Saw this on my Facebook newsfeed yesterday. This is a very strategic idea and one that I’ve talked about before. It is meant to create surprise, to shake things up by bringing an outside perspective. Everyone benefits from job-swapping.
Another brain-shaking tactic would be for marketers to switch places with operations people. For sales people to switch places with customer service people. For R&D people to switch places with management.
That would create surprise.
I think this tactic will only grow in importance in the coming future because the nature of our work is becoming more collaborative. Problems are more complex, the future seems less certain. Organizations and it’s people need to have wider lens of their industry as well as non-related industries.
Of course, only organizations with guts and an open mind will try this. Are you?