What is it about a training needs assessment that makes learning professionals panic?
(Jump to the bottom of this post to enter to win this month’s book giveaway).
I’ve written many times, on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and on this website about the importance of asking the right questions at the right time. Not every nail needs a hammer, not every problem requires a training intervention.
For every learning professional who tells me they don’t have time for a proper training needs assessment, I ask them if they enjoy:
- Creating work that has no hope of success
- Developing programs that will waste peoples time
- Wasting company money on a solution that has great odds of not working
- Wasting your time, because you KNOW you will have to start all over again because what everyone assumed was the problem…isn’t.
No one enjoys having to recreate the wheel over and over again. If but for a little project management, you can conduct at least a minimal Training Needs Investigation.
Working Backwards
This requires a little backward planning. Example: Business sponsor states they need a”Little product knowledge refresher program” out to the sales team in 3 weeks.
Let’s assume it’s an elearning program. We already know will take 42 hours to create one hour of passive elearning, (Defelice, Robyn (2018, 01/09) How Long to Develop One Hour of Training? Updated 2017, ATD publishing).
Therefore if we have three weeks, (and we know we will need to dedicate at least 42 hours to create this training) then we know we will have fire up the Articulate Storyline at least 10 days before delivery. This is also to account for program review. This leaves us with 11 days to analyze and properly design the program.
Begin with the end in mind!
This where the outstanding book, Needs Assessments Basics, comes into the picture. This is the second edition – I have the first edition, and it’s highlighted and sticky-noted to death. (And, I’ve been around the block a time or two, ANYONE can make great use of this book!)
A few words from the author Beth McGoldrick
Do you remember when you were a kid and you asked questions all the time? After a while, usually the grown-ups got exhausted and told you to stop asking questions or they gave you answers in a manner that made you stop asking any more questions. And so, you went through life curbing your inquisitive nature, and you may have even lost the art of asking questions.
Ifyou’ve lost the skill of asking questions, “Needs Assessment Basics” can helpyou. A large part of a training consultant’s job is asking questions. To helpthe organization improve, you need to get to the deeper need of the business,to understand the learners and the work environment, and understand what iscausing the problem. In order to do this, you need to ask a lot ofquestions. I frequently tell people that I ask questions for a living.
Ask Questions No One Else Will Ask
As training consultants, we are in a unique position to ask the questions that no one else will ask. We come
Because of this perspective, we aren’t stuck in the same thinking about the business – the people, processes, and products – that people who are knee-deep in the business are. We have an outsider point of view that allows us to see things that no one else can see. We can ask “why” and “how” and “who.” We can ask “what if” and “then what” and get to the bottom of the performance issues.
In addition to relearning how to ask questions, “Needs Assessment Basics” will help you:
- Move from being a training order taker to being a valued performance consultant
- Implement a return on expectation (ROE) focus to help your clients concentrate on what results they expect and how to measure them, and
- Build a systematic process to discover the human performance root causes that are getting in the way of the results the business needs.
We went from a do-more-with-less employment market after the financial crisis to a very low unemployment market with more jobs than employees. Both situations have caused organizations to need their employees to be more efficient and effective. As a training professional who asks questions that lead to the answers that help them do that, you will be even more valuable.
Your business partners need you to get in there and be that eight-year-old version of yourself. Ask questions all day long of everyone who is involved in the business related to the issue you’ve been asked to solve and find the deeply needed answers that will shed light on real causes of the human performance problem. Help your business partners get to the root causes of their problems and you will be the valued partner you’ve known you and the rest of the training professionals at your organization can be.
Beth McGoldrick, author of Needs Assessment Basics, is also a working training professional, day-to-day getting in and helping the Fortune 500 company she works to solve their human performance problems. Outside of working and writing, Beth will be found with her devoted husband, darling son, and dashing Shetland sheepdog. Beth can be reached at beth.mcgold@gmail.com.
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Training Needs Assessment Book Giveaway
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I’m going to speak in high-level terms that make it all sound too easy.
I’ve seen training being used to communicate or bring awareness around topics. People need to “know” something and training is to help develop people’s knowledge.
I agree that training helps with people’s knowledge, but knowledge is a big word. There are so many things to know related to so many topics, that you could keep yourself busy doign “training” to increase your knowledge for your entire life.
Communications or resource documents are a better way to share facts and that type of knowledge.
To me we are looking at training in the wrong light.
I always say “Everything I need to know about trainign development I learned in grade 9 science”
Training is part of a bigger solution to a performance problem.
I propose that training should be used to eliminate knowledge, skills, and abilties (KSAs) from being the reason that performance is not where it should be.
Somewhere around grade 9 we learned about the “scientific method”
You define the situation, create a hypothesis, test it, make observations and conclusions.
For example, performance isn’t happening, we do a training needs analysis to define the situation, we hypothesize if training will help (and what that would be), then we train people and observe if the performance changes.
Training shouldn’t be the only solution to close a performance gap.
It should do it’s part in removing elements (where it can) that cause a performance gap.
No matter what behaviour influence model you want to use, training will only help in some areas related to the KSAs needed to perform to defined standards. To close the performance gap, people (training requestors) need to understand what training can and cannot do.
The training needs analysis is one of the best places to help people understand their problem a bit better and also realize what may be possible with training, and most importantly what training cannot do, so they also look for other items to help in the areas training can’t.
Nik, I really like what you said about “Training shouldn’t be the only solution to close a performance gap.”
I agree. Even if training is the right solution, it’s not the only solution.
I often ask business leaders, “Besides training, what else do we need to think about to see the change in performance you are expecting?”
Great follow-up question Dawn!
Hi Nik – Thank you for your comment and I am ON BOARD! Training should be part of a bigger, more holistic approach. One that includes, as you stated, an assessment of the problem in context. Is the issue stemming from a poor process or procedure, poor hiring practices, lack of job standards…just to name a few. These may be the root, meaning no amount of training will solve your problem.
Two reasons why training fails – lack of learning reinforcement and lack of feedback loop (or accountability loop from management). We cannot, nor should not manage the training process AFTER a program leaves our hands, this is where communication plans to management become critical. We fail to account for this during the analysis phase – we do not take into consideration how organizational culture is going to support the learning AFTER the participants leave the “room” be it virtual, eLearning or otherwise.
I’m also with you in regards to knowledge-based learning. There are times where it is appropriate when scaffolding the learning. However, for the most part, knowledge-based learning should be a video, recorded webinar, infographic or some other media.
(Update) – Today I saw Seth Godin’s Blog “Diagnosis” – https://seths.blog/2018/11/diagnosis/
My approach of saying training should eliminate some KSAs from the performance gap, includes some big steps like the diagnosis section. It is not about making guesses. It is about finding out the best estimation of the root cause of the gap and addressing it in the best ways you can, given all the constraints that exist within your environment.
Understanding the problem is critical in determining the right solutions. If your car engine light is on, you know there’s a problem. You take your car to a mechanic who first runs some diagnostic tests to figure out why your engine light is on. Once the problem is diagnosed, the mechanic can fix the right problem, hopefully saving you some time and money in the long run. I’d rather know what is causing the engine light to be on and fix that vs opening up my pocketbook and putting a bunch of time and money into things that might fix my car. Wouldn’t you? As learning professionals, our job is similar to the car mechanic. When the business engine light is on, we need to help diagnose the problem and determine the right solution. I’d love to hear more about what Beth shares in her book on how learning professionals can understand the cause of the performance problem and aligning the right solutions.
Hi Dawn – LOVE this analogy. I may have to steal it. I’ve heard the doctor/patient analogy before, but I think this fits even better. You are on point. We don’t go in and just let the mechanic try to fix the car from assumptions, we expect them to solve the problem the first go around.
This looks like an interesting book! Very helpful blog post, too. I appreciate the way you began the article, with the questions on whether professionals enjoy wasting their time. I’m often tasked with creating new trainings simply because we haven’t documented an aspect of our practice. I’m always reminding myself to start with the end in mind.
Thank you, Amanda. It’s a great book with charts, templates and everything you need to really drill down to solving the problem that needs solving. Our time is valuable, let’s not just throw it away.
I’ve come into the instructional design field in a sideways manner as have many of my colleagues. I work with faculty at a community college- a very independent-minded group. Any book, tool, or strategy that helps me prove my value and streamline my processes driving my effectiveness is something I’m going to dig into.
I agree Julie – same with most of us. I actually started in restaurant operations, so at the time (no internet) all I had was books to help me progress. This is why, in my opinion, regardless of tenure in the industry we could all use some extra something to make us better.