Reports have shown that the emergence of new technologies, industry restructuring, and global economic changes have given rise to a growing need for transferable skills, which is predicted to rise rapidly over the next decade. In practice, this means that there is an increasing global recognition of the benefits of cross-industry expertise among professionals and the value of leaders who, throughout their careers, have demonstrated a capacity to thrive amid uncertainty. This approach is especially relevant in the world we live in today, which is marked by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity—where adaptability and diverse perspectives are crucial for success.
Cross-industry skill transfer for employees involves applying soft skills and technical expertise from one industry to another, which can bring fresh perspectives and innovative solutions to new challenges. For top management, this often culminates in transferring leadership skills birthed from a unique mindset that impacts the company’s stocks based on the perceived value of their past industry experience, image, and leadership brand.
At the core of cross-industry skill transfer is versatility: the ability to adapt to changing functions or demands. Professionals with cross-industry experience are often valued for their diverse backgrounds, adaptability, and ability to leverage best practices from various fields to enhance performance and drive growth in a new industry. More than ever, the ability to transfer and adapt skills across different industries has become a crucial differentiator for successful organisations. Even in recruitment, skill-based hiring rather than strictly adhering to industry-specific experience is fast becoming the norm.
As the leader of a diversified holding company spanning insurance, healthcare, and financial services, I have observed firsthand how transferrable expertise across industries can create unexpected synergies and drive inventive solutions that speed up effectiveness across portfolio companies. While employees within an industry can bring legacy experience that improves the chances of success, experience shows that when management enables the flow of talent and expertise across sectors, significant value of unique mindsets shaped by broader industry experience can be unlocked.
Read also: Firms hunt for generalist skills as economic woes worsen
Breaking down silos: The three-pillar approach
As immensely beneficial as transferrable expertise across sectors in a multi-sector holding company may be, effectively implementing this process requires creating an infrastructure I call the “Three-Pillar Approach.”.
First, competency mapping. Cross-pollination of skills begins with identifying transferable skills across teams before application across industries. This process relies heavily on the human resource team to identify the skills needed to succeed in a role and create a system that enables management to spot opportunities for cross-sector deployment during the hiring process or a skills analysis of current employees. Professionals projecting cross-industry moves in multi-sector holding companies will do well to play up the similarities of the industry in their delivery of related projects. For instance, both the pharmaceutical and financial sectors are heavily regulated, which allows professionals with cross-industry transfer intentions to emphasise their transferable skills across both industries.
Secondly, creating or leveraging existing internal knowledge exchange platforms. This can range from monthly forums, rotation programs, collaborative projects, and cross-divisional structured forums that facilitate regular interaction between professionals from different sectors or group portfolio companies, ensuring continuous knowledge sharing and skill transfer.
Finally, creating cross-divisional innovative incubators. Incubators and innovation hubs allow teams from different sectors to collaborate on solving complex business challenges or collaborate on projects giving rise to novel solutions that can benefit different sectors. Professionals projecting cross-industry moves in multi-sector holding companies can maximise these hubs by learning tools outside designated tasks or showing interest in projects that allow them to learn and apply transferable skills. Learning the tools needed in the industry of interest makes transition easier, placing new entrants at par with other skilled professionals.
Challenges and solutions
As beneficial as cross-industry skill transfer is, implementing effective transferrable expertise across industries in a multi-sector holding company isn’t without its challenges.
First, some employees can be resistant to change, preferring the safety and comfort of knowledge over the uncertainty of change. Management in multi-sector holding companies can soften the change process by implementing change management programs that emphasise the benefits of cross-industry learning, providing clear examples of success stories in the long term.
Secondly, this process can birth unexpected industry-specific regulations that the transferred employee is less equipped to navigate. Navigating this situation requires management to map the core competencies in a role and develop internal compliance frameworks that ensure skill transfer adheres to industry-specific regulatory requirements while maintaining effectiveness.
In some cases, issues relating to cultural differences can arise where an employee is unaware or ill-equipped to navigate the cultural nuances of a role or project. Management can steer the helm by slowly easing employees into the new role, beginning with the similarities before the differences. Cultural integration programs that help bridge gaps between different industry cultures can also be created to preserve valuable sector-specific practices.
Benefits
Effectively navigating the hurdles of cross-industry skill transfer can seem like a herculean task for management and the HR team; however, it bears immense benefits, cascading into a multiplier effect that manifests in several ways.
In the immediate, when professionals from different industries with diverse skill sets collaborate, they bring diverse perspectives to problem-solving, stopping groupthink and enabling the organisation to pivot constantly, disrupt, and manage economic and geopolitical changes. This diversity often leads to more innovative and robust solutions, as the days when organisations solely focused on their competitive advantage are long past.
In the long term, cross-industry exposure helps teams identify opportunities to adapt successful practices from one sector to another, speeding up innovation cycles as people switch jobs more frequently than in the previous generation. Multiple industry perspectives also enable better cost-risk assessment and management across the organisation, leading to proven exponential business growth.
Conclusion
Emergence in technological advancements and changes in global economies have necessitated effective cross-industry skill transfer as a crucial ability for professionals and organisations striving to retain their relevance and competitive advantage. For holding companies, this represents an opportunity to create significant value by leveraging diverse expertise across portfolio companies. Management with a diversified background should also be brought aboard to utilise their transfer leadership skills in increasing organisational value.
The increasing demand for professionals and leaders with a diverse background predicates a future where organisations that can effectively harness the power of diverse expertise across sectors lead the competition. The role of leaders at the helm of management is to facilitate this transfer of knowledge and skills, creating an environment where cross-industry learning is not just encouraged but embedded in the organisational DNA.
Eddie A. Efekoha is the Group CEO of Consolidated Hallmark Holdings Plc, a Holdco providing insurance, healthcare, and financial services in sub-Saharan Africa.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
