C h a p t e r 2
Assessing the Needs
of Participants
- A discussion of typical learners and how to uncover specific training needs
- How to ensure that the training is the right answer to the participants' needs
- How to conduct a simple needs analysis
“Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.” That anonymous piece of wisdom comes from a sign my uncle has hanging on the porch of his bed-and-breakfast in Emigrant, Montana. You shouldn’t try to teach people something they don’t need to know. Find out first exactly what your participants need.
Who Are Your Typical Learners?
Everybody makes decisions, and the book you are now reading may, of course, be purchased by a variety of different organizations and independent trainers. Indeed, some aspects of decision-making training can benefit nearly anyone. But as a good trainer, you should know your audience and design the training around each class of participants.
Authors Kenneth W. Houp and Thomas E. Pearsall have suggested one method of classifying the audience in their book Reporting Technical Information:
Experts: People who have advanced degrees or at least several years of formal practice in a subject.
Technicians : People who know the nuts and bolts of a topic but perhaps not the theories behind it or the nuances involved. They could repair the machine, but not build it from scratch.
Executives: People who mainly have an interest in a subject, but who may not care about its actual working processes.
Laypersons: People who have only a passing knowledge and interest in the subject.
Mixed or Unknown Audiences: Just what the name implies.
Experts love facts, will challenge assumptions, and need to be convinced on a theoretical level. They are a very demanding audience. This book is not going to be useful for training people who are already experts in decision making.
Although a person may be expert in other areas, he or she may qualify only as a layperson in the subject of decision making. This book will be useful for training people who are experts in their own fields but need to know more about decision making.
The technician wants to know the mechanics and process of the topic. Technicians who make decisions will probably appreciate the structure that this training program provides in module 1 and further on. They will want to break the process apart and study each piece to make it better, and that is what this program will help them do.
The executive will look at making decisions from a management or costbenefit or “value” perspective. In fact, executives may be your most eager audience. They will want to apply the concepts to their day-to-day jobs.
The layperson will be interested in the big picture, but will rely on the training for details and information at a more basic (rather than technical) level. Laypeople will respond to practical and personal anecdotal examples, such as deciding which car or house to buy. The exercises in this book will help personalize the training for them.
The combined or unknown audience can best be addressed by compartmentalizing the training. This way, information of interest to each learner can be extracted without requiring complete review and understanding of the whole package. This may mean that certain people will opt out of some module sessions, or that you may need to be flexible about how the material is presented, or that discussions need to be divided into subgroups of participants who have the same goals in common.
That’s why, to better understand your audience, you should perform some type of needs analysis.
The sources of data for this analysis will include (1) key individuals within (and sometimes outside) the organization, (2) job descriptions, (3) quantitative data such as costs, sales projections, or staffing requirements, and (4) any information about impending changes that will require participants to acquire new skills and knowledge.
Needs Analysis: Why Is Decision-Making Training Taking Place?
Why was it decided to offer this training? There must have been some reason—perhaps a few bad decisions were made and an executive decided that training was needed to remedy the situation. Whatever the reason, you need to know at least a little bit about who will be in the training program and what they are expected to get out of it.
Trainers don’t always get the opportunity to perform a needs analysis before they begin a training program. If the request for decision-making training came from a formal study, the proposal may offer useful information about why this training was suggested. Most of the time, however, requests for training come when someone with the authority suggests it: “Why don’t we have a training program in decision making?” As a result, you are now going through this book trying to figure out how to help make it happen.
If you find yourself with the opportunity to do a formal needs analysis, you should review one or more of the training books suggested in the “For Further Reading” section at the end of this book and choose a process that meets your needs and level of comfort. You’ll need to define how your participants should be making decisions, determine their current skills, and understand the difference between their expected and actual performance. From that analysis, you will be able to develop specific training objectives and choose which parts of this program will help to narrow the difference between expected and actual behaviors. It is beyond the scope of this book to provide the resources and specifics necessary to conduct a formal needs analysis, but we will look at some methods to use to conduct an informal analysis.
HOW CAN I PERFORM A SIMPLE NEEDS ANALYSIS?
Because a complete, formal needs analysis process is not going to be an option for many of you, here are some practical and expedient ways to find out about your participants before you walk into the classroom. These methods can be used individually or in combination, and they are listed in order from the most time consuming to something that can be done in just a few minutes. Whatever you do, it will be to your benefit as the trainer to know something about your participants and the nature of their jobs before you design or present a training program to them.
Observation . Spend time with a few of the identified participants in their work environment while you are designing the program. Find out what sort of decisions they are required to make on the job and how they currently make them.
Records, Reports, or Work Samples. Search through the organization’s records or reports that may help you understand the nature of decisions in these people’s jobs and how they make them.
Key Consultation. Meet with some key individuals to discuss how decisions are made in the organization. Key individuals might include the future participants, their supervisors, co-workers, perhaps even customers and others who understand the jobs the participants are supposed to be doing.
Group Discussion. Get a group of the key people together to help you plan the program. Talk about issues or concerns they have regarding how decision making is done in their jobs and what training they would like to see for themselves and other prospective participants. People often find it difficult to dissect the decision-making process they use, so be sure to have some questions prepared to lead the discussion.
Survey. Use the survey questionnaire provided (Worksheet 2–1) at the end of this chapter and in the support materials for this book, or design your own survey instrument to obtain insight regarding the participants’ jobs and the organizational environment as they relate to decision making. The survey is useful in several ways; however, it is weak in that it describes the responders’ impressions of themselves rather than the more objective and evidence-based techniques mentioned earlier (that show you how they are seen by others). But it is far better to use a survey than to do no preliminary analysis at all, and using one will prompt the participants’ thinking on the subject. A survey can even be done at the start of the training, although doing it that late won’t help you with the design process.
What If We Can’t Do a Participant Assessment?
Trainers often walk into the training session not knowing for sure what objectives should be met or what skills the participants have. In that case, seasoned trainers reach into their bag of tricks to dazzle participants with showmanship. There is no substitute for experience and a repertoire of standby techniques, tricks, worksheet forms, and interactive questions.
For example, in a situation where the participants’ needs or skill levels are unclear, you might start the training program using a deductive mode—that is, the trainer guides the learner to an understanding by posing situations and asking questions of the learner—to quickly get a feel for where the participants are. The trainer who instead starts inductively—rambling on for hours without realizing the presentation is over the participants’ heads—risks boring the audience to tears. So come to class prepared to be flexible with the training. Apply the principles of adult learning discussed in this chapter, and let the participants help you. Begin by doing an in-class needs analysis: Deconstruct the job using a flipchart to collect and evaluate the groups’ needs and expectations. A tool such as the needs analysis questionnaire (see below) can also help you get a quick feel for the group.
Using the Needs Analysis Questionnaire
Worksheet 2–1 can be used to prepare a needs analysis prior to or at the start of a decision-making skills training program. (If you have not already reviewed this worksheet, which can be found at the end of this chapter, take a moment to look over it.) Participants should be directed to make a mark somewhere between the extremes on each line to indicate how they assess their current mode of operation, as a decision maker on the job. They should not spend a lot of time mulling over their responses. Limit them to no more than five minutes. Encourage participants to be honest in their responses. Assure them that their responses will be kept anonymous and that their answers cannot be right or wrong.
To tally the results, make a transparency of the form and place it over the top of each of the individual forms in turn, making a mark on top of each of the participants’ marks. (You could also remove the dashed line and use a mathematical rating such as 1–10 for each item; however, that way you lose much of the data a visual representation can provide.)
It’s likely that many participants will agree on some topics, shown by a clustering of the marks in one area, and many will disagree on others, where the marks range from one end of the scale to the other. If this analysis is done before or early on in a training program, such information can help you plan or adjust the emphasis of the training (more below). The resulting summary can be shared with the participants. It will help show the diversity or agreement of approaches indicated by their classmates.
Advantage : This type of questionnaire is quick to design and easy to complete and compile the results. You can add additional questions or delete or reword questions in the document. The questionnaire can give you both specific information about the participants and an indication of their attitudes and beliefs.
Disadvantage: The responses represent the participants’ opinions only; therefore, the results may not be accurate. A questionnaire is certainly not a substitute for a thorough needs analysis, but it can be a useful fallback tool or a good opening activity for the training.
HOW CAN ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONNAIRE INFLUENCE THE PROGRAM DESIGN?
First, look for clusters of commonality in the results. For example, if most of the respondents to item 2 make their marks on the right side of the line (indicating they make decisions only after much study and thought), it might be good to emphasize some of the points in module 9, such as that thinking too much often leads to poorer-quality decisions than just going with your gut.
Next, look for response patterns that are very diverse, where marks range widely from left to right. The lesson for you and the participants is that everyone is different, and that what one person disagrees with or finds boring in class may be new and exciting information to another person. This insight can be used to heighten awareness for the group.
Finally, look for a pattern where two distinct subgroups seem to emerge, with a cluster of marks to the left for one group and to the right end of the line for another group. In that case, you might choose to exploit these identified differences to encourage debate or to create working groups within the class.
Once you have looked for the patterns, consider what general information can be gleaned from the specific questions. For example, items 12 and 15 may guide your approach to running the class. If a majority of people prefer to listen and take notes, you might choose to increase the amount of time you use simply presenting ideas versus discussing or debating ideas during the training. (Of course, as you will read in the next chapter, this may not be the best way to train adults, even though they might prefer to be passive in learning.)
WORKSHEET ITEMS AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE TO DECISION MAKING
See Worksheet 2–1, on page 19, before reviewing the following items.
Item 1. Usually people who want to decide things for themselves (left side) are more creative. People who tend to the right side usually like this training program.
Item 2. Some decisions do need careful thought, but most decisions we make tend to suffer from too much analysis. Good discussion question: Which decisions should be made quickly?
Item 3. Easygoing people tend to be able to relax more and may be more creative. They may also be disorganized or not focus on efficiency or organizational goals as well as others do,
Item 4. Stressed people (right side) often spend too much time procrastinating and being indecisive. Improving their decision-making process may help them relax a little more.
Item 5. Some decisions profit from group input; other decisions are better made individually. The range of responses to this question may also influence how much group work you include in the training design.
Item 6. Responses on both sides need not change the training design. If people on the right side tend to not be creative, modules 2 through 5 may help them to improve.
Item 7. Some things need to be in writing, some things shouldn’t be. Discussion question: When should you use each of the methods?
Item 8. Unlike item 5, this question asks about day-to-day activities instead of work on a particular project.
Item 9. Your analysis of the responses to this question may determine how much time you spend on modules 6 through 8, especially module 7, or whether you even want to cover it at all.
Item 10. Remember that we’re dealing with perceptions here. All responses are “correct,” although each response may be influenced by that person’s own attitudes.
Item 11. The responses here may influence how much time you spend on module 9, and also tell you how easily participants will deal with the deductive material in modules 6 through 8.
Item 12. Responses here will help you design the training program—and help you anticipate how the end-of-training evaluations will come out.
Item 13. Participants who have had lots of training about management techniques may already be aware of many of the tools to be covered, and perhaps should not go through it all again.
Item 14. Experience helps, and people who have made a great number of organizational decisions may be able to give you great examples in discussion sessions.
Item 15. Compare with responses to item 12, but don’t use the responses as an excuse to lecture exclusively throughout the program.
What to Do Next
- Determine who needs to be involved in the analysis, including training participants and any stakeholders.
- Decide the most effective needs analysis methods to use to gather pertinent data from your participants.
Worksheet 2–1
Instructions: Place a mark anywhere on the dotted line in relation to the statement that best describes you.
| 1. I am more comfortable if I am given | ||
| An end goal only |
|
Details and an exact process |
| 2. I tend to make decisions | ||
| Quickly, then act on them |
|
After much study and thought |
| 3. On the job, I am personally | ||
| Easygoing and relaxed |
|
Constantly focused on work |
| 4. I personally use my time at work so that I | ||
| Get everything done easily |
|
Am often behind in work |
| 5. I am most comfortable working on a project | ||
| By myself |
|
With a group |
| 6. I believe that I am | ||
| Creative; I see the big picture |
|
Excellent at working details |
| 7. I would rather communicate with people by | ||
| Talking with them |
|
Sending them memos or emails |
| 8. In my current position, I deal more often with | ||
| Individuals |
|
Work groups |
| 9. My comfort level with numerical information is | ||
| Very high; Ideal easily with it |
|
I can do math, but really don't like to |
| 10. Most of my co-workers will usually | ||
| Do a good job |
|
Goof off if they can |
| 11. My co-workers would describe me as | ||
| Driveb by my emotions |
|
An analytical and logical person |
| 12. I would personally prefer to get from a decision-making program | ||
| Background, for use on my own |
|
Direct, specific suggestions |
| 13. I have had formal training in management or supervision | ||
| None, to very little at all |
|
A college degree or the equivalent |
| 14. I have had experience in making organizational decisions | ||
| None, or only at a very low level |
|
Major financial decisions |
| 15. In a training program, I prefer to | ||
| Listen and take notes |
|
Discuss and challenge ideas |