Training can help when people need to learn or practise a skill. When they already have that skill but cannot use it because instructions conflict, approvals stall or resources are missing, the response must also address how work is organised. Sometimes both are needed.
A missed target does not tell you which problem you have. Before booking a workshop, look at the work that is falling short and ask what prevents people from doing it well.
The US Office of Personnel Management recommends examining the gap between expected and actual performance, then investigating its causes. Its guidance also identifies management responses, including clearer expectations and a supportive working environment. Source: OPM
Start with a specific behaviour
“Our team needs a better attitude” is difficult to investigate. “Customer enquiries are being passed between departments without anyone confirming the next step” gives you something observable.
Write down three things:
- What should happen?
- What is happening instead?
- What evidence shows the difference?
Use recent work samples, customer feedback or task records, alongside conversations with the people doing the work. CDC guidance recommends collecting and analysing information before deciding whether training is an appropriate response. Source: CDC
Check skills, processes and management separately
| What you observe | What to investigate | A possible response |
|---|---|---|
| Staff struggle to demonstrate a task, even with clear instructions and suitable tools. | Missing knowledge, skill or practice. | Demonstration, guided practice and feedback. |
| Staff explain the task correctly, but work stalls at handovers or approvals. | Unclear ownership, access problems or unnecessary steps. | Clarify responsibility and remove the bottleneck. |
| Different managers give conflicting instructions. | Inconsistent priorities or standards. | Agree the standard and how changes are communicated. |
| Staff can perform the task, but competing demands prevent consistent execution. | Workload, resources, incentives and supervision. | Review priorities and working conditions; add coaching where needed. |
These are starting points for investigation, not automatic diagnoses. A correct explanation does not prove someone can perform under pressure, and a poor result does not prove they lack ability.
When discussing workload and support, ask employees what they actually encounter. The UK's Health and Safety Executive includes demands, support and role clarity among its work-design factors. This is useful context for the questions to ask, rather than evidence that a particular team has a specific problem. Source: HSE
An example: weak sales follow-up
The following is an illustrative scenario, not a client case study.
A manager requests sales training because proposals are not converting. Before choosing a programme, the team reviews several stalled opportunities and watches salespeople practise follow-up conversations.
Three different findings would suggest different actions:
- Salespeople cannot ask useful questions or agree a next step. Practise those conversations, using a structure such as ALPHA.
- Salespeople know what to say, but no one owns the opportunity after a handover. Assign ownership and make the next action visible.
- Salespeople record next steps, but managers only review monthly revenue. Add a regular review of stalled opportunities and agreed actions.
The team might need all three responses. A workshop can develop the conversation skills, while managers and process owners change what happens around those conversations.
Give training a clear job
If a skill gap is confirmed, define the task participants must perform after the session. Then arrange practice, feedback and an opportunity to apply it at work.
For example, replace “improve communication” with “confirm the customer's concern, summarise the agreed action and record who will follow up.” Give the manager the same checklist used during practice.
OPM's guidance recommends identifying the conditions that reinforce desired behaviour and deciding how that behaviour will be monitored. Source: OPM
Choose one improvement to test
Before commissioning training, complete this sentence:
Our team needs to do [specific task] better. The evidence suggests [barrier]. We will address it through [training, coaching, a process change or a combination], with [owner] checking [observable result] on [review date].
For a first review, you might examine whether customer enquiries have a named owner and a recorded next action. If results improve, also check what else changed before attributing the improvement to training.
Unsure where to start? Use the Diagnosis Lab to organise your observations into a brief for discussion.