Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
Business Plan Writer & Financial Projections
Training vs Development: What Is the Difference for a Small Business?
Everyone Knows Their Job. Nobody Knows the Next One.
Your team is good at their jobs. That is the problem. Nobody can cover anybody else, nobody is growing into anything, and when one person takes a day off, part of the business stops. Business consultant Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, has worked through this with 1,000+ owners. This page covers the difference between training and development, and how cross-training fixes both.
Last Updated: 11/08/2026 · Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA
The Definition
What Is the Difference Between Training and Development?
Short Answer
Training makes someone better at the job they have now. Development prepares them for the next job, with new skills, new responsibilities, and a path to grow. Cross-training, teaching each person a second role, means no critical task depends on a single employee.
Training = better at today’s job. Development = ready for tomorrow’s. Cross-training = two people for every key task.
Doctor Owl, in Plain English
“Every creature in your shop is good at one thing. Ask each one what they want to learn next, and give them an hour a week to learn it.”
How This Guide Works
Need the answer fast? Read the Short Answer above and the numbered steps. Want the full picture? Follow Otto, an octopus with a parcel shop from Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series, as he has paid for an apprentice chair for twelve years and never filled it. His story shows up in a few short gold notes along the way. The math sits in one section, clearly marked.
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Meet Otto Again: Nobody to Pin
Some lessons stick better as a story. Dr. Paul’s Fabled Forest Business School Series teaches business through a forest full of small business owners. Doctor Owl, a dry-witted consultant who lives in the Lone Oak, helps them fix the same problems real owners face.
Today he is at the harbor hall, holding the tray of pins for the coast’s apprentice ceremony. Every business with an apprentice has a chair. Eight-Arm Errands, Otto the Octopus’s parcel shop, has had one for twelve years. For twelve years, it has been empty. Otto has eight good staff and 1,400 parcels a month. Each of them can do exactly one job.
Why It Matters
What Makes Small Businesses Skip Development?
Small businesses usually train people just enough to do their job, then stop. There is always more work than time, and keeping everyone on what they already do well feels efficient.
It is not. When nobody can cover anybody else, every absence is a crisis. When nobody is learning anything new, the best people get bored and leave, and the owner has no one ready to step up as the business grows. Development is how a small team grows with the business.
In the Fabled Forest
Otto’s people were very good at their jobs. The wrapper wrapped, the cart driver drove, the routing clerk planned the routes. The routing clerk had not taken a day off in four years, because nobody else knew how to do it.
Know the Difference
How Is Training Different From Development?
- Training closes the gap in the current job: the right way to wrap, the standard for the route, the new system.
- Development builds toward the next job: a new skill, more responsibility, a lead role.
- Cross-training teaches each person one other key job, so every task has a backup.
- Onboarding is the first training a new hire gets. See employee onboarding.
- The link. Development plus cross-training builds bench strength.
In the Fabled Forest
Before the morning ferry, Otto sat down with each of his eight staff over tea and asked one question: what would you like to learn next?
Making Time
How Do You Make Time for Training in a Busy Small Business?
Block out a little regular time, perhaps an hour per person each week, and guard it. Pair each person with someone who already does the job they want to learn. Expect it to be slow and awkward at first.
Track progress simply: for each key job, who can do it now, and who is learning it. Within a couple of months, most small teams can have two people for every important task.
In the Fabled Forest
The first weeks were clumsy. The wrapper was nervous driving the cart, and the driver wrapped parcels far too tight. By the sixth week, every job had two people who could do it. A week later, the routing clerk finally took three days off for a family wedding. Tobias covered the routes, and every parcel arrived where it should.
The Numbers
What Did One Hour a Week Build?
Here is the parcel shop before and after cross-training.
| Before | After six weeks | |
|---|---|---|
| Staff | 8 | 8 |
| Parcels a month | 1,400 | 1,400 |
| Key jobs with a trained backup | None | All of them |
| Training time | None | About 1 hour a week per person |
| Routing clerk’s days off in four years | 0 | 3, with routes running normally |
Step 1: The time cost. 8 people × 1 hour a week × 6 weeks = about 48 hours of training.
Step 2: The result. Every key job covered twice. An absence no longer stops the business.
Step 3: Your version. List your key jobs. Mark which ones only one person can do. Each one is a day the business stops if that person is out.
Illustrative numbers from the book. Use your own team and key jobs.
Step by Step
How Do You Start Training and Development in a Small Business?
Four steps, one hour a week.
List your key jobs and who can do each.
Mark every job only one person can do.
Ask each person what skill they want next.
One-on-one, with real interest. Write it down.
Pair people and protect an hour a week.
Each person learns one other key job from whoever does it now.
Track it until every job has two.
Update the list every week. Celebrate when the first person covers for someone else.
In the Fabled Forest
Doctor Owl’s scroll for Otto had two lines: ask each person what they want to learn, and give them an hour a week to learn it.
Otto’s Full Story
Who Sat in the Empty Chair?
This page gives you the short version. The book gives you the whole story: eleven apprentices pinned in eleven minutes, a chair with a name on it and nobody in it, eight cups of tea at the wrap bench, a wrapper afraid of the cart, a sister’s wedding, and the next spring’s ceremony.
Every chapter of Human Resources for Small Businesses works the same way. One owner, one problem, one real idea you can use on Monday, plus a one-page worksheet to do it.
A Business Consultant’s View
What Does Dr. Paul Build Into a Development Plan?
Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA · Business Consultant
A development plan Dr. Paul builds for a small business fits on one page per person: the job they do now, one skill to strengthen in that job, the next job they want to grow toward, who will teach them, and a protected time each week. It is simple on purpose. Owners avoid development because it sounds like a corporate program with budgets and courses. In a small business, it is mostly time and pairing. He also ties development to the pay structure, so people can see that learning a new role can move them up a range. That link turns development from a nice idea into a reason to stay.
FAQ
Still Have Questions About Training Your Team?
What is the difference between training and development?
What is cross-training?
How much time should a small business spend on training?
Keep Going
Want to Go Deeper on Growing Your People?
This is foundation 19 of 20. These pages build on it. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the human resources glossary.
Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author with 14+ years of experience and 1,000+ clients served. Hiring, paying, or managing a team and want a second set of eyes? See business consulting and prices.
This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, financial, employment, or other professional advice. Figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.