Is training really your problem?

We've all seen them. The magic cooker, blender, cleaner, hair straightener or exercise machine. Love them or hate them, infomercials do a great job of highlighting a problem and selling a solution.

Here's a short video that highlights some infomercial 'greatest hits'.

Notice a pattern? If you think about it, most if not all of the problems depicted in these infomercials aren't real problems at all. Does you hair really get that tangled? Is your bathroom that mouldy? Does you current exercise machine really hurt your back? Probably not, or at least, not most of the time.

Training courses can be a lot like these infomercials. Instead of dog hair on the couch or facial wrinkles, workplace learning aims to solve problems like helping people to increase their knowledge and improve their skills.

At Inspire Group we spend most of our time helping our clients solve learning problems in the best way possible. Learning that works is not only about finding the best solution to a learning or performance challenge. It is just as much about solving the right problems. Sometimes it can be easy to assume that because people aren't performing their jobs correctly or well enough it is because they need more training. But is training the problem?

Unsatisfactory performance by staff can be caused my a number of factors, including:

• They don't have the knowledge to do a task (how do I update a record in the database?)
• They don't have the skills to do a task (I know the steps involved but haven't had a chance to practice doing this on the job)
• They don't have the motivation to do a task correctly (I know how to do it and I've practiced but I don't understand why it is important to do it right every time)
• The company policies, processes, technology or culture make it hard (or impossible) to do a task to the required standard (I want to help more customers but my computer system is always crashing)

If you think about these four causes of performance issues, which ones would be solved by more training? Definitely the first one, and some training can help to build skills when combined with some on the job practice and coaching.

When it comes to solving a performance challenge caused by a lack of motivation you should ask yourself, "Why should someone care about doing this task correctly? How can you paint that picture for someone else?" You could train them on the process one more time. Or you could show them the reasons why they should shred sensitive documents.

If your business had an issue with customer service staff making mistakes taking help desk calls or orders at the drive through because they are rushing, don't give them more training. Instead, stop and ask, "Why are they rushing?" More often than not the answer will be because their manager will tell them off if they go too slow or because staff get a bonus based on how fast they serve customers. Yes training could help them reduce the number of errors they make. However it probably isn't the right problem to solve.

So before you start scoping your next training course make sure that you're solving the right problem before you work on solving the problem the right way. Think about your latest training course. Is a lack of training the solution to your problem? Comments are open.