October 10, 2023 • 16 mins
Are you an aspiring or experienced instructional designer who is looking for support or inspiration for your instructional design? You're in the right place.
If you have specific topics that you would like me to cover on an upcoming episode, send me a message at sarahw@learningtodesign.com!
Check out my learning portfolio here.
In an effort to help decision makers invest wisely in employee development, Sarah's crafted an enlightening conversation, and provided a FREE interactive tool and editable training needs report template to determine if training is indeed the right solution. Within five minutes, you can carry out a preliminary training needs analysis, grounded in instructional design research.
Often, training is seen as the ultimate fix-it solution but we're here to shed light on the reality. Factors such as skill deficits, motivational issues, environmental dimensions, scarce resources, role ambiguity, and mismatched roles - they all play a significant role in an employee's performance. And guess what? They all call for different solutions. So, let's replace the misconception with clarity. We're here to provide practical tips on identifying performance gaps, observing on-the-job behaviors, and even leveraging past performance records. So gear up, it's time to think beyond the training box and make informed decisions about the interventions your team truly needs. Get ready for a paradigm shift!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sarah (00:07):
Hi, today we're going to be talking about when training
is or isn't the answer.
This has happened to me so manytimes.
People come to me and they'relike Sarah, we need training.
We have this problem.
We need it to be an hour, weneed it to be e-learning, we
need it to be a seminar, and thething is is that they've
already decided what they needand how long it needs to be and
(00:31):
what format it needs to be in,but they don't actually know
what they want it to contain.
And the problem here is thatthey don't know what they don't
know.
And it's my role as aninstructional designer and
learning guide to help themunderstand that this will happen
to you.
If this hasn't happened to youyet, you will have the
experience of someone coming toyou and saying hey, we heard
(00:53):
you're the learning personaround here.
We'd like to have you join ourteam and help us develop some
learning.
We need training and we need itto be XYZ and you're thinking.
Well, I'm not so sure aboutthat, but it can be kind of
intimidating to say that topeople.
It's sometimes easier to do ifyou have some kind of a tool to
back it up or some kind ofrationale or logical explanation
(01:15):
in your back pocket.
And that's where I'm reallyexcited today, because I'm
offering for free an interactivetool that you can use.
You can walk through it withthe person asking for the
training or hey, maybe it's you,that's not sure if you need
training or not.
It's an interactive tool thatwalks you through a series of
questions and then instructs youwhat and when to write
(01:36):
something down.
You can then use that togenerate a report.
But I've done one better thanthat, because I've also included
a free template that you canuse with Canva.
So, whether you're a free orpaid member, you can use the
tool and walk through it at thesame time completing the
activities as you go.
And I'm not kidding you, withinfive minutes you will be able
(01:58):
to generate a mini preliminarytraining needs analysis.
Now, this is by no meanscomprehensive, but what it is is
grounded in instructionaldesign research, so it will
instantly let you communicate towhoever's requesting the
training what they mightactually need instead, or maybe
they do need training after all.
Anyway, I'm really excitedabout it because I know it's
(02:21):
going to be helpful for you and,as a big bonus, it's totally
editable, so you can put yourown logo in there.
You can put your own headers,footers, you can do whatever you
want with it.
It's a guide for decisionmakers.
Is training the answer?
Often, what will happen ispeople just say, yeah, we need
training.
So why do they do this?
Why would somebody do this?
Well, firstly, it's familiar.
(02:43):
It's simple and familiar.
Many organizations already havethings like standard operating
procedures and work instructionsand they just look at training
as the way to get to what theyneed.
It's well known, it'sstraightforward, it's simple and
recognized, but it's not always, or even often, the most
(03:04):
effective solution.
Sometimes initiating a trainingprogram lets people feel like
they're taking measurable stepsto address a problem.
It can provide them a sense ofprogress, a sense of completing
something, even if the rootcause isn't being addressed, and
then you know what gets blamedwhen it doesn't work.
Another one here could be aprevailing assumption that
(03:26):
knowledge or skill deficiency isthe reason behind any kind of
performance gap.
That can be true, but oftenthere's other things that can be
causing performance gaps andwe're going to get to those.
Culturally, there can be anembedded culture or philosophy
about improvement anddevelopment that centers around
training.
Often training becomes thefirst port of call for any
(03:46):
performance or skill relatedissues, whether it's the right
call or not.
A lack of analysis, so theyhaven't really gone through and
looked at what the issue is.
Without that kind of analysisframework in place, this step
often gets skipped and we jumpto training as the solution
instead of stepping back for aminute and examining what the
actual issue is.
(04:06):
Sometimes there's externalpressure to create training,
whether it be regulatory bodiesor industry standards, or it can
be.
Competitors in the industryseem to be investing a lot in
training and we feel like weneed to follow suit.
Another reason could be thattraining is a huge perk or
benefit and employees love that.
Who doesn't love that?
(04:26):
Who doesn't love benefits?
Because they love that benefitso much, they might think, well,
hey, that's what I need, I needto take advantage of this
benefit that I might have atwork.
Sometimes a positive historywith training will mean that
people think, hey, trainingworked last time, it was really
awesome, really successful canmake people biased towards
making that decision again.
Another reason could be thatthey're avoiding addressing a
(04:49):
deep-rooted systemic or culturalissue.
It's easier to go to trainingthan to try to solve something
like that.
Sometimes there's budgetallocations, funds assigned
specifically for training and wefeel like we have to use those
up or lose them, whether it'sthe right use of those funds or
not.
And lastly, market availability.
There are so many trainingsolutions available, from
(05:10):
workshops to e-learningsolutions.
This can sway decision-making.
Sometimes.
The most convenient solution isthe one that people opt for,
even if it's not the right one.
So we need to understand that.
These things, these 11 reasonsI just gave you those are all
some really common reasons whypeople jump to training without
determining if that's what theyactually need.
(05:31):
First, before we jump totraining, we really need to
understand the nature of theproblem.
Why is the training being askedfor in the first place?
One term that's reallyimportant here is skill deficit.
A skill deficit is when someonelacks the skill or ability to
perform a particular task orfunction to the standard that's
(05:52):
expected or required of them.
This could be because theyhaven't learned the skill, or
they have an outdated skill set,or maybe they actually knew how
to do it but they forgotten howto do it.
Maybe they were on a leave andthey came back.
Whatever, there's all kinds ofreasons for that.
Skill deficits are indicated inthings like frequent mistakes
in executing tasks or takinglonger to accomplish a task
(06:13):
compared to others, or aconsistent inability to meet
predefined quality standards.
In this case, direct training,mentorship programs, on-the-job
training these are all ways toaddress genuine skill deficits.
There could be a motivationalissue happening.
Maybe someone already has theskills they need to do the job,
but they're not motivated orthey have a poor attitude
(06:34):
towards performing that skill.
This could be because they'renot satisfied in general with
their job.
They have a lack of incentiveto perform the skill.
There's personal things goingon in their lives or even a
misalignment of values betweenthe culture and the corporation
and themselves.
Another factor is environmentalin general, whether it's an
unsupportive work environmentfrequently being disrupted,
(06:55):
unhealthy or toxic work culture.
It doesn't matter how muchtraining you have.
If you're in an unsupportivework environment, you're just
not going to be working yourbest.
More suitable solutions herecould be leadership
interventions, organizationaldevelopment initiatives, team
building or even bringing inexternal consultants to assess
an overhaul the existing workculture.
That's going to go a lotfurther than ineffective
(07:18):
training.
Another common problem is theabsence of necessary resources
or tools.
So we're not talking aboutskills.
If I don't have the rightcomputer to do the job, I just
can't do the job.
So investing in the requiredtools or technology, conducting
needs assessments, reallocatingbudgets to prioritize resources
these are the kinds of solutionsthat will solve that problem.
(07:40):
Sometimes people have personalproblems, so any kind of factors
outside of work health, familyall of these things can
influence an employee'sperformance.
Training focused on job-relatedskills is not going to help
with personal problems.
It might even add to anemployee's stress.
Actually, we need to helpsupport them with employee
assistance programs, counselingservices, leaves of absence,
(08:02):
anything like that, flexiblework arrangements, all of these
kinds of things.
Maybe the person themselves isunclear about their role or job
responsibilities or expectations.
This is called role ambiguity.
Even if they possess thenecessary skills, they're not
sure how or when to apply them.
In this situation, it would bemore suitable to give a clear
job description or provideregular performance reviews or
(08:25):
one-on-one discussions aboutexpectations, more structured
onboarding processes all ofthese things Any way that you
can clarify that role for theemployee.
That's actually going to do alot more for that employee than
any kind of training.
Sometimes there's a mismatchbetween the job role and the
employee themselves.
They might be placed in a rolethat doesn't align with their
natural abilities, strengths orinterests.
(08:46):
Continuous training can lead toshort-term improvements, but
it's not likely to result inlong-term job satisfaction or
even optimal performance.
It would be more suitable toreevaluate the employee's role,
maybe do some job rotations,consider transferring or even
career counseling to help alignroles with individual strengths
and inclinations.
(09:07):
Now, as far as assessing theneed for training, there are a
number of things we can do here.
First one is identifyingperformance gaps.
So what is a performance gap?
Well, that's the differencebetween the current performance
level and the desired orexpected performance level.
Understanding where these gapsexist can highlight areas where
training might help.
(09:27):
For example, if a sales teamisn't meeting targets, is the
gap because of a lack ofknowledge about the product or
poor sales techniques?
Or you know, dot dot dot?
Performance gaps can beidentified through regular
performance reviews, assessmentsand benchmarking against
industry standards.
Another thing we can do isobserve on-the-job behaviors,
(09:48):
watching employees as theyperform their roles, noting
behaviors that might indicate alack of knowledge, skills or
confidence.
Really observing can provideinsights into the real-world
application of skills andknowledge, highlighting areas
where training might bebeneficial.
This can be done with jobshadowing, workplace audits,
supervisory observations.
All of these methods can beused to gather data on employee
(10:11):
behavior during work tasks.
This doesn't have to bestressful, but it does give us a
well-rounded picture of anemployee's strengths and
weaknesses.
For example, a manager mighthighlight a strategic gap, while
peers might point out acollaboration challenge.
Another thing we can do is lookto past performance records.
So, historically, let's take alook at how this employee used
(10:31):
to do with identifying trends,improvements or areas of
consistent challenges.
These past records andhistorical data can offer
insights into long-termstrengths and weaknesses.
This can help us tailortraining to individual needs.
If an employee is consistentlystruggled with a particular
aspect of their role, targetedtraining just might be the
answer.
(10:52):
Another thing we can do isleverage technology or digital
tools.
This interactive tool I wastalking about.
This is something you can useto provide a cursory look at
whether training is the answeror not.
I'm really excited to talk toyou about that now.
The reason I made this tool inthe first place is because I
couldn't really find anythinglike it out there.
I found that there's a lack ofresources out there of any
(11:15):
quality that I could actuallyuse.
Either they were not very welldesigned, or they were heavily
branded in a way that I couldn'tuse them, or they were just not
very appropriate.
So I decided to make a toolmyself, and this tool, I'm
telling you, it's generic enoughthat anyone can use it.
It's editable, so you can useit and put your own logos,
(11:39):
headers, footers, extrainformation, whatever you like.
There's a limit with that freeCanva account and it's also
based on sound instructionaldesign methodology.
So how does it work?
What is it?
Well, basically, it guides youthrough some questions and
answers and as you go, it willinstruct you to write that down.
Write this down.
And if you're not ready fortraining, what does that mean?
(12:01):
That means, if you haven't donethe thinking that needs to
happen, or the person asking youfor training has not done that
thinking yet, you're not readyto ask for training.
It takes work from both sides.
It is not up to theinstructional designer to
determine everything on theirown.
It's a joint collaboration.
You are there as a supportperson for them.
(12:23):
Think of it like this If youwere an architect and somebody
came to you and they said I needyou to design my house, okay,
great.
What kind of house do you need?
I don't know.
You figure it out Well.
That doesn't work so well.
I mean, how many people are inyour family?
Are you gonna live in it yearround?
Do you live in a houseboat?
(12:43):
Do you live in a condominium?
Do you need a separate lot?
Are you in the city?
Are you in the country?
Do you have pets?
Do you have a car?
I mean, come on, there's somany things that you'd need to
know before you design a house.
Right, that would just beabsolutely unreasonable to
expect an architect to design ahouse for you to live in if they
knew absolutely nothing aboutyour requirements.
(13:04):
So, yeah, there is some workthat needs to be done upfront on
both sides, and you can helpthem.
That's where your expertisecomes in and that's where this
tool can help you.
It will walk you through allthat and what you end up with is
a report that you can send themthat outlines what they need.
So it might say training is notrecommended.
It might say training isrecommended.
(13:26):
What it does is it gets you totake the problem in the broadest
sense and it narrows it downand it goes through asking why
and how, until you get to apotential reason for the issue
and a potential solution.
And if it's training, awesome.
If it's not awesome, becauseyou're not wasting your time or
their time, designing somethingthat's bound to fail.
It's vitally important toaccurately determine when
(13:49):
training is the answer, becauseit's not always the answer.
Sometimes you need a littlebackup, you need a little help,
you need something to make iteasier for you to assert that,
and that's where this tool isgoing to help you.
This will allow you to approachperformance issues with a
holistic perspective,considering all possible factors
.
Instructional designers in theworkplace, especially, are also
(14:12):
organizational developmentspecialists.
There is a huge crossover there, and you have so much value to
provide your workplace or yourclients with this knowledge.
Training is a powerful tool, butit's not always the right
answer.
Misdiagnosing the root cause ofperformance issues and
defaulting to training can leadto wasted resources and missed
(14:33):
opportunities for realimprovement.
Wasted resources includefinancial costs, demotivated
employees ugh when they have todo training that they're like
why am I here?
This does not mean anything tome.
This is not resonating with me.
That's going to demotivatepeople right now and also, even
worse, it's not gonna resolveany of the underlying issues
(14:56):
that are causing the problem.
So, with this tool, you can useit as an objective lens to cut
through some assumptions andidentify the actual needs.
Here's what I want you to do Getthe interactive tool and try it
out.
It's totally free.
I made it for you.
I am so excited to hear abouthow it's working for you.
Or if it's not working for you,I would love to hear why or why
(15:18):
not.
I live for that stuff.
If this podcast is resonatingwith you at all or it helped you
rethink an approach you mighthave had to training, please
tell other people about it.
Please share it.
Please tell me about it, helpspread the word and let's make
sure more organizations arebenefiting from making more
informed instructional designchoices.
Don't forget also that sharing,liking or commenting on this
(15:42):
podcast is a free way for you tosupport it and for me to
continue to be able to supportyou and your instructional
design journey by providing youwith tools, tips, resources and
tricks that I've learned alongthe way to help you and your
instructional design journey.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
It really means a lot to me.
The support that I've hadalready has just been absolutely
(16:03):
wonderful and it's reallyinspiring and motivating me to
continue.
Check out my online portfolioin the show notes if you'd like
to see a sample of my work andcome back listen again.
This has been Sarah, and I'vereally enjoyed sharing this with
you today.
Until next time.
Hi, today we're going to be talking about when training
is or isn't the answer.
This has happened to me so manytimes.
People come to me and they'relike Sarah, we need training.
We have this problem.
We need it to be an hour, weneed it to be e-learning, we
need it to be a seminar, and thething is is that they've
already decided what they needand how long it needs to be and
(00:31):
what format it needs to be in,but they don't actually know
what they want it to contain.
And the problem here is thatthey don't know what they don't
know.
And it's my role as aninstructional designer and
learning guide to help themunderstand that this will happen
to you.
If this hasn't happened to youyet, you will have the
experience of someone coming toyou and saying hey, we heard
(00:53):
you're the learning personaround here.
We'd like to have you join ourteam and help us develop some
learning.
We need training and we need itto be XYZ and you're thinking.
Well, I'm not so sure aboutthat, but it can be kind of
intimidating to say that topeople.
It's sometimes easier to do ifyou have some kind of a tool to
back it up or some kind ofrationale or logical explanation
(01:15):
in your back pocket.
And that's where I'm reallyexcited today, because I'm
offering for free an interactivetool that you can use.
You can walk through it withthe person asking for the
training or hey, maybe it's you,that's not sure if you need
training or not.
It's an interactive tool thatwalks you through a series of
questions and then instructs youwhat and when to write
(01:36):
something down.
You can then use that togenerate a report.
But I've done one better thanthat, because I've also included
a free template that you canuse with Canva.
So, whether you're a free orpaid member, you can use the
tool and walk through it at thesame time completing the
activities as you go.
And I'm not kidding you, withinfive minutes you will be able
(01:58):
to generate a mini preliminarytraining needs analysis.
Now, this is by no meanscomprehensive, but what it is is
grounded in instructionaldesign research, so it will
instantly let you communicate towhoever's requesting the
training what they mightactually need instead, or maybe
they do need training after all.
Anyway, I'm really excitedabout it because I know it's
(02:21):
going to be helpful for you and,as a big bonus, it's totally
editable, so you can put yourown logo in there.
You can put your own headers,footers, you can do whatever you
want with it.
It's a guide for decisionmakers.
Is training the answer?
Often, what will happen ispeople just say, yeah, we need
training.
So why do they do this?
Why would somebody do this?
Well, firstly, it's familiar.
(02:43):
It's simple and familiar.
Many organizations already havethings like standard operating
procedures and work instructionsand they just look at training
as the way to get to what theyneed.
It's well known, it'sstraightforward, it's simple and
recognized, but it's not always, or even often, the most
(03:04):
effective solution.
Sometimes initiating a trainingprogram lets people feel like
they're taking measurable stepsto address a problem.
It can provide them a sense ofprogress, a sense of completing
something, even if the rootcause isn't being addressed, and
then you know what gets blamedwhen it doesn't work.
Another one here could be aprevailing assumption that
(03:26):
knowledge or skill deficiency isthe reason behind any kind of
performance gap.
That can be true, but oftenthere's other things that can be
causing performance gaps andwe're going to get to those.
Culturally, there can be anembedded culture or philosophy
about improvement anddevelopment that centers around
training.
Often training becomes thefirst port of call for any
(03:46):
performance or skill relatedissues, whether it's the right
call or not.
A lack of analysis, so theyhaven't really gone through and
looked at what the issue is.
Without that kind of analysisframework in place, this step
often gets skipped and we jumpto training as the solution
instead of stepping back for aminute and examining what the
actual issue is.
(04:06):
Sometimes there's externalpressure to create training,
whether it be regulatory bodiesor industry standards, or it can
be.
Competitors in the industryseem to be investing a lot in
training and we feel like weneed to follow suit.
Another reason could be thattraining is a huge perk or
benefit and employees love that.
Who doesn't love that?
(04:26):
Who doesn't love benefits?
Because they love that benefitso much, they might think, well,
hey, that's what I need, I needto take advantage of this
benefit that I might have atwork.
Sometimes a positive historywith training will mean that
people think, hey, trainingworked last time, it was really
awesome, really successful canmake people biased towards
making that decision again.
Another reason could be thatthey're avoiding addressing a
(04:49):
deep-rooted systemic or culturalissue.
It's easier to go to trainingthan to try to solve something
like that.
Sometimes there's budgetallocations, funds assigned
specifically for training and wefeel like we have to use those
up or lose them, whether it'sthe right use of those funds or
not.
And lastly, market availability.
There are so many trainingsolutions available, from
(05:10):
workshops to e-learningsolutions.
This can sway decision-making.
Sometimes.
The most convenient solution isthe one that people opt for,
even if it's not the right one.
So we need to understand that.
These things, these 11 reasonsI just gave you those are all
some really common reasons whypeople jump to training without
determining if that's what theyactually need.
(05:31):
First, before we jump totraining, we really need to
understand the nature of theproblem.
Why is the training being askedfor in the first place?
One term that's reallyimportant here is skill deficit.
A skill deficit is when someonelacks the skill or ability to
perform a particular task orfunction to the standard that's
(05:52):
expected or required of them.
This could be because theyhaven't learned the skill, or
they have an outdated skill set,or maybe they actually knew how
to do it but they forgotten howto do it.
Maybe they were on a leave andthey came back.
Whatever, there's all kinds ofreasons for that.
Skill deficits are indicated inthings like frequent mistakes
in executing tasks or takinglonger to accomplish a task
(06:13):
compared to others, or aconsistent inability to meet
predefined quality standards.
In this case, direct training,mentorship programs, on-the-job
training these are all ways toaddress genuine skill deficits.
There could be a motivationalissue happening.
Maybe someone already has theskills they need to do the job,
but they're not motivated orthey have a poor attitude
(06:34):
towards performing that skill.
This could be because they'renot satisfied in general with
their job.
They have a lack of incentiveto perform the skill.
There's personal things goingon in their lives or even a
misalignment of values betweenthe culture and the corporation
and themselves.
Another factor is environmentalin general, whether it's an
unsupportive work environmentfrequently being disrupted,
(06:55):
unhealthy or toxic work culture.
It doesn't matter how muchtraining you have.
If you're in an unsupportivework environment, you're just
not going to be working yourbest.
More suitable solutions herecould be leadership
interventions, organizationaldevelopment initiatives, team
building or even bringing inexternal consultants to assess
an overhaul the existing workculture.
That's going to go a lotfurther than ineffective
(07:18):
training.
Another common problem is theabsence of necessary resources
or tools.
So we're not talking aboutskills.
If I don't have the rightcomputer to do the job, I just
can't do the job.
So investing in the requiredtools or technology, conducting
needs assessments, reallocatingbudgets to prioritize resources
these are the kinds of solutionsthat will solve that problem.
(07:40):
Sometimes people have personalproblems, so any kind of factors
outside of work health, familyall of these things can
influence an employee'sperformance.
Training focused on job-relatedskills is not going to help
with personal problems.
It might even add to anemployee's stress.
Actually, we need to helpsupport them with employee
assistance programs, counselingservices, leaves of absence,
(08:02):
anything like that, flexiblework arrangements, all of these
kinds of things.
Maybe the person themselves isunclear about their role or job
responsibilities or expectations.
This is called role ambiguity.
Even if they possess thenecessary skills, they're not
sure how or when to apply them.
In this situation, it would bemore suitable to give a clear
job description or provideregular performance reviews or
(08:25):
one-on-one discussions aboutexpectations, more structured
onboarding processes all ofthese things Any way that you
can clarify that role for theemployee.
That's actually going to do alot more for that employee than
any kind of training.
Sometimes there's a mismatchbetween the job role and the
employee themselves.
They might be placed in a rolethat doesn't align with their
natural abilities, strengths orinterests.
(08:46):
Continuous training can lead toshort-term improvements, but
it's not likely to result inlong-term job satisfaction or
even optimal performance.
It would be more suitable toreevaluate the employee's role,
maybe do some job rotations,consider transferring or even
career counseling to help alignroles with individual strengths
and inclinations.
(09:07):
Now, as far as assessing theneed for training, there are a
number of things we can do here.
First one is identifyingperformance gaps.
So what is a performance gap?
Well, that's the differencebetween the current performance
level and the desired orexpected performance level.
Understanding where these gapsexist can highlight areas where
training might help.
(09:27):
For example, if a sales teamisn't meeting targets, is the
gap because of a lack ofknowledge about the product or
poor sales techniques?
Or you know, dot dot dot?
Performance gaps can beidentified through regular
performance reviews, assessmentsand benchmarking against
industry standards.
Another thing we can do isobserve on-the-job behaviors,
(09:48):
watching employees as theyperform their roles, noting
behaviors that might indicate alack of knowledge, skills or
confidence.
Really observing can provideinsights into the real-world
application of skills andknowledge, highlighting areas
where training might bebeneficial.
This can be done with jobshadowing, workplace audits,
supervisory observations.
All of these methods can beused to gather data on employee
(10:11):
behavior during work tasks.
This doesn't have to bestressful, but it does give us a
well-rounded picture of anemployee's strengths and
weaknesses.
For example, a manager mighthighlight a strategic gap, while
peers might point out acollaboration challenge.
Another thing we can do is lookto past performance records.
So, historically, let's take alook at how this employee used
(10:31):
to do with identifying trends,improvements or areas of
consistent challenges.
These past records andhistorical data can offer
insights into long-termstrengths and weaknesses.
This can help us tailortraining to individual needs.
If an employee is consistentlystruggled with a particular
aspect of their role, targetedtraining just might be the
answer.
(10:52):
Another thing we can do isleverage technology or digital
tools.
This interactive tool I wastalking about.
This is something you can useto provide a cursory look at
whether training is the answeror not.
I'm really excited to talk toyou about that now.
The reason I made this tool inthe first place is because I
couldn't really find anythinglike it out there.
I found that there's a lack ofresources out there of any
(11:15):
quality that I could actuallyuse.
Either they were not very welldesigned, or they were heavily
branded in a way that I couldn'tuse them, or they were just not
very appropriate.
So I decided to make a toolmyself, and this tool, I'm
telling you, it's generic enoughthat anyone can use it.
It's editable, so you can useit and put your own logos,
(11:39):
headers, footers, extrainformation, whatever you like.
There's a limit with that freeCanva account and it's also
based on sound instructionaldesign methodology.
So how does it work?
What is it?
Well, basically, it guides youthrough some questions and
answers and as you go, it willinstruct you to write that down.
Write this down.
And if you're not ready fortraining, what does that mean?
(12:01):
That means, if you haven't donethe thinking that needs to
happen, or the person asking youfor training has not done that
thinking yet, you're not readyto ask for training.
It takes work from both sides.
It is not up to theinstructional designer to
determine everything on theirown.
It's a joint collaboration.
You are there as a supportperson for them.
(12:23):
Think of it like this If youwere an architect and somebody
came to you and they said I needyou to design my house, okay,
great.
What kind of house do you need?
I don't know.
You figure it out Well.
That doesn't work so well.
I mean, how many people are inyour family?
Are you gonna live in it yearround?
Do you live in a houseboat?
(12:43):
Do you live in a condominium?
Do you need a separate lot?
Are you in the city?
Are you in the country?
Do you have pets?
Do you have a car?
I mean, come on, there's somany things that you'd need to
know before you design a house.
Right, that would just beabsolutely unreasonable to
expect an architect to design ahouse for you to live in if they
knew absolutely nothing aboutyour requirements.
(13:04):
So, yeah, there is some workthat needs to be done upfront on
both sides, and you can helpthem.
That's where your expertisecomes in and that's where this
tool can help you.
It will walk you through allthat and what you end up with is
a report that you can send themthat outlines what they need.
So it might say training is notrecommended.
It might say training isrecommended.
(13:26):
What it does is it gets you totake the problem in the broadest
sense and it narrows it downand it goes through asking why
and how, until you get to apotential reason for the issue
and a potential solution.
And if it's training, awesome.
If it's not awesome, becauseyou're not wasting your time or
their time, designing somethingthat's bound to fail.
It's vitally important toaccurately determine when
(13:49):
training is the answer, becauseit's not always the answer.
Sometimes you need a littlebackup, you need a little help,
you need something to make iteasier for you to assert that,
and that's where this tool isgoing to help you.
This will allow you to approachperformance issues with a
holistic perspective,considering all possible factors
.
Instructional designers in theworkplace, especially, are also
(14:12):
organizational developmentspecialists.
There is a huge crossover there, and you have so much value to
provide your workplace or yourclients with this knowledge.
Training is a powerful tool, butit's not always the right
answer.
Misdiagnosing the root cause ofperformance issues and
defaulting to training can leadto wasted resources and missed
(14:33):
opportunities for realimprovement.
Wasted resources includefinancial costs, demotivated
employees ugh when they have todo training that they're like
why am I here?
This does not mean anything tome.
This is not resonating with me.
That's going to demotivatepeople right now and also, even
worse, it's not gonna resolveany of the underlying issues
(14:56):
that are causing the problem.
So, with this tool, you can useit as an objective lens to cut
through some assumptions andidentify the actual needs.
Here's what I want you to do Getthe interactive tool and try it
out.
It's totally free.
I made it for you.
I am so excited to hear abouthow it's working for you.
Or if it's not working for you,I would love to hear why or why
(15:18):
not.
I live for that stuff.
If this podcast is resonatingwith you at all or it helped you
rethink an approach you mighthave had to training, please
tell other people about it.
Please share it.
Please tell me about it, helpspread the word and let's make
sure more organizations arebenefiting from making more
informed instructional designchoices.
Don't forget also that sharing,liking or commenting on this
(15:42):
podcast is a free way for you tosupport it and for me to
continue to be able to supportyou and your instructional
design journey by providing youwith tools, tips, resources and
tricks that I've learned alongthe way to help you and your
instructional design journey.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
It really means a lot to me.
The support that I've hadalready has just been absolutely
(16:03):
wonderful and it's reallyinspiring and motivating me to
continue.
Check out my online portfolioin the show notes if you'd like
to see a sample of my work andcome back listen again.
This has been Sarah, and I'vereally enjoyed sharing this with
you today.
Until next time.
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