Gerald E. Ledford, Jr.
The world of work is filled with irony. Those who are most desperate for work can’t find jobs, and then they are ridiculed for not wanting to work. And specialization in the workplace, a trend for many years is running up against another: job rotation. Relief pitchers, experts on the factory floor, legal specialists in criminal law or contracts all represent specialization. But job rotation suggests that it’s possible to move from one job to another. Is it a path to increased productivity or confusion? Will it make the workforce more flexible and motivated?
I asked an expert to talk to us about job rotation, which may have an impact on both businesses and employees for a long time to come.
Gerald E. Ledford, Jr. has consulted on issues such as job rotation, human capital, compensation, and talent management to Raytheon, Kimberly-Clark, Braun, Frito-Lay, and others. Lately, he has been focusing on job rotation-related matters.
–“Be interested in the business of the company, not just the narrow disciplinary ones. Stress your interest in learning and growing. Talk about how you like to use everything you know in the job. Outline the breadth of your interests and abilities.” – Gerald E. Ledford, Jr.
CareerUpshift: What industries seem to be taking the lead in job rotation?
Ledford: Job rotation is a technique for cross training and career development that has been with us (with or without that name) for decades, maybe forever. That said, it is used more heavily in some places than others today. Manufacturing – despite its reputation for monotonous, boring work – uses rotation more than ever to make employees more flexible and knowledgeable about the work flow. Very simple, routinized, overly-specialized work is leaving for factories in the developing world, and what is left is largely blue collar knowledge work. In the management ranks, rotation is typical among companies that emphasize creating well-rounded general managers, like General Electric. You do not want the CEO and most other high level executives to be narrow specialists – you want them to be versed in a variety of disciplines, because they have to manage all of them. In the typical Japanese work system, job rotation is an essential part of careers up and down the hierarchy. This offers the employee an understanding of how the different parts of the organization fit together, promoting a greater sense of identification with the company than a specific occupation.
– “Is Steve Jobs the most technically-proficient person at Apple? He is worth literally billions of dollars to the value of Apple as a firm because of his breadth, not his technical depth.” –
Career Upshift: Job rotation seems to be a bit of an anachronism in a day of specialization. Why now? Are we returning to the “Renaissance Man (or Woman)”?
Ledford: There have always been specialists and generalists, and the need for generalists has never been more apparent than in a world where the major problems are not narrow, technical ones. However, in the territories of specialists, like Silicon Valley and academia, people often cannot imagine the benefits of anything but narrow specialization. In academia, where I spent 16 years, the fastest way to advance is to focus like a laser on a subspecialty so narrow and obscure that you become the leading expert on the topic. Specialization is important in science and engineering too, at least until your subfield becomes obsolete.
However, the world is not run by narrow specialists. Narrow specialists are the foot soldiers of the modern era, not the generals. Is Steve Jobs the most technically proficient person at Apple? Hardly. His brilliance is in mastering fields as diverse as technical innovation, design, marketing, sales, mass media, and supply chain management, and it is doubtful that Apple would be the most important force in the music business today if not for his personal love of music. He is worth literally billions of dollars to the value of Apple as a firm because of his breadth, not his technical depth. Generalists run the world because the major problems of corporations and governments are complex, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary, and narrow specialists often can’t see the forest for the trees.
Career Upshift: Who benefits: the employer or the employee?
Ledford: Potentially, both benefit. The employer gains employees with a broader perspective, more flexibility, and more capability to solve problems that cross-disciplinary boundaries. Employees gain the ability to do more, increasing their chances of career advancement and, for that matter, landing a job when necessary. Variety is the job, which job rotation produces, has been shown in literally thousands of academic studies to be associated with work that is more interesting, motivating, and satisfying for most employees.
– “Specialization is important in science and engineering too, at least until your subfield becomes obsolete.” –
Career Upshift: If job seekers are targeting an industry and companies that utilize job rotation, how can they anticipate the job will differ from positions they have held in the past?
Ledford: The company is likely to look at the candidate through different lenses – less from the standpoint of current skill set and more through the lens of long-term capability. The company may not have a clear idea of what the person will do a few years down the road – that will depend on the rotation route the employee takes, so discussions of the long term may strike a job candidate as vague.
Career Upshift: Any advice for job seekers to make themselves more appealing to job rotation firms?
Ledford: Be interested in the business of the company, not just the narrow disciplinary ones. Stress your interest in learning and growing. Talk about how you like to use everything you know in the job. Outline the breadth of your interests and abilities.
Career Upshift: When employees discover that their company is about to implement job rotation should they fear it and start looking for a new job? Or should they embrace it?
Ledford: First, determine if this is an all-or-nothing proposition. It may be a rotation program for managers only, for example – in that case there is nothing to be concerned about if the employee does not want to be a manager. The employee may or may not be affected.
They should start looking for a new job if they want to do the same thing over and over and rotation will not permit that. Some factory workers may want to do the same job over and over for years, and prefer not to be challenged or to take on larger responsibilities. Some technical specialists may want to focus on a particular topic for decades. Such employees may be very uncomfortable if asked to stretch and get out of their comfort zone, and they may prefer to work for a company who will leave them to work on their narrow discipline.
Career Upshift: How can employees prepare themselves to survive at their company when job rotation gets underway?
Ledford: Give it a chance. Know that most people will find work that includes more variety to be more fulfilling and satisfying. Recognize that this increases your long-term career security, because you will know more things that more companies may want. Find out what kinds of skills and knowledge the rotation program is intended provide (business acumen? knowledge of other functions?), and start gaining that knowledge even before you are asked to move to a different position.