The Everything Manager
Posted By Aly Juma / 21st January 2010
Being at a startup I feel that it kind of just happens where you find yourself involved in every department of your business, from sales to marketing, business relations to research and development, you’re there and adding value and learning as you go. Doing this, I began to think of the value of such practice for all employees… now is there benefit to this practice, being involved in more that one area of your business?
And the answer is…
YES, from my perspective it is a useful practice, but needs to have some boundaries to optimize the benefit. When I say boundaries I mean it should probably be limited to only 2 areas of focus initially. Now the question is why. First of all, when we’re doing the same things over and over again, every single day of the week, we get tired of it, and very quickly. Now one way to circumvent such repetitive and mindless situations is to have somewhere to turn when you’re getting to this limit. This allows you to diversify your work load and when one aspect of your work isn’t holding your focus, switching gears to something that feels fresh can recharge your batteries and keep your productivity high.
Furthermore, your employees also get to expand their horizons, as you’re building their capacity in something that’s most likely not their specialty, but holds some interest to them. From this perspective their benefiting not only from the exposure, but also learning more about the internal workings of the business, which hopefully leads to a more efficient work place.
Being more creative
Finally, its a great way to inspire innovation in the company for two reasons. First you get a fresh perspective from someone who is not continuously focused on the task at hand, and we all know that a fresh perspective is all thats needed at times for progress and great ideas. Second you’re creating an environment for the intersection of thought processes between the two areas. This in itself is one of the best ways to innovate, and if you’re interested in this method you should definitely check out The Medici Effect by Fran Johannson.
In the office
In terms of how it would work, you would assign an employee a primary job to focus on, and then a secondary one that they can lend time to during the week, with a point of contact in that department. Just two areas, as I feel thats more then enough to reap the benefits and not be overwhelming at the same time. Also, the point of contact is important to keep you up to date and not require you to play catch up continuously. I know I’m already doing it here, with not only more than two areas, but two jobs! Now there are definitely flaws with such a practice that could lead to insufficiencies and such, but if implemented clearly there is a real benefit to the employer and the company. What do you think??
