employees who also improve their employability.

This process has an added advantage: cost reduction, both in the optimization of human resources and in the simplification of structures.

This transition also brings a highly competitive value to organizations since, in the face of the increasingly rare internal promotions, other differentiating elements come into play that attract talent:

• Learning and training opportunities.
• Greater autonomy in time management.
• Teleworking options.

In this way, teams increasingly value the challenges towards the satisfaction of the organization’s goals, allowing them to gain competencies and skills. All this is boosted in projects that, for example, favor family reconciliation without renouncing the development of the person’s career plan.

Even so, the success of the process lies in the involvement in the improvement process of the employee, who will have to deepen their knowledge and accumulate experience, tracing the path of professional growth in line with the needs of the company.

Is horizontal or vertical growth better?

If you are wondering which growth is better, horizontal or vertical, the answer really depends on how the employee plans his or her career path and the needs of the company.

Horizontal growth favors a person’s flexibility and adaptability and gives him or her the possibility of carrying out demonstrable experience in areas of work that diversify his or her profile.

It is ideal for people who are looking for a comprehensive experience and a better knowledge of the organization or its projects, but without assuming more responsibilities than those they have been assuming so far.

For its part, the company, thanks to this type of evolution of its human capital, will have multipurpose profiles that can be strategic in times of crisis or increased activity in certain departments.

As regards vertical growth, it is more interesting for workers seeking a better positioning or influence in the organization or to achieve higher compensation goals since the salary increase can be accompanied by other benefits typical of executive positions.

The company, for its part, may seek a change of leadership or create new teams to expand the market and being able to count on internal candidates is very beneficial to the corporate culture.

Implications of vertical and horizontal career growth in companies

In both cases, vertical and horizontal career growth, the company must be able to provide workers with the means and resources they need to meet the objectives of the professional career plan.

If there is one thing that both types of development have in common, it is the need for training and qualification of the people participating.

In the case of vertical development, the person who is going to hold a new job position leaves behind one in which they have the experience to assume new responsibilities that require a period of adaptation and training so that the promotion is not a failure.

If we are talking about horizontal development, training, and qualification programs are its foundations.

All this implies that the company, aware of its needs and the impulse it wishes to offer to its human capital, must invest time and money in planning, programming, and analyzing its professional development plans. At this point, in addition to investing in qualified Human Resources personnel, technology plays a crucial role in helping to reduce the costs of the transformation process.

At Smowltech, we are committed to accompanying you in your digital transformation by offering you a range of flexible proctoring plans tailored to your needs.

Get the most out of human capital development. Ask for a free demo in which we will share solutions that you may not be aware of and can help you.

Updated on 13/12/2024

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