| Diagnose This phase is all about finding out where you are and where you want to be.
For the most part, the value of training is determined by the extent that it supports the
achievement of the organizational, business and/or sales objectives for which your
employees are accountable.
The first step, therefore, is to understand those objectives
and then identify how your most effective people are achieving them. We look at the
"best practices" of your most effective and productive people to identify the
skills and strategies they are using to achieve the key business objectives for which they
are accountable. We identify what distinguishes high performers from the rest, and
determine the key points of difference between high and low performance.
The overall goal, is to identify what business results your
organization is trying to achieve, determine the current effectiveness of your people in
achieving those goals and then design and develop an integrated training solution that
enables every participant to perform at a level of your most effective and productive
employees.
In order to understand your organizational, business and/or
sales objectives, we frequently employ two approaches to collect the data that will enable
us to close the gap between desired and current performance. First, we would like to
review all significant documents related to the performance objectives that you want to
achieve. This might include a review, for example, of your strategic and operating plans,
your marketing, sales or training plans, as well as, individual performance plans and
appraisals that would shed light on current and expected performance levels.
Second, it is also important to interview and observe your
people. This can be done through focus groups, individual interviews and, in the case of
sales programs, "riding" with your sales people on sales calls. Our experience
has shown the following list of questions to be particularly useful when conducting
interviews and focus groups:
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What are your business goals and
strategies?
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What are the implications of these
goals and
strategies on performance requirements?
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What are the critical success
factors for someone
in your job?
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What distinguishes high performers
from low
performers in this organization?
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What forces will act to encourage
or hinder
performance?
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What are the major changes that
will impact upon
your business in the next three years?
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How well is the organization
positioned to respond
to these changes?
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What level of management support
for change do
you expect?
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Are there any major events that
are going on in the
organization right now that might effect enthusiasm
or commitment for a change?
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In order to determine the current effectiveness of your
people, we are in position to either custom design a diagnostic instrument to meet your
unique requirements or utilize one of our inventory of surveys. These feedback instruments
include our:
1) Performance Management Questionnaire (PMQ);
2) Leadership Practices Survey (LPS);
3) Team Effectiveness Survey (TES);
4) Sales Practices Survey (SPS);
5) Change Questionnaire (CQ); and
6) Associate Practices Survey (APS).
Our survey capability enables you to identify the core
competencies of a given job and to collect feedback on the impact your target audience is
having on the people that they manage, work with and/or sell to. Our surveys maintain the
confidentiality of those who respond to them. Individual responses to a survey are
provided to the participant only in aggregate. The data provides important organizational
insights into the strengths and improvement opportunities of your target population as a
whole and the factors that most clearly distinguish your high performers from your low.
Data can be sorted by organizational unit, level and/or function in order to provide date
to your management team so that they can take responsibility for improving performance in
their areas of responsibility. The survey results also provide important company
benchmarking data so that you can set standards of performance and help every employee
perform the way your most effective people perform their jobs.
A key deliverable at the end of this phase is an executive
briefing which details:
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Your peoples' perspectives on what
business
results need to be achieved and their ability to achieve them;
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The plans your people have created
to achieve the
results expected of them;
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Important feedback on the
effectiveness of your
target audience and their impact on others; and
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Our recommendations for training
your target
population, achieving the performance objectives for
which they are accountable and closing the
performance gap between your most effective and
least effective people.
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The importance of this phase is that it identifies the
critical success factors of your target population in achieving their performance
objectives, it documents the performance gaps that must be closed and enables you and your
management team to determine the steps that can be taken to drive the necessary changes
down through the organization. This step gains management support for your training and
development plan, because it specifically focuses on the achievement of important
organizational objectives.
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