The importance of having a broad skill set in any organization
An organization whether large or small but its employees plays an important role in the operations. Employees are the life, blood and soul of any organization. It is vital to build the skill sets of the employees in order to produce higher results. It is very important today in this competitive era to possess a broad range of skills and to increase one’s presence in the organization.
Today in difficult times, every organization is focusing more on cutting measures and reducing their overheads. Today the hiring process of organizations is different from what it was a few years ago. For example the marketing departments of the past had a vice president that supervise a group of graphic designers, web designers, statistical analyst etc and each had specific skill sets and anything outside their area of expertise was usually assigned to third parties or contractors and this often resulted in increase of overhead expenses. However, in today’s times organizations all across the world are looking for new ways to cut expenses of all types, which results in much leaner resources, and requiring each employee to have more skills then what it was not before. Today organizations are recruiting such people who have a vast and a rich experience and they are encouraging such people top further broadens their skills. Thus, managers can invest in effective tools to enable such individuals to execute their potential and this has resulted in decreased resources.
The more skills the worker has, the more value it brings to the organization. Employee with broad skill set creates more value in the organization and they get the ability to manage consultants and contractors by speaking their language and understanding their specialty. An example is of a marketing manager that also has basic design and web management skills and with his skills, he can regularly update the site and the email content when where a larger update is required, he can evaluate and analyze in managing with an outside contractor.
Another major advantage of a broad skill set is that it can actually make an employee more proficient and efficient in their primary role. It helps them to perform their primary function to the best of their ability. An employee having a wide skill set is becomes more valuable in the organization and is preferred more by the management. Organizations are constantly evolving and the individual role must evolve as well.