In the past, it was common for people to work the same job or stay at the same company for many years — some even for their entire careers. But this concept of “one job for life” has quickly become a thing of the past. According to one study, 1 in 5 Americans would prefer to land in a new and different field within the next 7 years, whether due to a lack of engagement in their current industry, lack of growth prospects or desire to seek better opportunities after gaining new skills.

Given that the new norm is to explore career different paths and apply acquired skills, organizations have to enable internal career mobility in order to retain their best people. Cross-training is one way to facilitate this type of growth, while also keeping employees engaged through learning.

Let’s delve into the details of employee cross-training and learning — what it is, the benefits for companies and their employees, plus examples and tips on how to navigate its impact on your organization.

Cross-training in the workplace involves providing employees with opportunities to learn and perform tasks that typically fall outside of their primary responsibilities.

The importance of cross-training employees

A growing number of research studies show that today’s employees are actively seeking out opportunities to learn and grow new skills. In a recent report, 46% of employees surveyed reported concerns that their current skill set will become redundant by 2024. Another study found that 70% of employees would leave their current company for a new employer that provides better access to L&D opportunities.

Amid widening skills gaps and talent shortages, businesses are grappling with how to find and keep the talent they need. When executed effectively, cross-training provides both employees and businesses with significant value.

Through cross-training, employees can gain:

Improved productivity as they build a more expansive skill set which enables better problem-solving and critical thinking.

Increased agility and flexibility as they gain more institutional knowledge and become better suited to handle change. 

Improved capacity for collaboration and teamwork as they learn to navigate the dynamics of different teams.

Insight into other teams and areas of the business that might be of interest to them and gain applicable skills.

A healthy work-life balance and prevent burnout concerns as they can confidently take time off, with the reassurance they have backup support available.

Through cross-training, your company can:

Maintain productivity since there will always be another qualified individual to fill in for a key team member if they get sick or leave the company unexpectedly.

Lower recruitment costs as you build the talent you need from within.

Improve business agility since employees are well-versed in multiple areas of the organization and can more easily adapt to change.

Fuel internal mobility by utilizing existing talent within your company to upskill or reskill into various job openings.

Foster engagement because employees feel supported by your investment in their growth and development.

Examples of cross-training in the workplace

Cross-training can be applied in many different ways across an organization, from frontline positions to the corporate workplace. For instance, nurses can be cross-trained to work in adjacent areas, so they can float outside of their units in case of staffing shortages, as well as disasters or other kinds of emergencies. Manufacturing workers can cross-train to have familiarity with key operations procedures, which is critical to maintaining operations on the production line.

One of the world’s largest retailers, Walmart, provides cross-training opportunities for its store associates to build skills, grow their careers and ultimately, provide better customer service. For example, an associate whose main responsibility is preparing fresh food can be cross-trained to maintain pricing within their respective department. Cross-training is supplemented with additional training and formal education to enable continuous development and long-term career advancement.

Practical tips for putting cross-training into action

Here are a few actionable tips to help you get your cross-training efforts off the ground and integrate them with your existing L&D strategy.

Make cross-training part of employee goals 
Participating in cross-training should be part of a greater employee goal-setting discussion. Doing so allows for structure, and gives employees something to work towards. An example of a cross-training goal could be shadowing one new person on a different team every quarter.



Create a job rotation or shadow program
It’s likely that employees have an interest in learning more about other teams within your organization, but they may struggle to facilitate this without support. Introducing a formal job rotation or shadow program is a simple way to encourage employees to deepen their understanding of how different teams work and explore cross-training opportunities.



Make it clear where cross-training fits within your greater L&D strategy
Cross-training is just one part of a much greater L&D strategy. An employee might be involved in cross-training, while also taking courses through your workforce education program and participating in a mentorship initiative.

Work closely with people managers to ensure they feel comfortable talking about cross-training opportunities with their direct reports. Employees should have a clear understanding of what cross-training is and how it can support their career aspirations. They should also know that they may need to supplement cross-training with other development opportunities to achieve their desired career goals.


Apply learning to on-the-job scenarios
Give employees the opportunity to put their new skills into practice through stretch projects or other types of work that don’t directly fall within their existing job responsibilities. 


Supplement cross-training with education
Encourage employees to supplement their learning with education. This will allow them to expand upon the skills they’re building through training and can help them make more impactful career moves.

Employee cross-training: Giving internal mobility a way forward

Cross-training is an integral part of your L&D toolkit that makes for a more engaged and productive workforce. Workers gain versatility by broadening their skill sets, enabling them to take on new responsibilities and move to new or advanced roles within the business. At the same time, you’re building an internal pipeline full of qualified talent. It’s a win-win.

Keep reading: By itself, training is not always effective at delivering business outcomes such as employee retention. Discover how you can complement your training efforts with employee education to fuel engagement and retention.

Cross-training is a powerful tactic that supports employee learning and development. Here are 5 practical tips for effectively cross-training employees.

Employee cross-training: What it is and how to do it right

Employee cross-training: What it is and how to do it right | InStride

In recent years, a growing number of organizations are rethinking their approach to learning and development (L&D). Historically, L&D has often been viewed as a cost center or siloed as a nice-to-have employee benefit, rather than a strategic driver of business results. This is largely due to the fact that many L&D programs are not aligned to organizational strategies and ultimately, fail to deliver on critical workforce outcomes.

Without a clear strategic plan for how L&D contributes to greater business goals, programs can easily become disorganized and unproductive. Implementing a learning governance model can help to support a strategic and consistent approach to L&D. Let’s discuss the benefits of learning governance and share how you can apply this concept to your L&D strategy to deliver more impactful learning experiences.

Learning governance encompasses policies, processes and structures that oversee and guide learning activities to ensure their effectiveness, alignment with organizational goals and compliance with regulations.

A learning governance policy enables your company to build a guiding framework that simplifies L&D decision-making. The exact elements included as part of this are organization-specific, so what yours looks like will depend largely on the unique needs of your business and workforce. Here are some examples to consider:

Employee eligibility requirements for learning benefits

Learning options and how often they’re revisited and evaluated 

If and when various tools should be cut, modified or introduced

Success metrics for employee learning and development

Learning governance policies should extend to all aspects of L&D, including onboarding, high-potential employee programs, mentorship opportunities and other talent development initiatives.

Although the intended benefits of L&D are typically well understood, many people professionals still struggle to get buy-in for their programs from executive leadership. Learning can be viewed merely as an employee benefit that checks a box, rather than a strategic driver of business outcomes. This occurs for various reasons such as a lack of understanding of what successful learning should entail, learning taking place in silos or simply because it’s too difficult to measure learning progress or ROI.

The objective of learning governance is to combat these scenarios. Effective learning governance practices promote alignment between key organizational stakeholders and ensure that all learning initiatives directly tie back to business goals. The “guardrails” you establish as part of this exercise exist to promote clarity and consistency across all your L&D efforts so that no programs exist in a silo. Consequently, this puts you in a strong position to construct a persuasive case for L&D and obtain the necessary backing from essential stakeholders to secure buy-in.

An additional function of a learning governance framework is to provide you with guidance during times of change, allowing for smooth, well-grounded transitions. At the same time, it should also be designed to be flexible enough that it can evolve with your business.

What does learning governance look like in practice?

Understanding business priorities from a multi-departmental perspective is fundamental for an effective learning governance framework. In practice, this might mean forming a dedicated committee with key cross-functional stakeholders that are responsible for managing the learning governance and making strategic decisions based on it. They would be in charge of creating documentation, overseeing the budget, monitoring performance, as well as fielding new requests for changes to the L&D strategy. 

Another core responsibility of your learning governance committee is understanding the different learning priorities for different business areas, and how learning is happening across the organization. The goal is to break down learning silos, while still ensuring the delivery of consistent company-wide learning experiences that make an impact. Remember that while company-wide standardization is the foundation, your framework should still allow for flexibility to meet the needs of each team and individual role.

For example, a lack of standardization across the company can lead to inconsistencies with different teams creating their own training strategies. In this scenario, effective learning governance would provide a set of guidelines that are to be followed across the entire organization. Then, equip individual teams with specific job-training resources.

How to use learning governance to up-level L&D

The process of developing a learning governance framework can also help you audit your existing L&D efforts to pinpoint what’s working and what might need to be revisited. Here’s how:

Take inventory of your existing learning tools and programs

Understanding the effectiveness of your current L&D strategy will give you a baseline to start from and allow you to develop your governance policy to support the components that are already working. At the same time, you can review what tools or programs are underperforming and determine how to integrate those findings into your governance framework.

What is the current state of your L&D strategy and where would you like it to be? What business objectives are being fulfilled and which areas are still lacking?

These are important questions you should ask as you develop objectives for your learning governance practices. Also keep in mind that on an individual level, every L&D program has its own goals. 

What changes need to be made to your L&D strategy to support the above objectives? And how can you strategize them for maximum efficiency and efficacy? 

Your learning governance framework will provide the most impact at this point as you work to cut or add solutions from and to your L&D toolkit, prioritize policy changes and set timelines. Following implementation, the framework can also serve as a guideline for steps to take if there are pain points revealed along the way.

Learning governance is not meant to be static

Your learning governance strategy is by no means static, although a well-constructed one can be a stabilizing force when your organization is undergoing necessary or inevitable updates. 

Your organizational goals will change over time as some objectives are met or business priorities change. It’s necessary to update your learning objectives and strategies as targets shift. Without a learning governance structure in place, you run the risk of needing to completely dismantle the L&D programs you have in place to rebuild one better aligned with emergent goals. However, supported by a solid learning governance model, you can quickly and easily implement changes to support new business priorities.

Activating the power of learning governance

L&D programs possess significant strategic value for almost every company, but many may not be realizing their full potential. A learning governance framework provides the vital structure to effectively and efficiently organize, understand and address how to maximize your L&D. 

To have the greatest impact, it’s essential to align L&D with organizational objectives and assess your learning governance model on an ongoing basis to ensure the best performance and productivity across each area of your organization. 

Discover more L&D resources: Workplace learning can only be effective if it’s accessible to the employees who need it. Access our guide to learn how to put accessibility at the forefront of your L&D strategy.

Learn what an effective learning governance moel looks like and how your L&D strategy could benefit from one.

Why learning governance is a must-have practice for L&D leaders

Why learning governance is a must-have practice for L&D leaders | InStride

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