Teamwork essential to office success

To solve work-place problems, staff members should rotate responsibilities among themselves, says organisational psychologist Dr Dave George. He says that having people switch jobs with a colleague for a time will give them a greater appreciation of how the team operates.

George is the director of Cerno, a group of business psychologists which work with some of New Zealand's largest organisations.

"The experience of doing the different roles enables them to see the interlinking of responsibilities within a team," he says.

This insight will translate into very real and practical benefits for the organisation.

"Their understanding of the other's perspectives through having done that when they're in a different role themselves is actually really valuable because they sometimes can save time by informing people of specific things that are particularly important, which enables them to prioritise."

Swapping jobs does not have to be a huge ordeal. It can be that you look over a colleague's shoulder for a day and then do their job while they look over your shoulder the next day. Some large organisations have a full programme in place where workers have days built into the roster where they do a different job. Even smaller organisations may require that all staff be able to do all jobs in the event someone is sick. Conveying an understanding of everyone's role and responsibilities across different areas gives everyone more respect for their colleague's role, says George.

"Treat people as responsible individuals and that respect for the individual actually does tend to enhance their willingness to act on behalf of the team. It's one of the key areas that you see that drives retention."

An office environment is a prime example of where swapping jobs can improve the work flow. George says the immediate manager, or the person who is responsible for the area, should be the one in charge of the work programme and will dictate the culture of the team.

"The majority of people in office environments, where individuals aren't strapped to a role, they will give them the opportunity to shift things around. In private enterprise, even in office environments, people have got to be multi-skilled. I mean they're not going to be attractive to an employer if they can't help out in times of trouble."

If they display a willingness to learn, that's one of the key reasons why people are employed."

Some employees may be uneasy about learning another job. For some people, giving up some of their own work and taking on someone else's work, and shifting the parameters of their responsibilities, is distressing, says George.

Other employees may see job swapping as simply an added responsibility that they should not have to contend with.

"If you're expecting someone to learn a job while still doing their own one then it comes down to resourcing. They've actually got to see some benefit for themselves."

George says that avoiding these issues comes down to communication and some things need to be made clear from the beginning.

"One is the lack of clarity about what the roles actually will be in terms of 'I'm going to do this and this means I need to do that' sort of stuff. And the other thing is lack of clarity about the process, about what this process is meant to be achieving.

"Managers should be saying things such as: 'we would expect you to be able to do these sort of things first, these sort of things next, and when you get to this particular point you will know where the other gaps are. And here are the resources to assist you'.

"So there's a content thing and there's also the process that you engage to ensure that people know what they are trying to do."

Some managers don't see job swapping as important and don't realise what a powerful developmental tool it can be. George says they are missing the boat.

"I'd tell them they're mad. They're mad from the point of view that they are assuming that they can actually manage things by directing. In some respects, they are not actually conveying any sense of respect for their staff. So, their ability to gain the commitment or buy-in of people is greatly reduced. And teams, in particular, seem to work best when people are willing to act on behalf of that team."

Not allowing people to learn each others' roles and develop themselves sends the wrong message.

"When one can't learn they stick in their role and their manager basically says 'you do that and I will organise things. I'm not expecting you to think any further than just this particular task'."

George says managers should understand some of the benefits of job swapping before they dismiss it outright.

"Individuals will see things from different perspectives and, if they have that willingness, they will make adjustments. They will save things. They will prevent mistakes. They will manage risk. They will contribute to that quite actively. Whereas if a manager is not swapping people around, people won't have the opportunity to learn the different perspectives and it's almost a surrogate judgement of their inability to shift or to learn new skills. It conveys possibly a lack of understanding of what others can contribute."

However, George admits that job swapping cannot be accomplished in every environment. Obviously jobs with safety issues would raise concerns.

"When you've got a high risk element that a person is involved in within a team, you'll tend not to use it. You'd be a bit more rigorous about the training and the development required to make the shift. So it's very situationally dependant."

Technology is also making it easier for people to take on another person's workload.

"With people having access to technology and processes, they can do things for themselves. So that the fairly rigid compartmentalising of tasks is possibly not as clear as it was, let's just say 10 or 15 years ago. And a lot of us who do different jobs, like it might be a professional role or a managerial role, you have access to a lot of the administrative support services which you yourself use, rather than relying on somebody else."

But George says that job swapping needs to be implemented with care.

"If it's not done in a practical and realistic way it won't work. It has to be done in cooperation with other people and actually talking about it with them is the best way to make this sort of stuff happen."

If done effectively, job swapping can be a great tool for team building. Whether it's gaining a better understanding of the big picture or just developing one's individual skills, job swapping can reward both employees and management.