FROM JANUARY 2014's RECRUITER MAGAZINE

Letting go of the reins and taking up someone else’s can do wonders for an organisation

Relinquish complete control of your business and take over someone else’s for a week. 

Sounds daunting, doesn’t it? 

It certainly did to me when I, along with the other managing directors across Randstad’s business lines, agreed to do just that.

For the past 18 months the leadership team, which includes the managing directors of the Randstad UK business lines as well as the UK executive team, have sought out innovative opportunities to broaden our knowledge of each sector specialism so as to create a more united and forward-thinking business. 

The idea of an MD job swap was proposed so we could learn about each other’s processes and cultures, as well as share ideas to enhance our own business practices — something we strive for throughout Randstad.

For one week I let go of the reins of Randstad Education and took the place of my colleague Owen Goodhead at Randstad Construction, Property and Engineering. While these two industries differ greatly in terms of the array of candidate skills, job types and client relationships, it quickly became clear that both businesses have a shared work ethic and ambition for excellence. This was a very encouraging starting point.

Over the course of the week I met with key individuals around the country, both fee earners and support staff, but I also spent time with different teams absorbing their processes and culture. It was also a good opportunity for staff to find out about how we MDs got to the position we’re in and why our career paths have taken the route they have — something that fitted neatly with our wider ‘How I Became’ platform (see www.randstad.co.uk/how-i-became/).

In addition to the day-to-day work practices, I also had the opportunity to attend the Builder and Engineer Awards 2013 and present one of the sponsored awards. It was fantastic to engage with construction and engineering clients, and discuss the job swap idea — something they expressed an interest in doing in their own businesses.

Overall, I felt the entire exercise was a great success but there were three key things that I learnt from the experience that will be of great benefit in the future:

1. Working closely with other business lines is vital in order to prevent barriers developing between sector specialisms. We’re all on the same team. 

2. Closer working relationships with other teams, offices and sectors allows you to find ways in which you can work together to further unite the business. Even the most diverse teams have opportunities to work together; you just need to be able to spot them.

3. It’s important to demonstrate to your staff and fellow team members that you are willing and able to step outside your comfort zone. It is extremely beneficial for overall morale and your staff’s attitude towards you. 

I strongly recommend the idea of a job swap to any business leader but it’s not just senior staff who can benefit. We intend to implement more job swaps up and down our businesses but it’s important that whoever is undertaking the swap totally immerses themselves to get the most out of it.

Think about what you want to take away from the experience, and ensure you discuss and share what you have learnt from the process — there will be a lot, believe me.

Jenny Rollinson is the managing director of Randstad Education

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