Six Steps to Determine If Your Staff Need Training

As much as I advocate for providing learning experiences for staff as the “right” thing to do, I recognize that many times, leaders have an urgent need - or problem - that prompts the request for training.

So let’s explore if training is, in fact, the right answer to the problem you’re experiencing.

The 6-Step Process

Step 1. Review your organizational strategies and identify what your staff need to do to be successful.

Step 2. Make a list of the actions you need them to take.

Step 3. Place a checkmark by all the actions where they already excel.

Step 4. Circle the actions that may represent a skill gap.

Step 5. Break each of those actions down into achievable statements, or objectives.

Example: Staff need to be able to de-escalate conflict with angry customers.

Step 6. Review the list of objectives and highlight the ones that begin with action verbs.

The objectives that are highlighted are most conducive to training.

The objectives that begin with words like “understand” or “know” or “identify” are more than likely a better fit for your employee communications plan.

Key Takeaways

Not every paint point should result in a training, but if the pain point can be solved when staff take specific actions - actions that they don’t know how to perform or that they need to improve - you may have a case for training.

Did you perform this process and end up with training needs? Let’s chat and see if my services may be a fit for you.