1. Prevents stagnation. An important factor for happiness is personal growth and if you don’t have any opportunity to grow and develop in your current position or learn something new, your daily routine is destined to get boring very fast, and you’ll stagnate.
2. Offers a learning and professional development opportunity. If you want to grow in your organization, cross-training in another department that you’re interested in is a great way to get a foot into the door and  develop your knowledge and expertise. It will make you a valuable asset for your organization and more competitive once a position in the other department becomes available!
3. Rejuvenates all departments. New employees always bring a fresh wind of new ideas and energy with them, and employees from another department have a similar effect… even if it’s just a nice breeze. It challenges the employees that have been in their position for many years to answer why tasks and processes are completed in a certain way, and to question if it’s really the best and most effective way.
4. Improves understanding of the different departments and the hotel as a whole. Being able to understand that different departments have different priorities, and how everything works together, will help you to broaden your horizon and appreciate your colleagues more.
5. Leads to better coordination and teamwork and erases differences, enmity and unhealthy competition. Once you start working in another department, and even if it’s only for a couple of hours, you start to understand your colleagues’ challenges better and appreciate their efforts more. But most importantly you’ll start to put yourself in their shoes and develop empathy.
6. Increases knowledge, know-how, skills and work performance. If you’re in charge of front office or housekeeping operations wouldn’t you want your employees to better understand how the other department and rooms operations work? …and if you’re starting your career as a front desk agent would you not love the opportunity to learn more about other operations within the hotel without having to wait for a permanent transfer to a position that you may not even like?
7. Improves overall motivation. I can tell you that this works and that it will motivate your people, but you’ll have to try it yourself to see the amazing effect it will have on the culture within your teams.
8. Leads to the sharing of organizational goals and objectives. Nothing is more powerful than everyone being aligned in the same direction following the same goals. Your organization will be able to move at a much faster pace.

If you believe that cross-training is too expensive, too much of a burden on your operations, and that your organization probably can’t afford it, I tell you that once you see the measurable results of cross-training, you’ll understand that you cannot afford to wait any longer starting cross-training your teams!

Question: What is your experience with cross-training?