Art by Aaskash Nihalani
T-shaped is a metaphor to describe workers with both depth and breadth in their skills: competent in a wide range of related fields as well as expert in a particular area.
The term was popularised by Tim Brown, CEO of the innovation and design firm IDEO, who describes T-shaped people as having two kinds of characteristics that complement each other.
‘The vertical stroke of the “T” is a depth of skill that allows them to contribute to the creative process. That can be from any number of different fields: an industrial designer, an architect, a social scientist, a business specialist or a mechanical engineer,’ said Brown.
‘The horizontal stroke of the “T” is the disposition for collaboration across disciplines. It is composed of two things. First, empathy. It’s important because it allows people to imagine the problem from another perspective- to stand in somebody else’s shoes. Second, they tend to get very enthusiastic about other people’s disciplines, to the point that they may actually start to practice them.
Vivid Ideas Festival Director Jess Scully, who describes herself as a “creative omnivore” said she had noticed a move to valuing this skill combination. ‘Increasingly you are starting to get those “Ts” in more pure arts disciplines. For example, someone could be a curator in the deep T but they also produce events, publications, sales, and the commercial side.’
The T-shaped individual is gaining traction in the Australian creative landscape as organisations and individuals are understanding the value of collaboration and multidisciplinary skills. ‘I find the areas that are most fruitful are where you have a crossover between different areas of specialisation,’ said Scully.
‘Innovation comes from the intersection of different disciplines and the place where you get two radically different sorts of views of the world and creative practices or processes interacting.’
Cross-overs in individuals fosters more effective collaboration. The ability to empathise with colleagues from other departments because you yourself are familiar with their skillset is what a makes the T-shaped individual more beneficial to an organisation than simply having a multidisciplinary team.
Brown said: ‘Most companies have lots of people with different skills. The problem is, when you bring people together to work on the same problem, if all they have are those individual skills – if they are I-shaped – it’s very hard for them to collaborate.’
If a team is made up of individual specialists from multiple disciplines, what tends to happen is people only represent their own point of view, which makes it more of a competition, rather than a collaborative process to come up with ideas. Brown said in this team dynamic, ‘the results are never spectacular but at best average.’
Scully agreed: ‘I think it is absolutely true that having an understanding of the context of your work makes a lot of sense. For writers that could equal design, social media, visual communication, art direction, photo editing, those other sort of complementary disciplines so it makes you better at what you do.’
‘It is about really being able to look at the world with fresh eyes and bring that naïve approach to other people’s problems. Naïve in that you are not a specialist, but also expert in another sense in that you have other areas of expertise. That idea of being able to ask different sorts of questions is incredibly helpful.’
So how can you spot a T? Beyond the CV, it’s as simple as paying attention to language. In the interview phase, if someone frames the project they have worked as accomplishments “I” have done, then they are not a true T. A collaborative T-shaped worker will describe projects and achievements as what “they” have accomplished as a team and how other people have helped them. ‘There is some evidence there of empathy, collaboration and interest in working with other people,’ said Brown.
Working across a variety disciplines is not a new concept, with the rise of the portfolio career, but the T-shape is distinctive. ‘A couple of years I was calling this a slashie, but I see it more as a “T” now … I see the value in having a home base or something you are really good at,’ said Scully.
Scully mentions a T-shaped worker who studied architecture and fine art and is now a colour consultant. ‘She is thoughtful, methodically and inspiring, she is hyper-specialised but she has arrived at that through having a the top of the T that has allowed her to get to that deep dive,’ she said.
Like the colour consultant, the “deep” part of the T is something that can become clearer after you’ve discovered what you enjoy and where you talents lie. To discover your T-shape, Scully said to focus on the three most disparate passions that you have. If you triangulate those passions and talents, at the intersection is your own niche and specialisation.
The resurgence in acquiring skills that resemble the renaissance has meant that people can try different disciplines, decide it’s not for them, try something else, fail, or move in an entire new direction without feeling like they are getting their careers “wrong.”
This is a dramatic shift from the general school of thought that we need to decide what we want to do, choose the university course that gets us there and then dedicate our careers to excelling in that one path.
‘In the past we kind of compelled people at 18 to do the deep dive first and focus on that,’ said Scully.
‘I would love to see people cut themselves some slack. I will often speak to people who will say: “Oh and then I did this, and then I did that, and I did this other thing” and they are kind of really down on themselves because they’ve had that meandering path,’ said Scully.
Such diversity and willingness to explore the unknown is what can create your niche and give you a unique point of view, which is valuable both to organisations, as well as your own personal development.
‘I think your 20s are there for you to experiment. If I was giving advice I would say use the beginning of your career to establish and explore the breath of what you are interested in and don’t put pressure on yourself to specialise until you’ve explored a few different options,’ said Scully.
