The road map to success
Training specialists need to adopt a consultancy approach if they are to prove their worth. Here we introduce the first three of six key skills.
Imagine the following scenario. Opencall Communications is a UK mobile phone company. It has grown rapidly due to a new agreement with another network allowing it to slash its prices, and its market share has grown to 12% this year, which is equivalent to more than 3 million customers.
However, a recent training scheme for a new computerised information manual for customer services personnel has failed. The HR and training department was brought in at the implementation stage, but was not involved in the planning. It was left out of the loop because many line managers see the department as being out of touch with the needs of the managers, while others see it as an obstacle or a necessary evil.
As a result of this, the HR and training department is not being included in business decisions. Initiatives fail due to lack of confidence in the function. Performance management and training also suffer.
To succeed, HR and training needs to be pro-active and focussed on business issues and to act as a facilitator.
Unfortunately, this scenario is all too common. Part of the problem stems from the change of focus for HR. Historically, HR managed training and performance almost exclusively, but this is now the domain of the line manager.
The difficulty is that line managers are not equipped to manage training and performance. The result is bad practice, which creates problems that HR has to clean up - damaging the reputation of the function by association.
Scouting
This preliminary stage of consultancy is one of the most important, especially when applied to a training situation. Scouting is where the HR professional pro-actively analyses the business's outputs and identifies areas that could benefit from change. Coming to the line manager with areas that could be improved is beneficial in three ways:
- Exploring training issues from a business angle is invaluable - linking training objectives to business performance indicators has been shown to dramatically improve employee success.
- The HR professional is seen to be in touch with the business and an efficient problem-solver.
- You can direct the process, maximising the success of the HR solution.
Entry and contracting
This stage is the first contact with the client. The goal is to find out exactly what is going on. Following a structured procedure at this stage will vastly increase the chances of finding workable solutions, quickly. At SHL, we recommend using an interrogation model, such as the SOLVE model to make sure you get all the right information and the commitment of your client. The model guides you through several stages at which different questions are asked.
Situational questions are questions about how things are now. Use these to add to your knowledge of the problem. For example, how many of your staff have had refresher courses in the past year?
Obstacle questions are negative questions that probe the problems with the existing situation, known as the implied needs. This is the beginning of seeing the problem as the client sees it. For example, are any employee groups less effective than you'd like?
Linking questions focus on the consequences of the implied needs, making them tangible by giving them grounding in concrete business objectives. For example, has the training deficit resulted in the loss of clients?
Value questions are questions you pose to tease out the value of the solution to the problems you've identified. In this way, you increase the attractiveness of the solution and the client's ability to express their explicit needs. For example, how much would you save?
Evaluation focuses on success and helps the client identify what would it would look like. For example, what are the key measures of success?
After going through the SOLVE process you should have successfully identified the client's expectations. Don't forget, that it's vital that you set out what you will deliver and achieve on their behalf.
Diagnosis
This is where all the information gathered in the preliminary stages is interpreted. The client has already stated what the need is - it is now up to the HR professional to translate it into discrete problems that can be solved. You can split this translation process up into two stages; the first stage is prioritisation, the second stage is the real diagnosis.
Stage 1: The two-by-two model
This model looks at the most important needs and classifies them according to degree of changeability and current success. This is one way to help a client to focus on those things that can be altered to solve their problem.
Stage 2: The diagnostic window tool
This tool gets the client to think about which factors contribute to the problem and then prioritise each one effectively.
It categorises these in terms of ease of change and importance.
- Note the business challenge that has been identified
- List related issues
- Categorise according to what is going well
- Check what can be realistically changed (this may require discussion with other people or organisations).
Remember to keep things simple and that the tool is intended as a guide only.
Focus only on those things that contribute to meeting the business challenge and question whether the issue on the chart relate to the business challenge at hand.
Start with the assignments that are important and easy to change. Success in this area will help build up trust and confidence between you, the line manager and the employees. For example, selecting the right training programme.
The next category represents those tasks that are important, but harder to change. You will earn the respect of the line manager by achieving these targets. For example, re-training experienced employees to a new system.
Do not to fall into the trap of tackling those issues that are both easily resolved and not important. These are known as temptations. For example, booking training rooms.
The final category is labelled 'tolerables', which consists of those things that are unimportant and hard to change.
This kind of assignment is often resource intensive, usually has poor results and is best avoided. For example, trainers' name badges.
You now have a road map for the first of the next three stages of the consulting process.
Put the skills to use
