• Several steps must be taken to identify which jobs and which employees make sense for cross-training.

Most organizations don’t have the resources to cross train everyone in every job. To identify employees who should be cross trained:

1. Identify critical jobs. Eliminate from immediate consideration jobs that require certification or licensing. From the remaining jobs, determine which jobs or job functions are most critical to the department. Ask, “If Tim were not here tomorrow, how would his job get done? If the job were not done, what effect would it have on productivity and customer satisfaction?”
   Jobs that have an immediate effect on productivity, revenue, or customer satisfaction and are so specialized that the jobs are only performed by one person are top candidates for cross training.
2. Decide the primary purpose for cross training. Will cross training provide for backups? Or will it allow rotating all employees among jobs in the department? The purpose will determine whether to train employees in every function or just the most critical ones.
3. List the job’s tasks and the skills required. A well-written job description serves as a training outline.
4. Prioritize tasks and skills. Prioritizing allows for training on the most critical components of the job first, even if the intent is to cross-train an employee on the entire job.
5. Select employees to be cross-trained. A willingness to learn is key to effective cross training. Unless the plan is to cross-train an entire department, identify who would like to be trained (many employees want this opportunity to learn new skills and have variety at work).