For a long time I found myself combatting with Subject Matter Expert's when it came to training approaches. Many times I found myself knowing that this one approach would really make the difference and I wouldnt hear anything else. But the SME had something else in mind when they first met with me. Even if they reluctantly accepted my approach, we would get further and further down the line and finally they would break saying this was not what they wanted in the first place. My conversations about home remodeling with my wife sometimes go in a similar manner...
I was doing Need's Analyses but I found that I just wasnt conveying the information back to the SME appropriately. Here was how it would normally go, Analysis questions to start, then more analysis, then more analysis. After that I would pick an approach and start Storyboarding out what the training would look like. I found that I was missing some crucial step in between and that was to let the SME know what was going on in my brain. It's at this moment that I began crafting a Needs Assessment Report Template.
The components of the Template we're relatively simple.
- An Overview: Pretty straight forward, this would just give the reader an idea of what they were about to read. Standard boilerplate information that remains the same across every report.
- An Executive Summary: This gives them a quick Summary about where we are currently, what will happen if it persists and identifies some overarching goals.
- Identified Issues: Now we're getting into the meat and potatoes. Here is where I would pull out some of the key issues (from the analysis) that we need to address with a Learning solution. I make sure to let them know that the resolution of these issues (and solely these issues) are going to be our goal going forward. I would also identify some other issues like a SME who was hard to get a hold of during the analysis may be just as hard to get a hold of during design and development which could cause delays.
- Linking the Resolution of Issues to Enterprise Priorities: Boy do the C-Level love this one. But seriously though, if you cant link your Learning solutions back to the Enterprise goals... why are you doing it?
- Overall Objectives: Simply put, these are your learning objectives. In the next section you are going to tie your learning objectives to the learning solutions, so its crucial that you have your objectives stated.
- Proposed Learning Solutions: I think this is what SME's love the most, they get to choose. Looking at my objectives I will pick a few solutions that I know are going to meet our learning objectives. I'm not combatting with the SME's anymore. I'm giving them the options to choose from. But here is the secret, I picked them all to begin with, so I'm okay with any of them! I normally go with a High level, high cost solution, a medium level, and a low level solution. If they're paying, its normally the level 2 solution. Don't want the too extreme, but dont want the lowest either. Again, I make sure to clearly connect the solutions back to our objectives. I use graphics and imagery to show what it might look like. And finally, I wrap up the section by showing the benefits.
- Defining Success and Identifying Measurements: I make sure to get this upfront during analysis. Clear metrics that we can look at it monitor if the learning solutions are making a difference
- Final Takeaways: This wraps it all up in a one paragraph summary and makes sure to instill fear into the SME that we have got to have something GOOD or else things are going to continue to go down the path they are currently on.
This might be standard practice for you already or you may do things a little differently. But when I came across this, it made my life way easier and reduced scope creep greatly!