When F1 drivers need driving lessons and the importance of Needs Analysis

Occasionally we like to share real life examples of life on the road and this week I want to reinforce one of the most basic brain friendly learning tools – the importance of undertaking a training needs analysis.

Reflecting over the weekend after a challenging week, freelancing for a new training provider; I concluded that it had been a bit like gathering a group of top Formula 1 drivers in a room and saying:

We had a bad experience last week lads. One of the wheels came off during the race so we have asked the local driving school to come in and give you some driving lessons

But what had led to this peculiar conclusion?

Simply this: An extreme event had occurred and the client needed a fast response. Like many organisations, their first thought was that this had to be a training issue focused around the extreme event.

As it turned out, this was WRONG!

For a week I was faced with a succession of participants who actually were already very skilled at dealing with events like the one that sparked this situation. Thinking “Skill / Will” I immediately recognised that they already had all the skills they needed.

So why did the situation get so bad?

Well, it wasn’t a lack of will of the team members either. It was actually a management decision taken some time ago to protect staff members from just this situation which prevented them from taking action.

A simple training needs analysis would have revealed some really useful areas for development. Unfortunately the area we were contracted to deliver wasn’t one of them!

So our call to action this week is very very simple.

If you are a training manager or training purchaser: No matter how urgent you think a training need is, unless you do your homework and properly assess what your people need it is all to easy to spend your hard earned cash on the wrong thing.

If you are a freelance consultant: I urge you to consider it part of your duty to your clients to make sure a even a rudimentary TNA has been conducted and that there is some evidence to support what you are being asked to deliver.

Sadly, the training last week was unsatisfactory on a several levels:

• The end client got little in return for their investment.
• The team members felt devalued and disappointed that their organisation hadn’t paid sufficient respect to their existing skills.
• I left after four days feeling like I had been run over by a very heavy truck.

Don’t forget the TNAs guys. It hurts if you do.

'L' plate image by canonsnapper
burning money image by purpleslog

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