Shadowing

What is Shadowing?

Shadowing refers to the practice of observing and learning from someone else’s work by following them through their daily tasks, processes, and activities. In an organizational context, shadowing typically involves a less experienced individual, often a new hire or someone moving into a new role, closely following a more experienced employee to gain hands-on understanding and insights into specific job functions, responsibilities, and company workflows.

Shadowing can happen in various departments, including IT, HR, customer service, and operations, and is often used as part of onboarding, training, or cross-training programs. While shadowing provides valuable learning opportunities, it can also be beneficial for the more experienced employee, as it fosters mentorship, team cohesion, and knowledge transfer across the organization.

Key Takeaways

• Shadowing involves observing and learning from a more experienced colleague.
  
  
• It helps new employees or individuals in new roles understand processes and workflows.
  
  
• Commonly used in onboarding, training, and cross-training.
  
  
• Encourages mentorship, knowledge transfer, and skill development.
  
  
• Siit supports shadowing by streamlining knowledge sharing and task tracking through integrations with tools like Slack, Jira, and Notion.
  
  

Why Shadowing Matters

Shadowing is a powerful tool for accelerating learning and helping employees get up to speed quickly. It provides real-time insights into day-to-day operations, allowing the learner to understand the nuances of their role that may not be captured in formal training.

Key benefits of shadowing include:

• Faster onboarding: Shadowing helps new hires or role-changers quickly learn key tasks and expectations without having to rely solely on written documentation.
  
  
• Hands-on experience: It allows individuals to observe and participate in real work, making learning more relevant and practical.
  
  
• Mentorship: Shadowing fosters strong mentorship relationships, encouraging experienced employees to share knowledge and expertise with newer team members.
  
  
• Increased engagement: For both the shadow and the employee doing the shadowing, this process can be a more engaging and interactive learning experience, as it emphasizes real-world application over theory.
  
  
• Knowledge transfer: Shadowing ensures that valuable organizational knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge, is passed down to new generations of employees.
  
  

By leveraging shadowing, organizations can build a more knowledgeable and cohesive workforce while improving skill development and employee retention.

Shadowing in Action

Let’s say a new IT support employee is hired to handle internal service requests. Instead of starting their role with limited training, the employee spends their first week shadowing a seasoned IT technician. They observe how to handle various types of tickets, how to diagnose technical issues, and the process for prioritizing requests.

As they watch and learn, they gain practical experience, familiarize themselves with internal tools, and understand how IT services align with business objectives. Throughout the process, the employee can ask questions and receive guidance, building confidence before handling their first service requests independently.

This hands-on approach is not only more engaging for the new hire but also allows the experienced employee to share knowledge, best practices, and insights in real-time.

How Siit Supports Shadowing

Siit enhances shadowing by centralizing knowledge sharing and task tracking, ensuring that the learning process is both structured and efficient. Through integrations with tools like Slack, Jira, and Notion, Siit ensures that shadowing processes are documented and tracked for future reference.

For example, Siit can automatically log tasks, service requests, and incidents handled during a shadowing session, providing the shadowing employee with immediate access to their work history. Siit’s AI-powered workflows and Automated Task Assignment can help guide new employees through the process, ensuring they’re exposed to the right tasks at the right time.

Team Queues in Siit ensure that shadowing employees can work alongside more experienced team members, observe the entire service request cycle, and gradually take on tasks under supervision. Meanwhile, Analytics & Reporting provide visibility into shadowing progress, so managers can track training milestones and ensure comprehensive knowledge transfer.

Siit’s knowledge base integrations make it easy for shadowing employees to access relevant documents, SOPs, and resources, empowering them to learn quickly and efficiently during the shadowing process.

Ready to make your employee training more interactive and effective? Book a demo and see how Siit streamlines shadowing and knowledge transfer in your organization.