Bite Size: Fortifying Your Team

The agricultural industry has know for centuries that the earth can only give so many nutrients to a crop before it is exhausted. Letting the fields lay fallow for a season allows the soil to regain some of its value. Unfortunately in this system the field is left unused for a season providing no direct value to the farmer. Crop rotation on the other hand provides similar benefits by utilizing for different crops that consume different nutrients. In this manner the soil is allowed to replenish certain nutrients while continuing to provide direct value with a different crop.

Businesses can benefit from this same methodology, while it is well known that appropriate hours and vacation time are critical to an employee’s sustainability  simply letting the employee lay fallow may not provide as much benefit as adding skill rotation into the plan. In addition to vacation time managers should seek to fortify their team by rotating skills throughout the team on a regular basis. Here in the IT world that may mean things a simple as passing around on-call support. Steven Covey speaks about sharpening the saw, with this in mind a more fulfilling technique would be to rotate R&D responsibilities in the team which would enhance both the skills of the individual and opportunities of the organization.

Rotate your crops and fortify your teams.