That’s Not My Job!

We have all had the unpleasant task of going to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to do things such as changing the title on a car, updating a registration or renewing a driver’s license. The first task upon arrival was to determine what line you had to stand in. You had to make this decision correctly because the DMV took great pride in having one employee handle only one type of transaction. If you had to change the title on a car you just bought and had to get your driver’s license renewed, that meant you were going to have to stand in two different lines (this practice still exists in some DMV’s). When the DMV decided to make the customer experience more pleasant, that added one more line. The line you need to stand in to get a number and determine what line you will be assigned to stand in. As we write this, we are well aware you can make an appointment in advance and possibly bypass the wait time in the long line process. But, if you need to accomplish something quickly and show up without an appointment, most likely, standing in multiple lines will be your experience.

What is amazing is that most DMV employees are seasoned veterans capable of being cross-trained to handle every possible transaction a customer may need to accomplish. Most likely, most of the DMV employees do know how to handle all the possible transactions or, they can turn to the person within three feet of them and find the correct answer. For whatever reason, some organizations, like the DMV, prefer to not equip team members to deliver on a customer’s multiple needs.

Southwest Airlines is a great role model when it comes to team members who can accomplish multiple jobs. After every flight lands, the flight attendants, and many times a pilot, take on the responsibility of cleaning the entire cabin. Recently, I watched a pilot take the lead in pushing a passenger in a wheelchair down the ramp and then help them get into their seat. Although this pilot’s job is to fly the plane, I could actually see joy in his eyes at the opportunity to help not only a passenger, but his fellow teammates so the plane could board and depart on time.

Over the years, we have conducted Employee Engagement Surveys with over 300 organizations and have over 100,000 opinions in our Peter Barron Stark Companies benchmarks.  When we breakout the top 25 percent of all organizations in our benchmark, the Best of the Best, employees in these organizations consistently rate their company 28% more favorable than the overall companies when it comes to the competency of cross-departmental teamwork. Organizations that are strong in cross-departmental teamwork have employees who have broader knowledge than just their own job and an understanding of how the different departments and jobs all connect to better serve the customer.

There are both organization and employee advantages to cross-training:

Organizational Advantages Include:

• Coverage for an employee when they are sick or out on vacation
• Coverage to provide backfill when a qualified employee cannot be found in the shrinking workforce
• Smaller workforce is needed because employees can cover multiple functions based on the organization’s need
• Employees who are able to provide training on multiple skills to others
• Increased cross-departmental teamwork
• Development of future leaders

Employee Advantages Include:

• Increased morale due to a deeper understanding of how the business works and knowing they make a significant difference in the business’ success
• Opportunity to learn new skills
• Greater opportunity for a promotion
• Higher chance they will not be let go in tough economic times
• More skills and experience in your company
• Prevents stagnation
• Job flexibility
• Great job variety

The benefits to employees and companies is much larger than this. So why haven’t more companies made cross-training a priority? To help, the following are seven keys that will help you successfully implement cross-training in your company or team.

1. Identify the specific critical tasks for which cross-training is needed. You can look at the need from a few different angles.
   • What needs do our customers have that could be improved if multiple team members knew how to meet the customer’s goals?
   • Where are we vulnerable?  If this employee was to get hit by a bus today, are people trained today, ready to execute and get the job successfully accomplished? Ensure every job is backed up.
2. Identify the right people to cross-train. Some team members love learning new information and skills. Others are more comfortable completing the same tasks over and over.  
   • As you review your team member’s performance, ask what are the next logical steps to help them build their skills and increase their organizational value?
   • If you have a person in a critical position that refuses to cross-train others, you are being held hostage and putting the future health of your team or organization in jeopardy. Information hoards kill cross-departmental teamwork and kill creativity and innovation. If your competition has strong cross-departmental teamwork and your organization does not, you are going to be both vulnerable and at a significant disadvantage. Information hoarders seem to forget that we are all on the same team.
3. Create the right environment: Align the vision of cross-training with the goal of improving teamwork and service to the customer. This should help eliminate information hoarding by sharing their information and teaching others their skills.
4. Conduct a gap analysis: Determine what skills and knowledge are needed to successfully get the job done. Then, identify the employee’s current level of knowledge and skills. Develop a learning plan based on the gap.
5. Adjust workload: Employees learning a new skill will take longer to accomplish the task then a veteran of the position. Adjust their schedule accordingly.
6. Reward team members for learning new skills and practicing collaborative behaviors. People do what they are rewarded and/or recognized for doing.
7. Share information hoarders with your best competitor: If an employee is unwilling to train others, share information and work well cross-departmentally, you may be a lot better off sharing them with your best competitor and screwing up another organization’s strategic plan.

Cross-training is good for employees and leaders, and it’s good for business! Put these seven tips into action and it will help you build an organization that is rated by your employees as being a Best of the Best benchmarked organization.