Cross-training: Boosting Flexibility and Efficiency

Boost organizational performance and adaptability with cross-training, empowering employees to handle planned and unexpected challenges. Cross-training enhances team collaboration, improves internal mobility, and offers a high return on investment for businesses.

By Douglas Wade, Attorney

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Table of Contents

1. What is employee cross-training?

2. What advantages do employees receive from cross-training?

3. Cons of doing cross-training

4. How to create a cross-training program that works

5. In sum

What is employee cross-training?

Employee cross-training improves organizational performance and helps businesses get ready for both planned and the unexpected. It has numerous advantages for both employers and employees. It can increase your company’s adaptability and profitability in addition to making your staff more efficient and productive. Let’s take a closer look at cross-training and its application.

The process of teaching a worker to perform tasks that another worker performs in addition to their main job function is known as cross-training. Individual A has received training to perform the duties that individual B typically performs, and vice versa.

The primary goals of cross-training are to:

Expand a worker’s skill set
Foster greater organizational flexibility
Improve everyone’s understanding of how the company runs on all fronts.

The goal of cross-training is to identify the key responsibilities and activities inside the organization and make sure that a number of staff members are capable of carrying them out and filling in as needed. Everyone in the company gains authority and worth as a result.

Cross-training is an approach that works in almost every industry and position.

A world-class design business known for its creative atmosphere and cross-disciplinary approach, IDEO, is a prime example of cross-training in action. Tim Brown, the company’s CEO, played a key role in developing “T” shaped personnel. These workers are specialists in one field (the vertical line of the “T”), but they also possess a strong working understanding of numerous other business facets (the horizontal line). During the interview process, they carefully screen candidates for empathy and collaboration, and they hire a number of interns to get to know them before making a hiring decision.

What advantages do employees receive from cross-training?

Employee cross-training is beneficial to managers, executives, and team members in any department within a company. A list of some of its advantages is provided below.

1. Increasing agility and flexibility

Programs for cross-training your staff members broaden their skill sets and could reveal untapped abilities. They will be more equipped to handle any situation as a result. For instance, in the event of an unexpected illness of another employee, the resignation of a key employee, or the need to fill a promotion. Cross-training will make your company much more adaptable and long-lasting.

2. Increased efficiency

It is essential for managers to determine the critical responsibilities and competencies needed for the company to function at its best. They also need to learn how to pass on this information to other staff members. The business as a whole becomes more efficient as a result. No matter what unanticipated events occur, employees will have the abilities they require to succeed.

3. Increased cooperation within the team

Employees are better able to interact and communicate with one another as well as understand each other’s positions and responsibilities. Global corporations, such as Microsoft and Facebook, all seek out people with empathy as a quality because they understand how important it is to developing a culture of collaboration.

4. Experiential learning

The goal of cross-training staff members is to demonstrate the skills required for different roles and responsibilities while providing them with the time and space to apply those skills right away. Since most people learn best by doing, cross-training is an incredibly effective approach.

5. Improved internal mobility

Your employees may be able to pursue new career routes within the company as a result of their increased skill sets.

According to Commodore Technology’s president Bruce Hayward, cross-training staff members facilitates succession management and planning. Supervisors are able to see more clearly which workers are most appropriate for what positions.

They support the employees’ skill development, let them take on more responsibility, and, in the event that the opportunity presents itself, promote them.

6. Good return on investment

Cross-training lowers staff turnover and raises retention rates, according to numerous studies. According to Stephen Maclaren, Head of Regional Sales Employee Benefits at Al Futtaim Willis, on average, hiring a new employee costs $30,000, whereas ongoing employee training only costs $1,500. This indicates that cross-training can yield a high rate of return on investment for businesses.

7. Encouraging and involving workers

Employees that receive cross-training also feel more appreciated since you are investing in them. Additionally, it broadens their employment variety, which sparks their interest, and makes it easier for them to see that there are prospects for internal advancement. Employee motivation and engagement rise as a result of this.

Cons of doing cross-training

Cross-training has many advantages, but there are also some possible disadvantages that you should be aware of.

1. Employees’ unfavorable opinions

Let’s say you don’t properly introduce your cross-training initiative. Then, there’s a chance that your staff will think they’re just being asked to take on more work and responsibility for no pay raise.

2. Having trouble juggling the workload

Cross-training entails taking on different roles and acquiring new abilities. This procedure can be difficult, particularly for staff members who have to juggle it with their current duties. It is imperative for organizations to take measures to avoid their workforce from experiencing overwork and overwhelm, as failure to do so may result in employees quitting.

3. Absence of focus

Employees who receive cross-training run the danger of losing their specific knowledge and abilities and becoming generalists.

How to create a cross-training program that works

Now that you are aware of the benefits and drawbacks of cross-training staff, let’s look at how to create a successful program for your company.

1. Establish your objectives

Identifying your objectives is the first step in developing a cross-training program that works.

Is your objective to develop a backup plan for a particular role or to raise employee engagement and work satisfaction? Which departments or teams most require cross-training?

Jen Rossi of ECBM Insurance advises starting with the teams that require cross-training the most immediately. Teams that are understaffed, comprised of the newest and least experienced personnel, or actively seeking cross-training are a few examples.

2. Determine which jobs to cross-train for

A job analysis is a procedure that dissects a single job into its component parts. Each of them is evaluated to describe the job’s tasks and competencies. Employees, managers, or OD or HR specialists can carry out this.

You can determine the essential duties for which you must receive cross-training in each specific capacity by doing a job analysis. This will assist you in maintaining concentration on the most important duties, delaying the less critical ones for later.

3. Identify qualified candidates for cross-training

Not every worker will be a natural fit for a cross-training program. It requires that you examine performance data in order to identify the most suitable candidates for cross-training.

The consulting firm Intek Solutions urges businesses to exercise caution when choosing which workers will receive cross-training and what particular skills they will be taught. This is because some workers are comfortable where they are and can’t handle more, while others are keen to learn new skills.

It is important to consult with your staff before making any decisions. Do they have a problem with cross-training? Does it excite them? What is it that they hope to learn?

4. Point out the advantages

It’s important to emphasize the advantages of cross-training to your staff in order to win them over and keep them from seeing it as just another task with no payoff.

Make it enjoyable and interesting for your staff members while demonstrating the advantages for their professional growth and enrichment. You could create movies to serve as an introduction to your cross-training plan, for example. This will excite and motivate them to learn. Without this, there is no reason for employees to support cross-training.

5. Make a schedule for cross-training

Establishing a timetable for staff training is the next stage. It is imperative that you take into account the burden that your employees are currently handling and politely design training around it.

As a company, your goal is to minimize expenses while maintaining maximum staff productivity. But, you must strike a balance by making sure your staff members are content at work and not in danger of stress or tiredness, as this will only result in demotivation, absences, or employee resignations.

That’s why you need to set limits. Establish expectations and time commitments up front, and make sure that everyone believes that everything is manageable.

Training even for an hour a week can add up to a significant amount in a matter of months.

6. Implement a job rotation scheme

Rotating people between positions within a company on a regular basis is known as job rotation. These are typically temporary positions that are all on the same level and are not promotions.

Creating a designated time frame for workers to experience a variety of jobs and gain fundamental knowledge and skills is an excellent method to boost motivation, lessen boredom, and foster a cooperative attitude.

As an example, consider a sales assistant at a department shop. After providing that person with initial training in their assigned department, you may allow them to spend one day a week observing how other departments operate. Managing sales at the cash register may be your sales assistant’s main responsibility. However, there are other aspects of the business that you may want them to be aware of, such as the stock warehouse, inventory control, planning and merchandising the shop floor, and creating weekly and monthly budgets and projections.

Make sure this brief time of temporary cross-training is both long enough for staff members to acquire the necessary abilities and short enough for them to return to their primary role and areas of expertise. By doing this, you lower the possibility that workers will lose their specialized expertise and become generalists.

7. Make use of performance coaching

One kind of on-the-job training and development is performance coaching. It entails peer-to-peer learning as well as managers interacting with and supporting their staff on a daily basis. You must provide your managers with mentorship training in order to enable them to become good coaches.

An effective illustration of performance coaching is when a worker observes their manager taking and concluding a sales call. They are able to detect small cues in language and body language which help in skill development. In the opposite scenario, performance coaching takes place when a manager observes a worker in action and provides insightful criticism and guidance.

Employees must have a growth mentality, be willing to collaborate regardless of hierarchy, and trust one another in order to foster a coaching culture.

Giving your managers a first-hand coaching experience is the best way to guarantee that they become excellent coaches. They are unable to explain what they do not know.

8. Monitor and honor accomplishments

By keeping track of your accomplishments, you may evaluate the success of your cross-training program and identify areas where it’s necessary to adjust your strategy.

Some employees may already feel that they have received recognition for their accomplishments in the form of opportunities to learn new skills and grow professionally.

Use performance evaluations to monitor the growth of your staff, and don’t forget to commend your top performers with incentives, pay increases, and even promotions when appropriate. This encourages workers to keep learning and eliminates the likelihood that they would feel overworked and underappreciated.

9. Get input from staff members and keep making improvements

Gathering comments from employees participating in cross-training courses should be a continuous effort. Learn from your mistakes and apply what you’ve learned to improve the efficacy of your program.

For instance, you may find that a particular program takes too much time or doesn’t give staff members the abilities they need to function well in another role.

This kind of feedback is invaluable, so please keep requesting it and acting upon what you learn.

In sum

Knowing what you want to achieve and making sure your staff is on board from the beginning is important for successfully cross-training your employees. If you keep refining your program, you’ll build a group of highly trained workers who are indispensable to your company.

In the world we live in, skill needs vary in conjunction with the ongoing shifts in the market. Therefore, if a company hopes to grow and succeed both now and in the future, it must develop and implement a cross-training program.

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