Employee retention and company productivity are two of the most important goals of any organization. For learning and development (L&D) teams, the training program itself can help achieve these outcomes. Building and developing skills through upskilling and cross-skilling directly impacts an organization by closing an ever-growing skills gap, reducing staff turnover, and improving productivity in a workforce stretched thin.

In this guide, you will learn:

• What is Upskilling and Cross-Skilling?
• 3 Reasons to Upskill and Cross-Skill
• How to Upskill/Cross-Skill Your Workforce
• How Video Creates a Culture of Innovation
• 5 Best Practices to Create Your Training Library
• FAQs

What is Upskilling and Cross-Skilling?

Upskilling and cross-skilling are training tools used to help employees expand their skill sets.
Upskilling is the process of strengthening existing skills or learning complementary skills, often to close an organizational talent gap. For example, a corporate executive might complete an MBA to bring a more strategic outlook to their organization.
Cross-skilling (also known as cross-training) is the process of developing new skills that apply across different functions. For example, a user experience designer might learn software development fundamentals to improve cross-functional collaboration and productivity.

Related Reading: “What is Upskilling and Cross-Skilling?”

3 Reasons to Upskill and Cross-Skill

Did you know that 79% of learning and development professionals believe that it’s less expensive to reskill a current employee than to hire a new one? 

Besides the obvious cost savings associated with upskilling and cross-skilling employees, there are a few additional benefits to keep in mind.

1. Contribute to the competitive advantage of your business by improving productivity. For organizations to remain competitive, reskilling is no longer optional. An overwhelming 91% of companies and 81% of employees believe reskilling and upskilling has improved productivity at work.
2. Retain top talent in a competitive hiring landscape. Employers understand the struggle to find workers with the right balance of hard and soft skills. In such a competitive landscape, retaining top talent is crucial to sustaining productivity and growth – and upskilling and cross-skilling talented employees helps you to retain talent by investing in their professional growth.
3. Support a culture of innovation and continuous learning. Your company is only as innovative as its people. With industries, markets, and everyday business practices evolving, employee skills and knowledge remain the bedrock of organizational innovation. Employees seek purpose and impact, and innovation thrives when corporate goals align with employee career goals

Related Reading: 3 Reasons to Reskill, Upskill, and Cross-skill Your Hybrid Workforce

Did you know? 80% of employees say that upskilling/reskilling training has boosted their confidence.

How to Upskill/Cross-Skill Your Workforce

While you may understand “why” it’s important to upskill and cross-skill within your organization, you may be questioning, “how?”

Upskilling and cross-skilling may not be included in your learning and development program right now, but you can implement this training using resources already available to you:

1. Assess the skills your team possesses now and what skills you may need in the future. Your team is your most valuable asset when creating an upskilling and cross-skilling program. Begin the process by surveying and understanding employee skills and areas of opportunity for employees to grow. 
2. Set upskilling goals. Of course, before any program is created, it’s vital to set goals for upskilling and cross-skilling training. Do you wish to expand employee opportunities and responsibilities? Are leadership positions available? Will training help fill gaps between departments? Along with larger company goals, each individual should set individual goals aligned with the training as well. 
3. Determine what learning format is most suitable for you. How do your employees learn? For some, live or in-person training programs work. For others, an asynchronous video-based learning offers flexibility and scalability throughout the training program. It is up to you and your team to decide the best approach. 
4. Design the upskill/cross-skill program. Once you have an idea of how you wish to implement the upskill and cross-skill training, the next step is creating the training. You can either create the program internally, such as creating training videos by department leaders, or depend on external resources.
5. Monitor progress and match newly skilled employees with opportunities. Upskilling and cross-skilling training is successful when employees have the opportunity to expand on their responsibilities. Through training tools, such as a video management system, analytics will easily show progress made by each individual.  Once training is complete and implemented, matching employees with positions that include these new skills show an organization’s commitment to upskilling and cross-training to offer greater opportunities to employees.

 

How Video Creates a Culture of Innovation

Using video to add upskilling and cross-skilling to your organization’s training program allows an easily scalable solution designed to empower employees with the flexibility they need to enhance their skills. 

A video platform simplifies video, making it possible to record, edit, share, and search video-based knowledge. And by integrating a video platform into your other learning systems, you ensure your entire video library can be accessed where your people already go to get and share information. Video enables L&D teams to scale instructor-led training to more employees, better assess development for more individuals in less time, and to provide detailed feedback and coaching — all without requiring everyone to be in the same room at the same time

Through the innovative use of video, organizations promote flexible, innovative opportunities to learn and enhance skills.

Related Reading: “How Video Creates a Culture of Innovation”

 

📣 “We use Panopto’s video analytics to monitor how teams and individuals are engaging with our communications and create weekly branch and team engagement reports for managers and the executive team. Since adopting Panopto, staff are more engaged and they’re getting information faster and in a format that they can better process. We have different learning styles on the team, and moving toward a culture of video makes it easier for everyone to learn.”

Jeff King, Multimedia Specialist, American 1 Credit Union

5 Best Practices to Create Your Training Library

A corporate video learning library is a central, secure, easily accessible channel for an organization’s training and development resources. To create your library, there are five easy steps:

1. Understand your employees. Try to gain an understanding of how your employees will be using these videos, what resources they may need, and what pain points can be solved using video. 
2. Identify and populate useful content. Now that you understand the needs, create the content to address these needs. Videos need to be flexible, authentic, and easily recorded.
3. Help employees quickly and easily find content. With an intuitive video platform, employees have the ability to easily access learning and development videos. 
4. Evangelize your video learning library. Lead by example and identity champions of the program – this will increase adoption rates significantly.
5. Iterate and improve. Through engagement data, you have the tools you need to identify areas of improvement within your video library. 

Related Reading: 5 Best Practices for Building an Effective Corporate Video Learning Library

Ready to give video a try?

Learn more about how to offer upskilling and cross-skilling in your training program with video.

Request a Demo

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is upskilling training?
  • Upskilling is the process of strengthening existing skills or learning complementary skills, often to close an organizational talent gap. 
• What is cross-skilling training?
  • Cross-skilling (also known as cross-training) is the process of developing new skills that apply across different functions. 
• Why is upskilling and cross-skilling important?
  • Building and developing skills through upskilling and cross-skilling positively impacts an organization by closing an ever-growing skills gap, reducing staff turnover (which in turn decreases the need for new employee onboarding costs), and improving productivity.
• What are the benefits of upskilling and cross-skilling?
  • Adding upskilling and cross-skilling to your organization’s training program allows employees to have a greater skill set, increases productivity, increases your company’s competitive advantage, reduces turnover, and helps to support a culture of innovation and learning. 
• How do I create upskilling and cross-skilling programs for employees?
  • You can create an up-skilling and cross-skilling program for employees in four steps:
    • Assess the skills your team possesses now and what skills you may need in the future.
    • Ensure employee buy-in.
    • Determine what learning format is most suitable for you.
    • Design the upskill/cross-skill program.
• How do I measure the effectiveness of training and development when upskilling and cross-skilling?
  • To determine the effectiveness of upskilling and cross-skilling, you want to look at the ROI of those training within your learning and development program. You can find the ROI in a few different ways: 
    • Determine and measure specific organizational goals and metrics
    • Demonstrate individual growth in employee evaluations
    • Track how L&D supports employee satisfaction and retention
    • Conduct a training impact study informed by engagement and learning data
    • Continuously improve the cost-effectiveness of training
• How can I use video in my training and development program?
  • Through the use of video in your training program, you have the ability to easily scale. Video can be used for training videos and can host a variety of training, including social learning, upskilling and cross-skilling, and personal compliance training.