Multi Skilling: Juggling More Balls In The Air
All
through our life we have heard the popular maxim: "A jack of all trades, but a
master of none." In the old millennium, special skills were given great
importance. Don't try your hand in many occupations, you were told, or you will
burn your fingers.
Times changed and so did work systems and business processes. After the
industrial revolution came the electronic revolution. This new era of business
saw a significant boom in the service industry. Soon after came the computer
revolution. Now we are witnessing the internet revolution. Things moved pretty
fast. Systems replaced people. Work that used to take months is now done in
minutes. Markets are growing and the world is getting increasingly connected.
Ecommerce is now the preferred destination for most buyers and sellers.
Distances have shrunk and homogeneity of products and services has replaced
ethnicity.
In such a fast moving world, people are required to do much more than earlier.
Everybody wants to equip himself with a variety of skills. We want to be adept
at driving, skiing, managing people, organizing parties, raising children, and
speaking Hebrew. Time is short, so make hay while the sun shines. This is the
new age mantra. Multi skilling has finally arrived.
In organizations, managers are happy to recruit multi talented employees. Can
you handle teams? Are you competent to organize events? Can you train and
motivate your subordinates? Can you also sell? Well, then walk right in, they
say. Multi skilled people seem to be the answer to many of organizational
challenges.
All organizations go through a change process. Dynamic environment and changing
market scenarios force organizations to be flexible. Meeting competition head on
requires companies to always be on the ball. Taller hierarchical structures give
way to flatter matrix organizations. Designations have evaporated with the
reduction of organization levels.
Some organizations are spread out across various industries. Mergers and
takeovers have made companies foray in unknown sectors. Given the multi
dimensioned nature of organizations, people also have to make use of multi
dimension skills. And hence the entry of the multi skilled employee.
Organizations which multi skill employees use lateral shifts as a mode of
employee training and development. Cross functional skills are adopted.
Employees are given cross functional training to increase the talent pool.
Knowledge sharing is encouraged and formally acknowledged in these
organizations.
Employees have to multi skill themselves to make more talent available to
organizations. It is also a refreshing change of environment for employees who
have been specializing in certain functions. Very often managers have reported
an influx of new ideas, out of box thinking and creative solution generation
purely by role reversals and lateral moves. This helps organizations to gear up
for any future personnel requirement.
Though the concept of multi skilling seems rosy, the only real drawback is that
multi skilling makes the employees stretch to the limits. Sometimes, there is an
undercurrent of frustration. New jobs, new environment, and new learning can
unnerve employees. They fear about not being able to live up to the
expectations. Often, employees are uncomfortable with the changes and can't deal
with the conflict of the role and their personality.
Without proper counseling and training, multi skilling can backfire. Employees
need to be guided and supported through the entire process of multi skilling.
Training with feedback is of paramount importance. Multi skilling is a
developmental process; it needs to be handled with sensitivity.
