The Harvard Business Review recently ran this article on trading places:
Need New Ideas? Trade Places
When two successful CDOs switched places for a day, the result was new ideas and a fresh perspective. Don’t limit your imagination to what you already know. If you need to innovate, don’t look to what others in your industry are doing, or to your past successes. Seek out a new experience, put yourself in a new context, and find ideas already proven in one field that might be applicable to yours. If you can, find someone who has a similar job in a different industry and trade experiences; what might be routine and ordinary for him may be revolutionary for you.
Today’s Management Tip was adapted from “Trading Places: A Smart Way to Change Your Mind” by Bill Taylor.
I have always thought that planners and planning directors periodically trading places is an excellent idea. This not only helps planners to recharge their batteries but also can develop new ideas for your organization. Several recent examples come to mind;
- I am working in Barbados and two of their senior planners were granted a two-year leave to work in another Caribbean island. I am certain they will bring back new ideas and approaches useful for Barbados.
- A friend of mine who was planning director for one of the nation’s 30 largest cities, was undergoing a divorce and was experiencing some burnout. The city manager wisely arranged a six-month job swap with a similar size city and this had the desirable affect of recharging the person’s batteries.
- Given the current economic situation this may be an ideal time for a educational leave of absence or a sabbatical which could have the same effect as a job swap.
Please share your experiences with our readers.
Management Doctor
Reader Responses
This is a great idea! I wish it could be worked out in practice among agencies - even just a "day on the job."
Mike McCabe
City of Delano
This is unrealistic in most jurisdictions.
Mike Murphy
Town of Groton, CT
This is actually a pretty good idea. I sent one of my planners to spend a couple of days with a similar jurisdiction for the double purpose of a recharge and to get new ideas. It really doesn’t cost a lot to do it and has nothing but positive benefits. I don’t know about the long-term swap, that’s intriguing, but for a day or two it’s pretty beneficial.
Eric Jay Toll
