What value does cross training your employees bring to your company?

RCS Influencer Melissa Chapman says revisiting training periodically is important in maintaining that connection to what was learned and retained.

Implementing training programs in general can be a valuable investment for organizations while keeping these caveats in mind.

• Are you clear on the goals attached to the training program, whether cross-training or other types?
• Do you feel confident that your trainers are able to train? Just because they know how to do the job, doesn’t mean they have the skills to teach.
• How will you measure whether the training was effective?
• What’s in it for employees involved in training?
• What are potential risks by not providing training?

When these key areas have been outlined, understood and communicated, then you can really see the benefits of cross-training. Those benefits can range from reducing tribal (or institutional) knowledge, promoting growth for employees, creating opportunities for process improvement, bringing forward awareness of and appreciation for what it takes to do that job well, as well as providing a space for team members to collaborate and work together. All of those examples can have such a positive impact to employee morale and their sense of community, not to mention the new skill that they can now add to their resume.

The cross-training that we provide involves one-on-discussions on the why behind what training is being provided, resources for the employee to reference, demonstration, shadowing and finally practicing for feedback before being ready to perform those duties. Along the way, there are a lot of discussions surrounding what is the best way for the trainee to learn and implement what has been learned along with what other resources might be helpful. We also discuss how they could see this opportunity benefitting them both in the short- and long-term.

Revisiting with that training periodically is also important in maintaining that connection to what was learned and retained. Practice makes progress and if there is no follow up, after time those skills could at best be watered-down and at worst, be lost altogether.