The Art of Wearing Many Hats

By Danielle Birchard

I started working for a small business right out of high school, and I knew very little about how an operation was run as I had yet to receive my business degrees. I quickly realized that small businesses survive because of hard work, forward-thinking, determination, and a willingness to jump in and do anything. That meant that I would have to wear many hats; administrative assistant, scheduler, personal assistant, event planner, proposal editor, receptionist, human resources, and eventually, personnel manager and facility security officer. 

In a small business, it is vital to have team members that have multiple tools and are able to fill several different roles. Willingness to jump in and do what is needed is vital. Multitasking is a huge part of each employee’s day, there is always a need to be able to jump back and forth between multiple projects. There is definitely an art to wearing many hats. The main thing you need is flexibility. Your day might not look how you thought it would, and that is to be expected. There must be an understanding that certain things have to take priority and that not everything can get done at once. Wearing several hats allows you to broaden your horizons, meet people that you may not have previously met, learn a variety of skills, and gain knowledge that you can apply in all your different roles.  

Some argue that having expertise in several different roles and positions may be more harmful than helpful. I would disagree. In my time at my current employer, I have fulfilled three different roles, often at the same time. I have gained so much knowledge from being pushed out of my comfort zone into positions that I would not have usually drifted towards. The experience I have gained within different areas of the company have immensely assisted me in getting a fuller understanding of the whole picture. In a small business, the vision is vital, and having a clear understanding of the mission provides the desire to do the best job that you can. By working with several different departments in our company, this desire to meet the mission has only intensified. The art of being able to wear many hats helps you to be more well-rounded, experienced, and able to assist others while allowing you to be a huge asset to your team.