Break Career Boundaries Through Cross-Disciplinary Learning
Expanding your knowledge beyond your primary skillset can build resilience and offer new opportunities
At a time when businesses and industries are increasingly interconnected, relying on a traditional single field of experience can sometimes limit your career growth. Cross-disciplinary learning — gaining knowledge from different fields to help enhance your overall professional self — offers individuals at all stages of their careers an opportunity to expand their skills and increase their adaptability in the workplace.
“There are a lot of emerging fields that are naturally at the intersection of two or more traditional disciplines, as well as opportunities to apply techniques from one discipline to benefit work in another discipline,” notes Joel Sokol, director of the Master of Science in Analytics program. “In those situations, having true cross-disciplinary learning is important to someone who wants to have the best perspective on applying their learning in the workplace.”
Whether it's a marketing director learning coding to better understand data analytics, a software developer earning a business certificate to prepare for a project management role, or an engineer taking a supply chain class to better understand manufacturing processes, there are multiple benefits to acquiring skills outside of one's traditional professional box.
Benefits of Cross-Disciplinary Learning
Problem-Solving Abilities
A Forbes article notes that engaging with multiple disciplines can sharpen your problem-solving skills by exposing you to different ways of thinking. Gaining knowledge — even if it isn’t used directly every day — can also help leaders understand the importance of each worker’s role and how they can best be supported, explains Peter Graening, academic program director of the Georgia Tech FlexStack program.
“Even a restaurant manager has to think about how their chefs are going to prepare, down to peeling potatoes — not just because knowing the process makes communication easier as their manager, but also because that knowledge of how the team works ensures a quality product,” he says.
Stronger Communication Skills
As new technological advancements are increasingly integrated into many people’s daily work lives, research shows that having knowledge across multiple disciplines can also improve your ability to communicate with others — a helpful skill when in a collaborative workplace.
“With all the advancements in AI, it's become more important for employees to be able to have discussions across different departments and domains,” says David Joyner, executive director of Online Education and the Online Master of Science in Computer Science. “I've always found learning more outside my own discipline pays some unexpected dividends in the conversations I can have or the connections I can make.”
Understanding Complex Issues
Many of today’s most pressing challenges in the workplace require input from a variety of individuals across multiple disciplines. In order to fully understand and address a problem, many professionals note that having a wide base of knowledge or a broad mix of individuals from different areas enables groups to be open to perspectives and methodologies that they might now otherwise have considered.
"Integrative thinking is a key component to understanding complicated problems," says Stephen Ruffin, Georgia Tech Professional Education executive director. "Combining insights from individuals in various fields can help professionals navigate uncertain times, recognize issues others might miss, and develop unique yet practical solutions for problems."
An Overall Increase in Creativity
Cross-disciplinary learning can increase creativity by encouraging individuals to use their knowledge in innovative ways. A recent Medium article shows how exploring different areas can help you with creative solutions. Learning to solve problems in unique ways with a diverse skillset can be beneficial both at work and at home, according to Graening.
“Even though I use Python every day to get work done, it also helps me save time with personal tasks,” he says. “Once, I needed to download dozens of individual music tracks from a website, which would have taken a long time to click, download each individual track, and then copy them to the right folder. In about 20 minutes I wrote a Python script that did all the manual labor, including where I wanted the files to go. That script continues to save me lots of time whenever I need to perform more downloads.”
Cross-Disciplinary Opportunities
Incorporating cross-disciplinary learning into your career plans can come in a variety of formats. Some ways include:
Online Courses
If you are interested in learning generally about a topic or field, you may find enrolling in an online course to be beneficial. Short courses and open online classes, which are offered in a variety of subject areas ranging from basic business to industry-specific development courses, can offer you a chance to bolster your knowledge without a long-term time commitment.
Degree or Certificate Programs
If you want to more fully expand or formalize your skillset, a more intensive program can be a smart step. Whether it's a degree program, a professional or graduate certificate, or the Georgia Tech FlexStack, these sorts of offerings can be tailored to enhance your skills without disrupting your professional or personal life, and will offer an in-depth learning opportunity with opportunities for practical application.
Attending Workshops or Conferences
Workshops and conferences offer short-term immersive experiences where you can gain skills and also hear from leaders in different fields about trends across various industries. Attending events also provides networking opportunities where professionals from diverse spaces can share their thoughts and experiences in ways that create meaningful relationships. Plus, building an expansive network of individuals with a variety of job experiences may open up new or different career paths.
Engaging in Workplace Collaboration
Workplace collaboration is an easy way to engage in cross-disciplinary growth within your current job. By joining team projects that include individuals from various departments, you can learn more about your coworkers’ roles and gain a deeper understanding of the workplace functions as a whole. Taking advantage of opportunities to participate in tasks or learning experiences with colleagues that you might not typically work with can lead to new knowledge, new skills, or an expanded understanding of processes that might not come to light when working in a siloed workplace.
Ultimately, taking the time to learn something outside of the traditional job skills description is more than just an academic exercise in a classroom or boardroom.
"Expanding your boundaries helps you prepare for the complexities of working in the modern world," Ruffin says. "By adding to your skillset, you can open the door to a more innovative, creative, fulfilling career path."
Soaring to New Heights
