When training is not the answer
Not every problem is a training problem.
This is one of the most important things I have learned in 15+ years of designing and delivering learning programmes. And it is something that gets ignored surprisingly often - sometimes because the people involved genuinely do not know better, and sometimes because someone has already decided that training is the solution before anyone has properly diagnosed the problem.
Before you build a course, run a workshop or bring in a trainer, it is worth asking a more fundamental question. Is training actually what is needed here?
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How to tell the difference.
A training problem exists when people do not know how to do something. They have the motivation, the tools and the opportunity - they just lack the knowledge or skill.
Everything else is not a training problem.
If people know how to do something but are not doing it, that is a motivation or accountability problem. Training will not fix it.
If the process is unclear or broken, training people on a broken process just makes them better at following a broken process. Fix the process first.
If people do not have the right tools, training them on the wrong tools is a waste of everyone's time.
If the issue is workload, management, culture or communication - training is not the answer to any of those either.
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The cost of getting this wrong.
When organisations reach for training as a default solution to performance problems, a few things happen.
People sit through training that does not address the real issue. They come out no better equipped to solve the actual problem. The real cause - the process, the tool, the management issue - stays unaddressed.
And then someone concludes that training does not work.
Training works fine when it is used for the right problems. The issue is using it for the wrong ones.
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What a proper needs analysis looks like.
Before designing any learning solution, the right question is: why are people not performing as expected?
Is it a knowledge gap - they do not know what to do? Is it a skill gap - they know what to do but cannot do it yet? Is it a motivation gap - they know and can do it but choose not to? Is it an environment gap - something in the system or process is making it hard?
Only the first two are training problems. The others need different solutions.
This does not have to be a lengthy process. A few conversations with the people involved and their managers will usually tell you what you need to know.
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The best L&D professionals I have worked with are the ones who are willing to say - that is not a training problem, here is what you actually need.
That takes confidence. It sometimes means turning down work. But it builds trust, saves time and money, and produces outcomes that actually matter.
Training is a powerful tool. Like any tool, it works best when you use it for the right job.
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