The smell of chemicals was nauseating, and the powder dust covered me from head to toe and all other body parts by the end of the day. Also, at the end of my stint at each department – material procurement, production planning and scheduling, manufacturing, quality control, packing and dispatch – I had to pass a stringent test and get an approval from the concerned departmental boss that I had a basic understanding of the functioning of the department.
By the end of that month, I had a fairly good idea of the entire product process that helped me immensely during the thirteen years that I spent in the Marketing & Sales department of the organization. Besides, I built up a strong bond with a whole lot of people that I could call on for help when I needed to.
My training continued in
the same rigorous manner in all the other departments and the insights helped
me in developing and implementing new products & processes not only in that
organization, but during the rest of my carrier.
I have carried forward
this process in my consulting practice too. I spend time at the ground level
trying to understand the processes and procedures that gives me a ring side
view of the problems bothering management. The insight is invaluable while developing
solutions for problems that currently ail the organization. A fresh pair of
eyes reviewing the operations of an organization / department can help spot red
flags that would be otherwise missed because of Weber’s Law.
For anyone who wants to
grow into any leadership position, it is extremely important to understand the
workings of each functional area – people, process, product, procurement,
marketing and sales, customers, finance et al. Without this it is next to
impossible to rise to the top. In case someone does manage to jump the ladder
and reach the top, his stay there is probably going to be short one.
One might say I will hire
the best for these other areas where I am not an expert. And you must do
that. But when your team makes suggestions or plans, how do you decide which
one is the best feasible plan and good for your organization? How do you
provide directions to every departmental employee? And what do you talk to a
banker about, assuming your area of competence is not finance?
Whether you are a one-man
enterprise or running the corporate race, your goal is to be at the top. I
hope. Assuming that this is what you want to do, you need to pick up new skills
from an early stage for your roles later. This not only gives you a different
perspective but can be a great motivator too.
From an organization
perspective, it builds a flexible work force; allows them re-allocate work at
the time of a crisis and get inhouse support at not much of an additional cost
should the business situation so require. An employee with cross functional
skills will probably survive many rounds of job cuts during a downturn. In
short, he / she becomes a prized employee that many employers are reluctant to
let go.
Cross Functional Training
not only improves workforce efficiency, but it also fosters a collaborative
culture and creates an agile organization. An organization with large number of
cross-trained employee pool can easily cope when a key employee in functional
area becomes unavailable for whatever reasons.
The benefits of Cross
Functional exposure are many. But even then, practicing managers resent when
employees are pulled out for such trainings. Primarily because it generally is
the top performing employee who is offered these trainings. And pulling out a
top performer even for a short period always creates a trough no matter how
shallow.
Cross functional knowledge
and skills are a great advantage for placements to happen easily. A fresh
graduate who has a good understanding of not only the industry, but intricacies
and functioning of the organizations and can demonstrate this at a placement
interview, has a better chance at landing the job, all other things being
equal.
So how does a student
develop these skills? Internships (paid or otherwise) is a great way to expose
oneself to the nuances of the real world of business. Never mind if the offered
role does not match your primary job goal. The opportunity itself is of immense
value.
Volunteering for
charitable work or projects is another way to build skills. Remember to collect
a letter of recommendation or a certificate of work done form the concerned
organization. But don’t let that piece of paper be your end goal.
Another option is temp
jobs. Be it a call center or selling door to door, it builds up not only your
confidence and dignity, it allows you a rare insight to people behavior that
allows you to develop the most important skill of all – ‘people skills’.
Understand that the future
of work will rely big time on technology. So whether your career plan is in
areas of medicine, engineering, finance, literature, hospitality or wherever,
do embrace technology value creator and differentiator.
I for one, will always
root for cross functional training and skill development both for the sake of
the employee and ultimately the organization. Because it is the employee who
builds the organization.
