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Fast Company | Business + Innovation: Work4, a social recruiting company, discovered the key to making employees more productive and improving communication between departments was to answer this question.
I believe that they key to this program is not so much observing what the other departments of the company are doing, but really being a part of their day. It is so great that they have a goal and an objective and are really thrown into a task to see the nuts and bolts of what is truly happening. I love that this company encourages its employees to not only participate in this program but also CHOOSE to participate in the program. I find situations like this that we are given in the theaters we work in to be priceless. Working as an electrician, or a stagehand doing changeovers during summerstock theatre was intensly eye opening for me. Knowing what I’m asking someone to do, as a manager, and knowing how much time and effort it takes to complete the tasks I’ve set before someone really add to my knowledge of how to manage the personnel I’m working with.
I think the idea of allowing employees in a company to shadow other departments is brilliant, especially when applied to a theater company. Like Abby said, it is monumental as students to experience so much of the other departments in the School of Drama. As an undergraduate student, experiencing all of the disciplines within Design and Production during the first three semesters was crucial in developing an understanding for what my peers and colleagues are doing on a day to day basis. Not only does this shadowing program allow for more understanding and positive company culture, but it also allows employees to determine if they could see themselves working in other departments. Perhaps this shadowing program is not just a way for employees to gain a better understanding of the lives of their peers, but it could also lead to employees forming long term career goals for themselves. As a manager, I think putting yourself in the shoes of everyone on the production team is the most important thing you can do to ensure a positive, successful experience.
The reasoning behind this (super awesome) initiative is actually pretty similar to the one behind spending the first three semesters of undergrad here undeclared. Knowing what other members of your company do is good for a number of reasons that the article mentions, but actually working with these other people is what truly makes a difference. I think it would be wonderful for this program to be implemented in many companies. While I clearly don’t work at Work4, I know from my experience here that knowing about and having experience in areas other than mine is tremendously helpful when communicating and coordinating with the other departments of a production. I thought it was interesting that some people actually ended up switching departments after being a part of the program, and that the company was willing and able to accommodate those changes. I suppose it is better for them to have employees working where they want to rather than where they are originally trained to anyways.
I always like the idea of having people go work/observe in other departments apart from their team and their field of expertise. I agreed that it’s such a benefit to learn how other people work/think/live their everyday life because by that you will get some sense of their working and thinking process. I think the idea is similar to grad students doing AI hours here at Carnegie Mellon. Working in the shops, run auditions, graduation ceremony, showcase, playground, everything I did last year helps me learn a lot about the school system and how each department runs in short cut without having to register to all of the classes provide in this school in order to get a chance to study all the theories and practices which will definitely take every bit of my 7 days schedule. It doesn’t mean that a person will become an expert in those departments, but she will definitely, more or less, get some kind of ideas from each of them which I think it’s a pure benefit as a manager since our job has to do with all kinds of communications. By shadowing/doing AI hours I have some more knowledge of what designers from each department talk about when it comes to the meeting, I understand a bit more about why they concern about such things and be able to follow through the whole conversation with less feelings of getting lost in the middle of the way. My conclusion is I think shadowing your co-worker or observing/ working in different teams, in other words, getting out of your comfort zone helps a lot in broaden your views, and that will lead to your career success.
This is an amazing idea. Sometimes, when we're in our bubbles, we get so caught up in what we're doing, and how "other people" aren't up to our standards. This practice grounds us and broadens the scope. In addition, I feel like it really helps gain perspective we wouldn't normally get. That can be extremely beneficial. For instance, when I was still in high school, I had the chance to work a couple load-ins and shadow Symphony Hall's lighting designer. While I didn't have that much experience with lighting and what that meant both in terms of design and technology, I felt so much more prepared to return into my own theatre after the week. Lighting is obviously not my area of expertise, but getting hands on on something new really helped me grow in terms of myself as a theatrical artist. In conclusion, this idea is extremely beneficial wherever you instate it, especially in theatre.
5 comments:
I believe that they key to this program is not so much observing what the other departments of the company are doing, but really being a part of their day. It is so great that they have a goal and an objective and are really thrown into a task to see the nuts and bolts of what is truly happening. I love that this company encourages its employees to not only participate in this program but also CHOOSE to participate in the program. I find situations like this that we are given in the theaters we work in to be priceless. Working as an electrician, or a stagehand doing changeovers during summerstock theatre was intensly eye opening for me. Knowing what I’m asking someone to do, as a manager, and knowing how much time and effort it takes to complete the tasks I’ve set before someone really add to my knowledge of how to manage the personnel I’m working with.
I think the idea of allowing employees in a company to shadow other departments is brilliant, especially when applied to a theater company. Like Abby said, it is monumental as students to experience so much of the other departments in the School of Drama. As an undergraduate student, experiencing all of the disciplines within Design and Production during the first three semesters was crucial in developing an understanding for what my peers and colleagues are doing on a day to day basis. Not only does this shadowing program allow for more understanding and positive company culture, but it also allows employees to determine if they could see themselves working in other departments. Perhaps this shadowing program is not just a way for employees to gain a better understanding of the lives of their peers, but it could also lead to employees forming long term career goals for themselves. As a manager, I think putting yourself in the shoes of everyone on the production team is the most important thing you can do to ensure a positive, successful experience.
The reasoning behind this (super awesome) initiative is actually pretty similar to the one behind spending the first three semesters of undergrad here undeclared. Knowing what other members of your company do is good for a number of reasons that the article mentions, but actually working with these other people is what truly makes a difference. I think it would be wonderful for this program to be implemented in many companies.
While I clearly don’t work at Work4, I know from my experience here that knowing about and having experience in areas other than mine is tremendously helpful when communicating and coordinating with the other departments of a production.
I thought it was interesting that some people actually ended up switching departments after being a part of the program, and that the company was willing and able to accommodate those changes. I suppose it is better for them to have employees working where they want to rather than where they are originally trained to anyways.
I always like the idea of having people go work/observe in other departments apart from their team and their field of expertise. I agreed that it’s such a benefit to learn how other people work/think/live their everyday life because by that you will get some sense of their working and thinking process. I think the idea is similar to grad students doing AI hours here at Carnegie Mellon. Working in the shops, run auditions, graduation ceremony, showcase, playground, everything I did last year helps me learn a lot about the school system and how each department runs in short cut without having to register to all of the classes provide in this school in order to get a chance to study all the theories and practices which will definitely take every bit of my 7 days schedule. It doesn’t mean that a person will become an expert in those departments, but she will definitely, more or less, get some kind of ideas from each of them which I think it’s a pure benefit as a manager since our job has to do with all kinds of communications. By shadowing/doing AI hours I have some more knowledge of what designers from each department talk about when it comes to the meeting, I understand a bit more about why they concern about such things and be able to follow through the whole conversation with less feelings of getting lost in the middle of the way. My conclusion is I think shadowing your co-worker or observing/ working in different teams, in other words, getting out of your comfort zone helps a lot in broaden your views, and that will lead to your career success.
This is an amazing idea. Sometimes, when we're in our bubbles, we get so caught up in what we're doing, and how "other people" aren't up to our standards. This practice grounds us and broadens the scope. In addition, I feel like it really helps gain perspective we wouldn't normally get. That can be extremely beneficial. For instance, when I was still in high school, I had the chance to work a couple load-ins and shadow Symphony Hall's lighting designer. While I didn't have that much experience with lighting and what that meant both in terms of design and technology, I felt so much more prepared to return into my own theatre after the week. Lighting is obviously not my area of expertise, but getting hands on on something new really helped me grow in terms of myself as a theatrical artist. In conclusion, this idea is extremely beneficial wherever you instate it, especially in theatre.
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