Source Four: Informal (Peer-Based) On The Job Training and Education
Despite the challenges associated with our contemporary 21st Century world, most organizations still provide nothing more than informal training and education to new employees. At most there is a brief orientation program, following by a breaking-in period, during which older employees with more extensive experience teach the new employee. There usually is some tolerance for rookie mistakes and an informal expectation that the older hands will take the new employee under their wings in order to show them the ropes.
While this form of training and education takes the least amount of money and minimal preparation, it is flawed when used exclusively for the orientation of new employees—let alone the ongoing training and education of employees. Old patterns of work get reinforced, whether successful or not. New employees learn survival skills that enable them to get by on the job. These survival skills usually can be learned without much effort; however, they may not necessarily produce maximum efficiency, nor are they likely to give the new employee a sense of personal fulfillment. The complexity, unpredictability and turbulence facing contemporary organizations, and the unique interests of the new knowledge worker, are simply incompatible with this fourth source of training and education resources.
This does not mean, however, that informal training and education is of no value. Some of the more adventuresome and appreciative leaders over the past thirty years have made extensive use of these informal sources of learning when instituting job rotations at the very top of their organization. The vice presidents of an organization, for instance, might rotate every six months or year, with the vice president for finance moving over to operations, the vice president of human resources moving to finance, and the vice president of operations moving to human resources. Each of the vice presidents learns about the ways in which each unit in the organization operates by taking charge of this unit for a limited period of time. While administering this unit, they learn from their subordinates as well as the other vice presidents who previously administered this unit. There is always a learning curve and each of the rotating vice presidents acquires a broad perspective on the organization and a fuller appreciation for the way in which their organization operates as a comprehensive system.
Many contemporary executives would probably suggest that this job rotation model is only appropriate in an organization that has been quite stable for many years. They might even declare that they already have too much to learn about their current job, given the unpredictability and complexity of our contemporary world. They don’t need to tackle an even more imposing task in learning how to perform several other jobs. Other executives, however, have often pointed out that job rotation is an effective strategy for breaking out of the departmental silos that dominate many organizations. Furthermore, the primary role of a vice president should be broad overview and interdepartmental coordination. There is not that much to learn about the other departments that one would not have to learn anyway to be effective at this level of operations in the organization. Thus, at the very top of the organization, informal (Source Four) learning might be very appropriate.
