Swisscom Spirit
This is what happens when a marketing manager takes on the job of hotline manager for 10 weeks - a refreshing jump in at the deep end. Marcel Nyffenegger and Tom Buschor report on the successful experiment.
Marcel: Yes, I was able to recover really well. I was able to completely disconnect from the business and had no contact with anyone from Swisscom, which I had agreed with Tom and the team leads.
Tom: (laughs) Yes, the 10 weeks were really extremely cool and fun - which I wouldn't have expected beforehand. I was pleasantly surprised by the different facets: from the fact that I was able to benefit a lot from it myself to the realisation that you can make a positive difference simply by doing things differently. It "het gfägt"!
Tom: Firstly: the realisation that this experiment can also be carried out without a specialist background. Secondly, that it is valuable for both sides to gain a different perspective, a different point of view. Thirdly, a job rotation like this is an excellent way to promote mutual understanding across departments. An understanding that also helps me a lot in my current job. I also believe that this helps us as a company to become even better. And finally, fourthly: being able to expand your own network. (grins) The only negative point (also from the team leads): It was almost too short. Ten weeks is not enough to bring major topics to the ground or to realise major changes.
Marcel: What it showed me once again - and we discussed this in advance - is that when someone comes along who doesn't have too much of an idea of the specialist dimension, this automatically leads to other leads who are deep in the specialist area being allowed or required to take a step forward. And this experiment also encourages this - which was also very much appreciated.
Tom: (laughs) In terms of content, I had no idea about most of the topics. But I also experienced that as an advantage, because you look at the topic in a completely different way. I actually found that very enriching. In the end, there's always someone with the relevant expertise, the only thing you have to do is find out who!
Marcel: I've only heard positive things, they don't tell me anything else (laughs). No joke, the job rotation went down really well. It was also agreed in advance, because due to longer absences, nobody in my team was able to take over and Tom in turn was able to give someone a chance to fill in - it just worked out that way. If you do a rotation like this when someone goes on sabbatical, there is a development opportunity for one part, but not for the other - but the luxury of an undisturbed sabbatical, as in my case (laughs).
Tom: In any case - Marcel, I'm otherwise on sabbatical in 2023, if we want to try it again then.
Marcel: Yes, let's see if it works out as well as it did this time, I'm certainly not averse to it (laughs).
We believe in the great added value of job rotations and want to strengthen cooperation in senior management through an improved understanding of business and work processes outside their own area of responsibility. Why? Further development and constant learning are important to ensure that we ourselves, as well as Swisscom, remain successful. Swisscom offers a range of development programmes for this purpose.
Job rotations should also be seen in this context: They allow you to cross boundaries and functions, break silos and break new ground; exactly the mindset that is needed in our rapidly changing world. Job rotations offer the opportunity to familiarise yourself with a new area of work and to learn new skills, methods and workflows and further broaden your wealth of experience. Over the next few months, we would like to gain experience in two to three further job rotations at management level.
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