Do you routinely offer cross departmental training to your employees? If not, your company might be missing out on some incredible benefits. “One of the ways a company can stay agile is to deploy cross-departmental training. This increasingly popular form of employee training gives employees skills that span different job positions and responsibilities within a company,” stated eLearning Industry. Read on to find some additional reasons you should cross-train your staff.
3 Reasons To Cross-Train Your Workforce
Not sure if cross-departmental training is worthwhile? Here are three reasons you should consider offering it:
1. It builds empathy — One of the most interesting things about cross-departmental training is that it can build empathy. When workers begin to train alongside others who work outside their department, they get an idea of what a day in their life looks like. As a result, they become more empathetic employees and future leaders. A contributor to Smart Business stated,
“In the workplace, empathy can show a deep respect for co-workers and show that you care, as opposed to just going by rules and regulations. An empathic leadership style can make everyone feel like a team and increase productivity, morale and loyalty.”
Empathy training can be effective for building empathy in your staff, but cross-departmental training might be a simpler alternative.
2. It saves money — Most companies are interested in maximizing their training budget. Many are working with a limited budget and have to make the most it. Cross-departmental training can help these businesses because it allows them to create one training course or program for all or some of their departments, as opposed to one for each department. The company can also recycle the training to use at a later time, lessening the financial burden of training.
3. It boosts team performance — If team performance is low, cross-departmental training may help. “In a cross-training program, employees can test out different functional areas, which can build their skill sets and support their professional growth,” stated the American Association of Executives. “The organization will benefit, too, as teams are pollinated with new ideas. Cross-training a marketing specialist in development, for example, allows him to learn about your foundation’s annual campaign. With his outside perspective in play, the development team might find a new way to market to donors and drive results.
Promote Collaboration with Cross-Departmental Training
In addition to building empathy in staff, saving companies money on training, and improving team performance, cross-departmental training also fosters collaboration. As employees collaborate with one another in training, they may discover that they are interested in switching departments and assuming a different job role. And when employees are in roles that are better suited to them, they are happier and more productive, which can cut down on staff attrition.
What are some reasons your company offers cross-departmental training?
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