Frontline workforce in any given organization needs real-time learning opportunities to fill the performance gaps and are interested in expanding their skill set for advancing in their careers.

Unfortunately,  if frontline workers aren’t getting enough growth opportunities in the organization, they are likely to switch companies to explore new roles that would add value to their career paths. Multiple research and surveys also indicate the same and hence “The Great Resignation” is happening with “The Great Reshuffle”.

“Cross-Skilling is the only optimum solution to retain the best talent amidst “The Great Shuffle” while also addressing to have reduced attrition rate, so that the frontline workforce always get to choose from a plethora of real-time learning/training opportunities so as to expand their skills that are useful for them in assisting for their progressive career paths.

Defining Cross-Skilling for Employees:

Cross-Skilling can be defined as multifunctionality (/ies) of employees in an organization, taken up by the Learning & Development Team, for upskilling/reskilling their existing employees, by identifying their interests and filling the gaps, for the improvement of their performance, in having desired progressive career paths.

Cross-Skilling :

• mainly focuses on training employees (both existing & new) in new skills to efficiently manage multiple responsibilities, beyond their current roles, in assisting to expand their responsibilities, which are aimed to improve cross-functional productivity and performance for an organization.
• also gives opportunities for employees with the flexibility to learn and perform tasks outside their niche of expertise to stay relevant in a volatile market, rather than being confined to an area in specific, thus having restricted skillset.

Benefits of Cross-Skilling:

The following are a few limited ones, but the list is exhaustive, depending on the training opportunities and the abilities of the employees to make use of these opportunities:

a) reduced employee turnover

b) increases opportunities for employees

c) expands capabilities of employees to grow and succeed

d) reduces hiring costs of additional employees for a specific role

e) creates risk awareness across the organization in having an understanding of the existing processes

f) boosts employee collaboration and hence fostering increased productivity

g) creates and opportunity for a more agile workforce in place

h) increases capability of employees to address unprecedented challenges/unforeseen circumstances

i) employees engage better with the changes in technology/environments and hence business conditions

With the right cross-skilling strategies, employees can easily move to different roles within the organization for choosing enhanced career opportunities. Internal progression can be easily/readily facilitated when positive strides toward employee cross-skilling is ensured by the heads of the organization, which will internally boost the morale of the employees.

Employees too feel valued at the workplace due to the existence of such practices when it’s clearly visible that the organization invests in their employees career growth which propels them to stay loyal and longer in the organization.

A multitude of visionary companies are evolving in putting efforts into developing effective cross-skilling programs in place so that the employee longevity in the organization is achieved thus positively and proactively addressing the attrition crisis of “The Great Resignation”.

Designing an Effective Cross-Skilling/Cross-Training Program Schedule:

Let’s dig into to explore on how to design an effective on-the-job cross-training program:

a) Define Roles & Skills:

With digital transformation and associated acceleration happening thoroughly and abruptly throughout the globe, new roles have emerged to cater to business innovation needs.

• Defining these roles based on technological advances and outlining the responsibilities is crucial for boosting operational efficiencies in the organizations across.
• Once the roles are defined by function (in-specific), research, identify and benchmark the trending skills for each role will follow.
• Creating a skills catalog then and updating it regularly as the skills are changing quickly due to continuous digital advancements, are the next steps.

b) Identify Cross-Skilling Employees (based on their existing skills):

An employee’s interest in cross-skilling is of paramount importance.

• Putting into use the skill catalog created, aim to determine the employees in the specific functionality (business area) who will benefit by taking up the new responsibilities in addition to their current roles.
• Take up a one-to-one conversation with the employees to discover their career aspirations and help them understand how the responsibilities will contribute to their career growth and define progressive career paths.
• An interested employee in the new role will take the initiative to develop the new skill, thus assisting on a personal & professional level

c) Determine the optimal Cross-Skilling Methodology:

Choosing the right Cross-Skilling/Cross-Training methodology is pivotal for making any cross-training initiative successful.

• Plan the entire cross-skilling journey to derive and determine to arrive at the Cross-Skilling Methodology.
• Make use of the skill catalog as a base and design resources for each unique skill.
• Determine whether one format or a conglomeration of various learning formats like blogs, webinars, videos, etc., can be put into use and create a blended learning pathway for employees.

Following are a few cross-training methodologies for insights:

1) Instructor-led Training:

• L&D Team defines a learning path that learners must follow and complete in a stipulated period, for the employees in the organization.
• The L & D team further conducts assessments to ensure the employee is fully ready and has the right skills to take up the new responsibilities.

2) Self-directed learning:

• Employees in the form of learners get the flexibility to learn at their own pace at their convenience provided the organization provides them with the right platform for maximizing their performance.
• Employees either research for content or access a content repository created by the L&D professionals to develop specific skills for a set functional area to master their knowledge and perform better.

3) Hybrid Learning:

• is the perfect blended mix of both the methods mentioned above.
• Employees can initially receive formal training on specific topics relating to a skillset and then delve deep through self-directed learning to master the specific skill.

d) Measure Cross-Skilling Effectiveness:

It’s always critical & crucial to measure the effectiveness of cross-skilling/cross-training programs.

• Take feedback from the employees to understand if the cross-skilling programs have helped them manage their new tasks efficiently for upskilling purposes.
• Based on the feedback, tweak into the modules of cross-skilling programs and make them more impactful to capture the interest of employees, for optimum performance.

Conclusion:

Upskilling Frontline workforce is crucial to get the most out of this valuable resource. By creating a culture of continuous learning through on-the-job training for the frontline staff via m-Learning with LXP tool from mPowerO, a frontline workforce enablement solution, can help train the frontline and take them to the desired next level.

mPowerO platform can assist in managing the complete lifecycle of a frontline, from onboarding to moving them up the career ladder by empowering them with the right skills and knowledge, with an improved performance.

OJT with the right mix of the latest technology via an automated skilling platform creates uninterrupted learning/training and seamlessness in a hybrid work model/environment, thus promoting impactful learning experiences.

An LXP can be a definitive helping hand in providing impactful personalized learning/training experiences in order for the employees to be successful and also the organization.

An LXP powered by the latest AI could further keep up the Frontline workforce up-to-date through micro-learning content merged with AI content recommendations along with an advanced data analytics platform to showcase the outcomes for better learning/training outcomes and learning/training experiences.

For upskilling Your Frontline workforce, mPowerO provides continuous support and is an end-to-end offering to Online Learning Platforms/Solutions, Digital Publishing Solutions, Upskilling/ReSkilling and Skilling training opportunities for medium to large companies.

mPowerO has evolved from being an Online Learning Solution (LMS) to serving as LXP in order to accommodate larger targeted audiences for educational/publishing and skilling requirements of various medium to large organizations/enterprises.

Talk to our expert team members for a deeper understanding and more related information.

Reach out via email at info@mpowero.com or visit us at https://www.mpowero.com/ for more information.

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