Will training help?

If you’re pressed for time, try this quick assessment to determine training needs
Your business is having some problems, whether it is productivity, staffing issues, or employee moral. And you think training is the across-the-board solution. To find out whether training is truly the best intervention, you should facilitate a needs assessment. I’m sure you’re wondering how you will find the time to do a one- to six-week needs assessment, when the problem is spiraling out of control. If you have three hours — try the quick needs assessment (QNA) to get to the root of the problems.
You may sacrifice a little quality of information in exchange for speed, but this type of assessment has the benefit of better buy-in from participants as well as a more coherent, results-focused program.
The best timeframe for scheduling this assessment is 11 a.m. to noon for the discovery session, lunch from noon to 1 p.m., and 1 to 2 p.m. for the presentation of the results and a discussion. The lunch hour allows the participants to take a break, and you to tabulate the results.
The process
1) Gather staff, customers (if applicable to the problem being addressed), and management in a room and have everyone focus on one question related to your problem. e.g.: What do you think we need in terms of training to better manage our customer relationships?
2) Record all responses on a white board or flip chart and post where everyone can see. (15-20 minutes)
3) Then pose a follow up question. e.g.: What kinds of customer problems do you think this training will solve?
4) Record all responses again on a white board or flip chart and post. (15-20 minutes)
5) Match training suggestions to the problems with the input of the group and combine into one list. (15-20 minutes)
6) Then give each participant a 3″x5″ index card and ask them to select and write down five items from the combined list that they think are the most critical issues. Assure them you will keep the responses confidential. Have them rank their items on a scale of one to five, with five being the most important and one the least important. Participants should not collaborate about their rankings. (5-10 minutes)
7) Collect the cards, send the participants to lunch, order in lunch for yourself, and between bites tabulate the results by adding the rankings for each issue.
8) Plot the results on a pareto chart with the ranking on the vertical axis and the corresponding training issue/problem on the horizontal axis. Put them in descending order with the highest ranking one listed first on the left, and the issue that got the lowest ranking on the right. Any issues that were not ranked can be discarded. You can either draw the chart on the white board or flip chart, use PowerPoint, or just sketch it out on plain paper and run it through the copier.
9) When the group returns from lunch, share the results and the process you used. Get input on how the intervention can be designed to specifically meet their needs. You and the participants will discover the issues that most people feel strongly about. Out of 10 to 15 issues you will typically find that three or four will outrank the rest by a substantial margin. (10-15 minutes)
10) Address the top three or four issues, one at a time and ask, “Is this a training issue?” Follow that criteria for training. Would a person practicing a new behavior or skill solve the problem? If the answer is, without a doubt, yes, then training is the most likely solution. Then ask for input on the best approach and decide on a course of action and method for evaluating the results. (15-20 minutes) You are done.
11) If the answer to the question in step 10 is either no or ambiguous, then you need to determine what needs to be done. Following are five areas to investigate.
a) Human – Are there personal limitations other than lack of training?
b) Method or Sequencing — Is the job being done in the most efficient manner or sequence, utilizing the most up to date methods available?
c) Machines, Hardware or Software — Are the tools being used the best ones for the job?
d) Material — Sometimes this is not tangible. A lot of what gets processed today has no physical characteristics, it is data being converted into information or knowledge. Is she or he getting the right material at the right time, in the right form, to perform the task?
e) Environment — There are two types of environment to consider: physical and cultural. Physical considerations are environmental and ergonomic. Cultural considerations have to do with information flow, concentration of power, and lack of direction, etc.
The secret to keeping it short is to focus on finding the source of the problem not the solution. That’s a job for another day and a different group in most cases. For this session keep it as simple as possible. (30-60 minutes)
Even though it isn’t the most thorough needs assessment, it is the quickest and most factually based approach to answering the question, “Will training solve the problems?”
Steven J. McCombs is director of KL Applied Corporate Intellect, a performance measurement and enhancement consulting affiliate of Kolb Lauwasser & Co, a West Allis-based CPA and business advisory firm, www.kolbcpa.com.
July 20, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee