Just as individuals make New Year resolutions to improve themselves, organizations seek to improve business operations and often look at training as a potential primary solution. A former manager and colleague recently called and said his department was not communicating. He asked if I could I work with him to develop a training program on “How to communicate”? As tempting as it may be when we get a call asking for training to respond with “yes”….if it is not a problem that can be fixed with training, the answer should be “no”. Before training becomes the proposed solution, a thorough analysis and understanding of the situation should occur.
Returning to my colleague whose employees and department had the “communication problem”. With more probing, the problem could turn out to be a work environment where communication is not encouraged, a manager who is out of sync with the communication needs of his/her group, or insufficient time is set aside for staff meetings ( which is a normal venue for communicating business, operational and other important agenda items). As part of the diagnostic process in determining the real issues, ask the following questions:
- Does the department and/or employees have the competencies needed to perform the job(s)?
- Does the motivation exist among department employees to perform the jobs?
- Are employees given the freedom to perform their jobs and display their competencies?
- Have prior steps to correct the problem or improve the performance in an area been effective? What have been the results?
If the answers to the above questions are “yes” then chances are training is not the solution. The solution may be understanding a motivation issue, a change in department procedures/processes, or coaching manager/employees to modify their behaviors.
If training is determined to be a solution, the next step would be to begin an assessment of where employees currently are and where they need to be….how to close the gap. This is a second step taken only after determining if training is needed in the first place. Nike has the slogan “Just do it!” However, wait until you have done your homework before rushing in with a training solution. Identify the “it”.
