Improving your business in small, incremental ways can bring about massive changes in results. Finding the right people to hire can be difficult – but arguably even more difficult is the process of cultivating new skills in the employees you already have. You’re going to want to switch things up to force people to grow.
Cross Train Employees
Oftentimes, the most efficient practice is to train employees to specialize in certain tasks. You have one team devoted to a particular business aspect, another team devoted to a separate aspect, and so on, until every part of the business has a team of focused experts. The problem with this system is that unforeseen problems (absence, sickness, employee conflict, etc.) can suddenly render a certain team unusable. Cross-training employees is the practice of training employees on tasks that are normally outside of their routine workload – and these are the situations when cross-training becomes invaluable. You might just be surprised how a wider spectrum of training can diversify an individual’s approach to their normal project as well.
Hire a Diverse Workforce
Some people unconsciously balk at the concept of “forced” diversity, associating it with certain political platforms. The truth is that diversity is good for everyone and can come in a variety of different ways. By having a diverse workforce, you will have more experiences, perspectives, and skills to draw on. People from a range of backgrounds, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, sexualities, genders, races, and abilities mean more contributions from every angle. Diversity in the workplace can increase morale and productivity as well since people are kept socially stimulated. A workplace that all shares the same backgrounds, on the other hand, will lead to boredom and stagnation.
Hire Consultants
Sometimes, you simply don’t have an employee who has the experience or perspective that you want to include in your workplace. That might be in the case of something as direct as a lack of thorough knowledge of how to operate some new technology. Maybe your workplace needs racial sensitivity training. Whatever the case may be, you will find that hiring outside consultants to come through and reorganize your employees can make a big difference. This is especially helpful if your hiring pool is less-than-stellar in your area.
New skills can make all the difference in the world. Improving your workplace environment, after all, doesn’t need to be done by huge, sweeping changes. What you need to look for are opportunities to help your employees diversify themselves internally as you diversify externally.
Check out this article on how to hire the right people for your business!