The Case for Cross-Training

Cross-training is the process of training workers for a role that is outside their normal day-to-day job. Teaching a scale attendant to direct traffic is cross-training. So too is training the dozer operator to haul soil with the scraper.

Cross-training broadens your bench of workers, without adding anyone else to the payroll. It’s the idea of exchanging your crew of specialists (e.g., dozer operator, scraper operator, scale attendant, mechanic, traffic director, etc.) for an equal number of MacGyvers—folks who can effectively turn their hand at anything and everything.

The upside of cross-training is that even during a staffing shortage, you can always fill the highest priority positions with competent workers.

This isn’t to say that certain individuals won’t show aptitude for certain jobs, and when you find someone who is proficient at a certain position, you’ll want to play them there most of the time. That unique gifting that allows one person to excel with public interaction, or another to carry grade with a bulldozer, is a real phenomenon. Much can be taught, but more is simply part of who they are.

At one landfill, an operator named Joe ran the compactor and had been doing so for more than 20 years. He was a good overall operator, but on the compactor, he was a master. He could read the inbound waste stream, blend wet with dry, coarse with fine, and at the end of the day, produce a finished cell that was on grade, smooth, tight, and ready for cover. Joe had become very, very good at that particular job.

Similarly, other workers had their own unique areas of expertise, and the manager was wise enough to allow folks to generally stick to what they did best. That’s actually what makes an A-team. That’s also what a good manager does. He or she identifies where each person shines and then adjusts the operation to play them at that position as often as possible.

And then, occasionally, that same manager shifts things around by putting Joe on the dozer, Jennifer on the compactor, and moves Frank from traffic director to assistant scale attendant. But those shifts happen during slow days when slight inefficiency will have the least impact on the operation.

This brings us to another aspect of cross-training—that it is difficult. No manager wants to intentionally disrupt the flow of the A-team. But a good manager also realizes that an occasional rotation is the price one pays to have a well-rounded crew with some built-in redundancy.

Cross-training also increases overall efficiency and improves safety, because it helps individual workers understand how their job interacts with—and impacts—what other workers are doing. When the gate attendant can radio the traffic director that a hard-to-handle load is on its way, it helps ensure that load gets dumped in the right location. And when the primary dozer operator also understands how that load can impact the compactor operator’s plan, the entire operation just works better. It’s more efficient and it’s safer.

Cross-training is a tool that most good managers apply. They recognize that workers who understand how each job at the landfill connects with other jobs, become better team players.

But can you get too much of a good thing—like cross training? Unfortunately, yes. At some facilities, the crew rotation concept is taken to the extreme, where workers are constantly rotated without any regard for anything except, well…rotation.

I’ve heard the arguments for constant rotation: that it keeps workers from becoming bored; that it reduces complaints about a specific job because everyone else rotates through it equally; that it builds a more well-rounded team; that the union wants it. I’ve heard the reasons, but in the end, I still think it’s a bad idea.

Cross-training is a great tool for developing redundancy and teamwork in your crew, period. But the goal should always be to get back to your A-team as soon as possible. You can consider cross-training as practice for the big game. It provides a learning experience and builds camaraderie, but for the day-to-day frontline work, you need your first-string players in the game.

If you are currently using some form of cross-training, good. If you aren’t, perhaps you should think about ways to begin a cross-training program. Either way, here are some ideas to make it work.

Prioritize

Cross-training is a process. No facility could stand the stress of shifting the entire crew to a different job at the same time. Disaster would be an understatement. So, you look at where having redundancy would bring the greatest benefit. If a key employee is scheduled to retire, or has a vacation coming up, that would be a good place to start. Or, if you’ve had difficulty in retaining qualified staff for a specific position, start your cross-training there.

Try this simple exercise: Take turns thinking about each person on your team and imagine the impact if they were suddenly not in that position. Don’t worry, you’ll have no problem coming up with scenarios that would make for a very bad day.

Standardize

Effective cross-training is not simply moving a worker from one position to another while you just watch to see what happens. The results could be interesting, but probably not very favorable. Instead, cross-training must begin with a clear job description of each position and clear Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). When someone is cross-trained for another role, you must first clearly define that role.

In that regard, it’s fine to have an experienced worker assist in training the newbies, but you’d better make sure the job is being done correctly before passing it on someone else. When bad work habits are passed on, they seem to get worse.

Set Goals

Finally, set some realistic goals for what you want to accomplish with your cross-training program. That way you’ll know when you’re finished. Various levels of cross-training may be ongoing, but only to the degree necessary to build redundancy into your crew.

Remember, the ultimate goal of cross-training is simply to provide dependable backup to your A-team.