Talent Development: A Different Approach to Minding the Gaps

OK, you’ve figured out exactly what your training needs to accomplish, it’s time to get to work. You've created strategies and solutions to make sure everyone is on the same page. You've got budget approval!  YEAH!!! Now you just need to get all the information that need to go into the training. Time for the dreaded SME interview. That's a Subject Matter Expert for those you new to the space, and you either get the least busy person (not a SME) or the most knowledgeable person on the planet. (who has nothing to do all day but talk to you because they rock at their job ... that's sarcasm)

1. A Different Way

We put way to much stress on our best people for delivering the volumes of "tribal knowledge" that exists within any workforce. Our typical approach is to send the survey, interview the SME, fill out a questionnaire. Unfortunately this puts our SME in the worst possible situation of explaining exactly how they accomplish a task or duty that they've long been doing unconsciously.  

Let me ask you question, What does "Check you mirrors." mean to a veteran driver? Now, "What does check your mirrors." mean to a new driver? I've been at it over 20 years and check your mirrors means A LOT to me! However, in the beginning this statement meant left, right, center ... yep got three mirrors, this is probably why I was in 7 accidents BTW.

Instead of interviewing SMEs, observe their actions and watch how they accomplish their tasks. It would behoove you to learn a little about ethnography or "observational" research. The skill set is used extensively in marketing and product development, it should be more common in our space. Think ... Jane Goodall watching the monkeys. You'll be surprised the difference between how a person accomplishes a task and how they describe it. By WATCHING, you also get to ask questions:

• “Why did you do that?” , “When did you start doing that?” , “Who taught you how to do that?” , “What’s the story behind this?”

These questions are going to help them give you the answers you need to truly understand what you see and how to best pass it along to your learner.

2. Know ... Your ... Learner

OK, you got the information now the age old question. HOW much do we put in there? And the age old answer, "Well, we should put everything?" GREAT, now you're creating training for the LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR and disengaged every relatively intelligent person in your workforce. I once saw a training interaction that include what a belt clip was for!!!! Dude, if you can't figure that out chances are you were ejected from the gene pool LONG ago. That being said, different people in your organization are going to be comfortable learning in a variety of ways. It’s important to understand your learner, so ask yourself:

• Who these people are as individuals?
• What is their environment like?
• What are they trying to accomplish?
• Is there a trend in demographics?
• Male/Female/Generation/Culture?
• What technology will best suit your audience?
• What voice?
• What style?
• Is their work environment conducive to the training event you are proposing?
• Does it give them the information when and how they need it?

Effective talent development can’t exist with these common disconnects. By minding the gaps, you’ll be able to find the teaching strategies and solutions that will truly resonate with your audience. In time, the transferring of knowledge throughout your company will be seamless and make your employees, and company, more successful. In a few years, you might even wonder how you did it any other way. ;) Good luck!