Welcome to the rise of Reverse Job Shadowing

Could Reverse Job Shadowing be an answer to the labor shortage in management & leadership?

We have probably all been exposed to traditional job shadowing or had our team members do it – that is, when you ‘buddy up’ with someone to watch them do something to help you learn a new job or skill. That’s great, but in today’s environment of labor and skills shortage we often don’t have that luxury of the people available with the capabilities let alone the time to do this.  Welcome to the rise of Reverse Job Shadowing.

What is Reverse Job Shadowing?

Reverse job shadowing is where an internal or external party will be engaged by the organization to work with a leader or manager who may not have the full required capabilities, skill set or confidence for the role in which they are performing. In a reverse from job shadowing, the team member is the forerunner and continues in their role whilst being supported and coached from the ‘shadows’ by a third party.

Isn’t this the role of their leader?

Some may say yes. However, there are a range of benefits of this approach including;

1.     Exposing the leader to a variety of skills and styles from which they can develop

2.     Removing restrictions of time from the direct people leader who, let’s face it, is probably swamped already!

3.     Bringing in specific skills and capabilities that are not the strong suit of the direct leader

4.     Tapping into external resources when those internally are heavily depleted

5.     Building the capabilities and confidence of your leaders whilst having them perform their role

6.     Applying reverse job shadowing to real life and often complex situations of negotiation, commercial governance and risk and relationships. This shifts the learning from the theoretical to the practical

7.     Creating a safe space for the leader to test concepts, present business cases and be challenged without fear of repercussions or internal bias.

In recent times, I have seen an increasing trend in what I have termed ‘Reverse Job Shadowing’. In this tough economic climate, organizations are asked to do more with less and often have had to sacrifice senior roles for budgetary savings. In addition, we have seen a rise of more inexperienced leaders fulfilling roles and needing to stretch themselves due to both a depleted labor market and often capping on salary banding for positions. Many organizations have found that it is more cost effective to hire an individual who will stretch and grow into the role and support them with external expertise when and where required for an improved overall performance and budget outcome.

The key here is introducing the right fit and allowing your leader to still sail the ship. The Reverse Job Shadow provides a ‘rudder’ to steer the course of the ship as and when needed to optimize the impact of the financial spend. With unemployment remaining low and inflation remaining high, organizations need to think and act differently to continue to drive their business and develop their people. But it isn’t all bad news. The good news is that in the wake of world and local events like COVID and natural disaster after natural disaster, a lot of top talent have chosen to walk away from permanent executive roles to bring greater balance into their lives. This is great for them and great for you too! This has meant that the pool of top-level Consultants is no longer restricted to the interim executive market where you need to lock in a minimum 6 month term to secure executive level capabilities on high-end/ sort term contracts. The trend in hybrid places of work has also extended to hybrid ways of developing businesses and people.  We will watch with interest as the models continue to evolve and see if the ‘Reverse Job Shadow’ continues to grow with it.

Author: With over 20 years’ experience in management and leadership across a variety of service sectors, Katrina is regarded as a business transformation executive specialising in the health and human services sector. Having led several organizations through mergers, acquisitions, and restructures, she has a proven record in building and transforming businesses to achieve both positive employee change and commercial outcomes. Katrina is the director of Impact HealthCare Consulting providing consulting and coaching services to organisations and individuals.