Cross-Training

Are you the type of person who likes to be in control of everything? Or are you more apt to defer to others, delegate tasks, and ask for help when you need it? I think I am prone to try to take care of everything myself, but I do not necessarily think that is the best route to take.

It is a true gift to be able to recognize when you need help and ask for it. I am working on that. I do love to help others, and feel as though I let my team down when I cannot find the answer or fix the problem. Who am I to think my team members might not feel that same way?

Along these lines, I have come to appreciate a strategy which is implemented fairly often in business known as cross-training. If every member of the team knows how to do everyone else's job, there is more cohesion, appreciation of others, and better functionality as a whole. This is not always fun for employees however. Let's take a look at the advantages from their perspective and see how we might be able to make the process more appealing.

I remember I had a boss once who had a button that read "that's not my job". Every time anyone complained about doing something out of their "box", she made them wear the button for the day. It was a humorous yet effective way to communicate leadership. We gradually learned that taking up the reigns for others was positive, ego-boosting, and just plain professional behavior. I rarely saw the button. It just wasn't needed.


One of the firms I work with has an entirely cross-trained department. No one at the firm can tell you which member of that team does what. There are 5 of them, and the work gets done. They are like a well-oiled and fine-tuned machine. They all do it all, and seem to be happy about it. There is one "in-box" for the whole group and one "out box". It is a mystery how they operate. I think they like it that way!

Learning and training for a job you were not expecting to perform may seem daunting, unecessary, or like a waste of your time, but try to see the good in it for you in the process. Perhaps you will gain a skill of use to you down the road. Perhaps you will find the other tasks more rewarding than you thought. Maybe you will be seen as a "doer", and your positive attitude will land you a better position, more referrals, or a raise in pay. I believe that nothing done with pure positive energy is ever wasted. Even as you perform these tasks which may feel uncomfortable, be thinking ahead, and be thankful for your opportunity to shine.

One simple way to help each other

Notice the new widget on the sidebar here? (It says "recent visitors" and is light blue) If you click "add me to this site's community" you will go to my "bloglog" page, where you can join.

If many of us do this, and link to each other, we not only help each other by adding incoming links to our blogs, but we can regularly visit each other and comment. Adding comments to someone's blog enhances the "value" in terms of how high your search terms are ranked in google or other search engines. The higher we rank, the more internet traffic we get to our blog.

As a proponent of teambuilding, I believe that we, the writers and readers of blogs are a team. The goal is to help each other in whatever capacity we can to be more successful in life and on the internet. I hope you will join me in this quest by becoming an addition to this community.

My bloglog is a simple to use application/ site where you can post all of your sites in one place. Let us begin this quest and see how far we can take it! I look forward to commenting on your blogs.....see you there soon!

Thanks Randy Pausch

You do not have to be a computer genius, which he was, or an art aficionado, which he was, or a PhD indoctrinated college professor, which he most certainly was, or a virtual reality geek, which he also was, to appreciate what Randy Pausch has to say. Special thanks to Ken McArthur and Tracy Repchuk for bringing Randy’s message to my inbox.

View the video Here. It is worth your time!

His “last lecture” and book of the same name has inspired college students, youth, and many others (myself included) about the power of imagination and believing in your childhood dreams. Randy’s last lecture is a gift to us from him. His life was a gift, and he had the forethought to realize that and make sure we all get the chance to receive his optimism, even after he is gone. His work on teams transformed graduate school to "Edutainment" status (his term) at Carnegie Mellon.

Randy died yesterday, yet his death was in a way a catharsis…a jump-start for the rest of us to do what he did. Embrace his dream, never take “no” for an answer and to scale, even bust through, every brick wall we face. Thanks Randy! You are endeared to us forever.