Benefits of Cross Training

1. Benefits of Cross Training RMACRAO 2013 Thursday, July 18 3:15 – 4:15 PM

2. Presenters • Pepper Jo Six, University of Wyoming • Associate Director of the Pre-College Visit Programs and Orientation Office • Carolyn Gutierrez, Univ of New Mexico • Operations Manager, Enrollment Management • Sherri Gaugh, San Juan College • Registrar

3. Why Cross Train? • Need – University of New Mexico • Necessity – San Juan College • Service – University of Wyoming

4. UW Model The UW Admissions Office asked itself: • How can we better serve or faculty, staff, and students? • How do we handle turnover? • What happens if an area is backlogged?

5. What needs to be changed? • Job duties that can be cross trained: • Opening of mail, stamping in mail, and answering front desk phones • Scanning and indexing all mail received • Processing of imaging • Processing of web applications • Processing graduate applications in the CRM

6. How to change the process • Evaluate positions • Evaluate dynamics • Ie: Train each processor on every duty

7. Where to start • Get buy in from staff • Go slow with training –set everyone up for success • Provide individual training as well as group training • Empower staff to create the rotation schedule • Must rotate often so the process works

8. Success • Eliminate griping • All processors can assist anyone • The load can be shared anytime – vacations, sick leave, or in transition

9. SJC Model With a focus on service to students and a goal of supporting staff, duties were evaluated. The goal was to allow employees to feel good about taking earned time off while maintaining quality service to students. A secondary goal was to not overload employees covering staff taking time off.

10. SJC Philosophy • All duties completed by one person will have multiple individuals supporting backup. • Each task has a primary and secondary backup. • Backup duties would be distributed as evenly as possible. • Documentation for all tasks in the event the primary and secondary backup employees are out.

11. SJC Task Assignment Model

12. SJC Backup Documentation • Maintained in OneNote • Searchable • Can link to web, folders, or other documentation pages • Included in evaluation

13. SJC Back Up Maintenance • Employees leave • Permanent • Temporary (maternity, etc.) • New tasks are implemented • New software or Upgrades

14. UNM Model We listened to students, parents and recent alumni who told us we needed to streamline the processing of applications for enrollment, financial aid and registration to improve turnaround. After evaluating online applications, financial aid, course registration and transfer processes, One-Stop student service centers were opened both on main and south campus to reduce wait times

15. UNM Enrollment Management

16. Philosophy • A cross-training model stresses flexibility in addressing the needs of customers. Adopting this model, or some version of the model, should enable Ieaders and managers to meet the changing needs of the university as it develops a cross-functional team model. It is a model that put emphasis on services that are meaningful and convenient to students. • The cross-functional team model eliminates many of the boundaries and rigidities of separate enrollment management services units, i.e., admissions/recruitment, registrar, financial aid. • The philosophy includes all the usual functions performed by the individual offices but organizes them in a different way. The model de-emphasizes vertical or silo structures and emphasizes horizontal or cross-functional structures. From a management perspective, staff members who are cross-trained in many different tasks means that all tasks are covered all the time cutting down on turnaround time and knowledge does not leave with exiting employees. • One of the main tenets of the enrollment management services model is that its student services are located in one place, a concept usually called one-stop shopping. UNM has a physical location, the one-stop center staffed by cross-functional team members with a focus on customer service.

17. Identify • Processes beginning to end from a student’s perspective. • Commonly asked questions. • Overlaps and gaps in processes. • Electronic solutions.

18. Continue • Work closely with One-Stop services and the Communications Center to allow for appropriate human resource support at all times. • All units continue advanced cross-training of staff with updates, scheduled and annual online trainings.

19. Questions and Contact Info • Carolyn Gutierrez, University of New Mexico • 505-277-0366 • cosme@unm.edu • Pepper Jo Six • 307-766-5126 • pepperjo@uwyo.edu • Sherri Gaugh, San Juan College • 505-566-4007 • gaughs@sanjuancollege.edu