20 questions you

should ask before

talking about
training!
20 Questions L&D should ask before talking about
training by Jeff Kortenbosch is licensed under
a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-
NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

First edition
October 20, 2020

1
"When a stakeholder or SME asks you to create
training, it's easy to just accept their request and
attempt to fulfil the order. However, we all know that
stakeholders and SMEs think everything can be fixed
with training...and that's rarely the case! How you
respond (and what questions you ask) when you're
first asked to create training can have the biggest
impact on whether or not you successfully address any
type of performance issue. In this eBook, Jeff lays out
twenty practical questions you should always ask
before you accept any training request. When asked,
these questions will help you guide your stakeholders
and SMEs towards solutions that actually deliver
results."

Tim Slade, Creator of The eLearning Designer's

Academy

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“Training is rarely the
solution to a problem.”

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This should hardly be a surprise, right? If there is an
organizational change or problem that needs to be
addressed training might be part of the solution, but it
never is the full solution. All Learning and
Development (L&D) professionals I’ve spoken in the
past few years are quick to agree on this. Still, tons of
useless learning solutions are developed every year.
Hours and hours spent away from work… and to what
result? Are we truly supporting employees to be better
in their current role? Are we helping them prepare for
their next role? Do these training programs, workshops
and online courses really have an impact?

Yet we are in the business of training. So, ask yourself,

are we part of the problem or are we part of the
solution? What should organizations expect from their
L&D specialists? To be an order taker? Or to be a
trusted business partner and advisor?

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I’ve been in L&D since 2008 and I have been training
people since 1997. It has been quite the learning
journey for me, as I went from starting in the role to
being, well…, more experienced. One of the things that
have continuously evolved over the years are the
questions I’m asking my clients. Asking the right
questions makes all the difference.

When I started as an e-learning specialist my

questions were focused on building the best possible
e-learning module. Over the years I’ve learned that
even though my job title might constrict me to
‘learning and development’, focusing on the product
of a training request isn’t the best way to help my
clients nor my organization. I should be asking
questions about the problem or change that we are
trying to address and ask about the desired outcome. I
should not be jumping into learning objectives and

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solutions from the go simply because people see me
as ‘the training guy’. And neither should you!

So, what are the right questions to ask?

Good question! As I mentioned, my list of questions is

an ever evolving one. The questions in this book have
helped me, and my clients tremendously in painting a
clear picture of where we are, where we want to be
and how to prove what we are doing is working!

I am sharing these with you because we, as Learning

and Development professionals, need to do better. We
need to stop being a course factory and start building
learning and performance solutions that work in the
long term. We need to add value, not cost. Since I
started asking better questions, I see a big difference
in the type of solutions I am developing. In general,

6
40% of the requests are cancelled, 40% of training
solutions will be more relevant and 20% are addressing
true performance issues.

The questions in this book, rooted in performance

consulting and needs analysis, will help you get
started making the right kind of impact.

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Table of contents
#1 - What is the problem or change you are trying to address? ........10

#2 - What is the business reason for this request? .............................. 14

#3 - Do you have an idea for a solution in mind already? ................... 17

#4 Who are the stakeholders and what are their roles? ..................... 20

#5 - Have you done a root cause analysis for the problem or change?
What is the result? .................................................................................... 23

#6 - What is the impact on the organization if we do nothing? ....... 28

#7 - What does success look like? .......................................................... 31

#8 - How can we measure the impact of the solution (with existing

means)?...................................................................................................... 35

#9 - Are there existing or immediate issues and/or behaviors that

need addressing? ...................................................................................... 41

#10 - What areas affect the desired outcome? ................................... 46

#11 - What are the risks/challenges we need to consider? ................. 51

#12 - What is the desired timeline and why? ....................................... 56

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#13 - Is there a budget (range) known? ................................................ 59

#14- What does the target audience look like?.................................... 62

#15 - Are other groups affected by this problem or change?............ 66

#16 - Which employees (5) can we talk to that experience or are

impacted by the problem or change? ................................................... 70

#17 - What materials are available already and where? ..................... 75

#18 - Which technical requirements and limitations do we need to

consider? ................................................................................................... 79

#19 - Which means are available for implementation? ...................... 84

#20 - Is there anything relevant to this project I should know that I

haven’t asked about? ............................................................................... 89

#BusinessCase! ......................................................................................... 92

Acknowledgements ................................................................................. 97

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#1 - What is the problem or change you are
trying to address?

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Let’s start with an obvious question.

Surely anyone coming to us with a training request

knows what the problem is they are facing in their
organization. Right? Oddly enough this isn’t as obvious
as you might think. There is, or should be, much more
behind a request for leadership training, sales training
or whatever kind of training. If we are asking the right
questions, we can help our clients understand their
business needs and help them to look beyond
‘training’ and support them with solutions that might
have the impact the organization is looking for.

Part of that solution might be training. If your role truly

restricts you to learning solutions, then you know what
exactly you can do for your client if it turns out a
training component makes sense. If you have some
freedom in your role you can see how you can support

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the wider range of issues that need to be sorted out to
‘solve’ the problem.

And I confess, I’ve made my share of e-learning

modules that had all the content my business
stakeholder wanted, looked really good, were really
interactive and got the required completions in the
learning management system. However, in hindsight
they never really addressed an actual problem. Simply
because at that moment in time I thought I was doing
the right thing and was not asking the right questions.

Don’t sell yourself short here. Chances are your client

doesn’t really know what the problem is.

Ask ‘Why?’ a lot here. If your client keeps talking about

the content they want to put out there, help them
take a step back from the solution they have in mind.

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You can do that by simply saying:”Hey, it sounds like
we’re talking about a solution here already. We will
definitely get to that, but I’d like do understand the
problem a little better. Can we take a step back?”.

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#2 - What is the business reason for this
request?

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After the previous question, it’s time to dig a little
deeper. To help organizations properly prioritize
training requests it is good to see how they are
connected to business results and the strategic goals.

Find out what the main organizational goals are and

see how this project connects to them.

If it seems impossible to make a true connection, you

may not have a project at all. This is a tough question
because it can easily feel judgmental. Explain the
reason why you are asking this question. If your clients
see that you are on their side, trying to understand the
problem or challenge it will help you have a better
conversation.

A request for safety or sales training is often easily tied

to a business reason whereas something like materials

15
training or diversity and inclusion can be more
difficult. Note that sometimes we can’t get past a
vague response here. That’s ok. This question is part of
a larger conversation. We can circle back to this later.
Just watch out for answers such as “because it is
important that they know”. This should always raise a
red flag in your mind.

In the end, what you really want your client to

describe is how this project will add value to their
organization.

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#3 - Do you have an idea for a solution in
mind already?

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This is the ‘parking lot’ question. I’ve noticed that if
clients come in with the idea, they are ordering a new
training you can’t just put that aside. Don’t rush this,
give it the time it needs to make sure your client feels
heard. You don’t want them feeling like you’re skipping
through this.

I never used to ask this question and always felt I had

to work much harder if clients were set on another e-
learning solution when I felt this would not get them
the result they were after.

Doing this at the beginning of the conversation helps

build the relationship. I always make it clear that I am
writing this down, again this will strengthen the
feeling of being heard. You can do it in your notes, on
the white-board or a flip-over.

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I always try to sit next to the client and work on the
document together. This way we’re co-creating the
business case for their training request and can
immediately share their input with the clients
afterwards.

Whatever happens after, I have helped them collect

their information making it time well spent.

Depending how you feel the conversation is going you

can talk a little bit about possible alternatives to their
‘solution’, keeping everything open at this point.

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#4 Who are the stakeholders and what are
their roles?

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Have you ever been in a project where you were nearly
done when, suddenly, a mystery stakeholder or
business sponsor appeared and threw off your entire
project? I’ve heard many of these stories and lived a
few as well. Getting clear on who the stakeholders,
sponsors, or any others connected to the project are is
what you need to know before you get started. What
are their goals? Who makes which decisions? Who’s
responsible? Who’s accountable? Who is contributing
and who just needs to be informed?

I attended a project kickoff-meeting once where when

I asked about the stakeholders the client
uncomfortably started explaining there were 12
stakeholders and that they all had different goals. This
project suffered strongly from some internal company
politics. I advised the project team there was no way
we could run a project with so many different angles

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and no clear goal. The team went back to their
stakeholders and after several months were able to
come back with a single goal and a drastically
shortened stakeholder list. It’s super important to
stand your ground on this one. Does it feel off? Then it
probably is. Just talk about that gut feeling. Voice your
concern.

It’s not a magical solution for a successful project but

it will help create clarity. If a mystery stakeholder pops
up, you can always come back to your signed off
business case and address the issue.

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#5 - Have you done a root cause analysis
for the problem or change? What is the
result?

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So, you have defined the problem, but do you know
what is causing it? I’m not talking about the symptoms
but about the cause. If I have pain in my lower back, I
can do some stretching, make sure I stand and walk
more during the day to ease the pain. But am I
addressing the symptoms or the cause of this pain? By
now I know myself well enough to know that this type
of pain comes from stress and if I want to solve this
problem, I need to figure out what is causing this
stress and address it.

The same thing applies to your project. There is a

problem or change, and it is easy to jump into solution
mode without looking at the cause of the problem. If
your sales numbers aren’t where your organization
wants them to be it’s easy to send your sales team to
sales training. But is the sales team the cause of the
problem? Could it be your logistics? or your supply

24
chain planning? Is there major road construction going
on around your store causing customers to postpone
coming to the store?

There can be different things causing the problem you

are trying to solve, and we need to find out what the
root cause is. Or root causes, because it can be many
things that are affecting your sales numbers.

When I was an external consultant asking this

question, this was a tricky one. In a way, you are
asking your clients if they have done their homework.
And you should. Sometimes the answer is yes, and
they are willing to share the work and it is good. Often
though, it hasn’t been done. You might get a ‘Yes, we
did that, and the conclusion is that we need sales
training.’. Always ask if they are willing to share the
root cause analysis outcome. If they’re unwilling, you

25
know what’s going on. If they are willing to share the
result you can check if there are any gaps and address
them.

A big part of this is trust. Are you seen as a trusted

partner? Or someone that is there to take money off
your client? The relation you have or are building is
everything. The better the relation, the more trust
there is.

If you are in an internal L&D role this is probably easier

as you’re not there to make money off your internal
client. You are trying to help your organization get
better together by default. Now that does not mean
that your internal client is happy with spending time
on a root cause analysis per se, but it will probably
take less convincing.

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Long story short; if there is no clear root cause to the
problem, this is your first point of action.

27
#6 - What is the impact on the
organization if we do nothing?

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This question can be interpreted in two ways and it is
important to realize that.

Negatively, it might sound as if you are not willing to

help. Positively, let’s understand what the cost is to
the organization so we can identify the value and
priority of this project. Be sure to explain that to your
client. If we are having a hard time defining the impact
of this project on the organization and the business
goals, how are your stakeholders going to sign off on
the budget and resources required to make it happen?
How can they agree to take employees out of work to
get trained on something they cannot see a clear need
for? It comes down to proving if your project is adding
cost or if it is adding value.

It is a question that helps your client see if they are

spending time on the right things. If your client is

29
dismissive, try helping them by looking at it from
different angles. How does this affect customers? How
does it affect sales? How does it affect employee
engagement?

These things tell us something about the cost to the

organization. When we know how the problem ‘hurts’
the organization we can compare it to the investment,
and value, of a possible solution. There are always
multiple angles to look at that will help you decide if
you have a real business case. If you do, getting that
budget and resource approval should be a walk in the
park. If you don’t, you now have proof and can put a
stop to a project that wouldn’t have delivered to what
it promised.

I call that a win either way!

30
#7 - What does success look like?

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So, you have identified the problem. You have looked
at the cost for the organization if we do not address it.

Now it is time to find out what success looks like. This

is my favorite question. Nine out of ten times clients
do not have a clear picture of what success looks like.

“Close your eyes and imagine one year from now. We

have implemented a ‘solution’ and we have solved the
problem. What is different in the business from today?
How are people behaving? What is their attitude and
motivation? How are they feeling? How is the process
different? What has changed?”

The answer to this question is the ultimate goal and

helps us figure out what we need to do to get there.
By knowing the end-result you can reverse engineer
the solution(s) needed to get to the desired endpoint.

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You can see the current versus the desired behavior
and see what the gap is. And, you’ve probably guessed
it, it rarely is just a single training solution.

Here is a simple example that many can relate to. I am

overweight. I’m weighing approximately 120kg and
this causes some issues. Future health issues,
confidence issues, limitations in the activities I can do
with my family to name a few. Ideally, I like to get
down to 95kg. So, I have a clear goal. And a really good
reason (value) to get there. You think a course on the
benefits of healthy food, exercise and meditation will
help me reach that goal? It won’t, right! Now if I don’t
have that kind of knowledge already it will most
certainly support me. But how does it help me change
my habits? How does it help me make a change in real
life? How does it help me make the different choices I
need to make to be successful? How does it help me

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look at my environment and see what helps me and
what keeps me from achieving my goal?

Our organizational challenges are no different. We

need to look at the knowledge we need to address a
problem. We need to look at the skills we need to
address a problem but even more so we need to look
at our motivation and our environment to address the
problem. If we can’t do that how will we ever reach
our desired goal? When we know what success looks
like we can identify the actions we need to take and
define how we can measure success.

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#8 - How can we measure the impact of
the solution (with existing means)?

35
Measuring the impact of your solution and connecting
the results of a solution to actual business outcomes
can be a tricky thing.

I often hear the argument that it is not possible to

relate any result from a training solution to business
results as there are so many factors affecting the
business result as well. I say that is the easy way out.
Just because it’s tricky doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
If you are confident about ‘what success looks like’ you
should be able to come up with an idea of what is
different from today. This does not have to be rocket
science. A rise in employee engagement score,
increased sales, a decrease in sick leave, less incidents,
different behavior on the work floor, everything in
work (and life) has more factors contributing to a
specific outcome. We need to accept that and set
goals anyway.

36
If we see the decrease in sick leave after the training
solution has been rolled out to the organization, I
would argue the program has contributed to that. If it
hasn't, it tells us we need to look closer at the
problem. Why aren’t we seeing the desired change?
What other factors are in play? Remember, training is
never the solution to a problem. It can be part of it.
When other, stronger factors are in play even the best
training will make little difference.

Poor employee engagement and high sick leave rates

are most likely connected to the company culture. A
training on mindfulness won’t solve that problem
(sound familiar?). It might help with some of the
symptoms you see in your organization, but does it
tackle the root cause? Getting a ‘good feel’ if your
training contributes to your set goals will help you

37
validate if you are heading in the right direction or if
more action is required.

Here’s another example. I was working for a

consultancy firm that created learning solutions and
sold learning management systems. I was called in at
the end of an LMS implementation project. The LMS
was all set-up, all workflows configured and ready to
be opened up to all co-workers in the organization.
The internal team responsible for LMS project had
some questions about the further rollout. They told me
that this was a very important project for the
organization. Their key stakeholder had already stated
that it would need to be used by the organization’s
employees otherwise he would pull the plug, no
matter the cost. Now, this is not how I would like to
motivate my team, but it was a great statement
nonetheless.

38
There was a clear need for measurement. So, we
started discussing what success would look like and
how we could track that with existing means in the
organization. There were plenty of measurements they
could come up with which supported their goal of the
system being used. We talked about setting goals for
the first weeks and months, the first, second and third
year. We talked about communication to the
employees to generate awareness and spark curiosity.
We talked about engaging managers and team leaders
to make the LMS part of their development talks. We
talked about the number of unique users logging into
the system, how many training solutions would be
started etc... For each and any of these indicators,
there was some sort of way to pull out the data. Then
we started talking about how often they would need
to look at that data and what actions they would need

39
to take if the data showed we would not be reaching
the set goal for that year. Looking at how we can
measure these things helps us make the actual
implementation a success and tells us in early stages
what is or isn’t working.

40
#9 - Are there existing or immediate issues
and/or behaviors that need addressing?

41
Honestly, I love how obvious these questions are. Yet,
this is another one that often gets bypassed.

Sometimes a training request comes from a direct and

urgent need. Some things need to be done differently
and quickly.

Addressing a specific behavior or issue is great to

create a focused solution. No generic stuff here. We
need to solve a problem right now! Here we need to
be mindful that speed and result is key. What does it
cost the organization when this is not addressed? Do
we need a quick fix? How do we follow that up with
something more structural? Where is this issue coming
from?

Think out of the box when looking at solutions. What

would get the result in the quickest and most effective

42
way? Is it training? Communication? Does a process
need to be changed? Do a proper root cause analysis
to understand where these issues are coming from!

I remember a meeting with a organization that had

issues with their product development teams. They
designed their products with a specific philosophy in
mind. However due to an average 30% personnel
turnover in the product design teams in the last
couple of years, they had lost the feeling of what was
considered ‘good design’ according to their design
philosophy.

The client had some great stories and examples

regarding their design philosophy and some products
that were true champions of that philosophy. They had
big books (I’m talking encyclopedias) highlighting
amazing stories about how the philosophy came to be,

43
how it was at the core of the organization etc. After
the client was done talking, they shoved the books
across the table and said: If you read all of this you
should have all you need to create a course for our
product design teams.

I looked at the books and back towards the client and

said. Actually, I’m not going to take these with me just
yet. I’d like to ask you some more questions if that is
ok with you? They seemed slightly disturbed at first.
What more could this guy want? We’ve given him
everything he needs. It was written all over their faces.

I asked a couple of simple questions. How do you

know there is a problem? What are the most common
mistakes that are being made by your teams? What
does good look like?

44
The room was filled with silence. And then some more
silence. I sat there, calmly awaiting the answers. The
clients looked at each other and said: “Those are really
good questions. We don’t have an answer to any of
these.”. Quickly followed with an “I guess we need to
go and talk to the teams and figure that out.”.

You see how these three simple questions completely

turned around the outcome of this meeting? In the
end I went back home with a new appointment a
month from now. And I did not have to read through
the encyclopedia.

45
#10 - What areas affect the desired
outcome?
(Knowledge, Capabilities, Motivation, Organizational
barriers …)

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Training never is the answer to a problem, but it can
be part of the solution. It’s essential to look at what
part that actually is. To do so you can have your client
map the issues they experience on a quadrant that
lists; knowledge, capability, motivation and
organizational barriers (fig. 1a).

I’ve done this exercise many times now and the results
always show the same picture. Where they start with
the need for a training solution and a lack of
knowledge that the people have, the majority of the
post-its end up in the motivation and organizational
barriers quadrants (fig 1b).

This exercise creates a lot of clarity on how much of

the problem is a knowledge/capability issue and what
is not. It helps gain the insight needed on how much
impact you can have with ‘just training’. It also helps in

47
determining if it makes sense to start with training
without spending some time on the motivational and
organizational issues that have been identified.

48
Fig 1a: Before

49
Fig 1b: After

50
#11 - What are the risks/challenges we
need to consider?

51
Great! We now know more about the problem, what
success should look like and we can start figuring out
what kind of solution could work, right?

Well not quite. There usually are other things we need

to consider. These can be different things. Maybe the
project has a history in the organization you need to
know about. Maybe this is a political thing for some
stakeholder. Maybe there are stakeholders with
different agendas. Maybe there is an inconsistent IT
infrastructure. Maybe there are specific legal issues we
need to consider for this topic. Maybe there are other
more important things for the organization to roll out.
Maybe there are specific requirements in different
countries. Maybe… well, you get the picture. It’s good
to think about what kind of risks we could identify
before we get started as these will need to be
considered when designing the solution or solutions.

52
I had the silliest thing happening on a project. We had
delivered a basic compliance e-learning for the
organization, tested it properly and everything.
However, just a few weeks after we rolled it out
helpdesk calls started pouring in. Many people were
telling us that they had completed the course but
where getting notifications to complete it as the
system had not registered their completion. There
were definitely too many employees having this issue
to call it a user-error. We looked and tested and
looked and tested some more. We were unable to
reproduce the issue. Then thought, let’s see what
these people have in common. And it turned out it
was something quite specific. The LMS data told us
they actually where all from the same region and we
could pinpoint exactly which sites where having
issues. Once we knew that we knew it had to be a

53
local problem. I reached out to the IT manager
responsible for these sites and guess what… It turned
out that they only had the internet on a couple of
hours a day. Planned around times most people would
be doing emails. So all these incompletions where due
to the fact that people were able to start their module
in the timeframe where the internet was turned on but
didn’t complete before it was turned off again, leaving
the module with no way to send the completion
details to the server.

This was but a simple challenge (although it took quite

some time and energy to figure it out). There are other
more obvious things that might pop-up. One thing is
for sure, if you don’t ask the question you’ll never
know.

54
Now you will never pull up all risks or challenges.
There will always be things that pop up during your
project. That’s ok. By asking this question you’ve done
what you can to pull up what’s right beneath the
surface.

55
#12 - What is the desired timeline and why?

56
Remember those projects with impossible deadlines?
The stress, the late hours… only to see them laying on
someone’s desk for months before they go live? It is
good to be open and frank about deadlines. Is it really
a deadline or just some randomly picked date (usually
is)?

Often, when projects aren’t tied to company-wide

initiatives, the deadline is more of a desired date the
project is done. Not because it needs to be, but simply
because someone put an end-date on paper. To me,
that’s the difference between a deadline and a
guideline. The deadline project needs to be done.
Period. That means making a realistic planning based
on when stuff goes wrong during the project, not on
when everything is moving along the golden path.
Plan for the worst-case scenario and the best-case
scenario and try to get a feel for what is realistic. When

57
a project is a high priority, tied to a company-wide
initiative and under tight time restrictions you might
want to be more conservative in exploring new ways
of working. When I do, I like to have a plan B (or even
C) in place for such projects. Perhaps some
deliverables are less important? Which things really
need to be in place on that deadline and which can be
delivered later?

When there is more time for exploration, use that

time. The desired timeline itself might be even one of
the risks for success. It’s good to identify this and let
the client take a conscious decision (and document it)
on how to move forward. Luckily, most of the time the
given deadline is more of a guideline and something
that allows the exploration needed to figure out what
works and what does not.

58
#13 - Is there a budget (range) known?

59
“Don’t mention the budget!”.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been told by

procurement or project owners to NOT share the
budget with the agencies we contacted for a request
for proposal. The sheer stupidity (yes, I feel strongly
about this) in not sharing what budget you have for
the solution(s) you need will only hurt you in your
process.

If you have multiple requests out you cannot compare

them because they might be totally off on the budget.
So yes, I prefer to give a budget range. I’d like to keep
approximately 15%-20% reserved for the extra cost
that might occur. Because this happens. Almost
always. We figure stuff out along the way and I don’t
want to go begging for a little bit more money. So, if I
have a budget of €50.000, 15% means I put €7.500

60
aside. The budget range I would communicate would
be around €40/42.000. Yes, this means you will get a
proposal for around that amount. It will also mean you
can compare what agency A, B and C are presenting
you. If all goes well, you are the Rockstar that
delivered the project under budget. If there is stuff
that happens along the way that requires some more
time to be spent to solve things you’ve got some
wiggle room. Either way, the chance of running into
budget issues is very, very slim.

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#14- What does the target audience look
like?

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This is another obvious question, but it is one that has
a lot of questions hidden inside it. There is more to this
than ‘500 sales-people’. We want to know the works!

• What are the roles affected?

• How many people are in each of these roles?
• Are these roles experiencing the same problems or
different parts of it?
• Are they new to the organization or experienced?
• Do they have access to digital tools? Is this solution
mandatory?
• Do they need to take it more than once?
• Do we need translations?
• When would they use the solution?
• Where would they go for information and support
today?
• Are there cultural aspects we need to consider?

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• Are there legal aspects in different countries that
we need to consider?
• How would we best reach the people in these
specific roles?
• Have they gone through other solutions that
should have addressed the same problem?
• What worked and what did not?
• Have they, or any other group of people in the
organization, gone through other solutions that
should have addressed a similar problem?

These are just a few questions to dive a deeper into

the reality of your target audience.

If possible, see if you can create a couple of personas’

and/or create some user journeys to complement
your understanding and to easily share with

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stakeholders and keep close by when designing the
solution(s).

* If you’re not familiar with personas or user journeys you should do

a quick web search!

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#15 - Are other groups affected by this
problem or change?

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Now that you’ve got a good idea about your target
audience it makes sense to check if any others are
affected. They might not be your primary audience,
but they might be an important part of the solution.

If something is changing in a larger process and you

are focusing on the part of the process where the
change takes place you might forget people that
affect the process in another place. If a machine in a
factory gets replaced this might not only affect the
operators of the machine but it also might affect the
loading and unloading process. It’s good to take a step
back and see the bigger picture. You don’t want to
solve a problem only to create another somewhere
else.

I heard a great story once from another L&D specialist

that was told to develop training for operators in a

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factory. Apparently, the operators caused the
packaging machine to stall at least a couple of times a
week costing the factory 20.000 per event. And this
was happening in a multitude of their factories. They
sure had a business case there. Instead of just jumping
in and developing a training about the machine, she
went down to the factory and spend some time
talking to the operators.

Guess what… After talking to a couple of these guys

about the problem she was looking into, she learned
why the machine actually stalled. As it turned out the
crews loading the packaging machine at the start of
the line where loading the line faster than the machine
could process al the products. So, training the
operators wouldn’t change a thing about the actual
problem. The quick-fix was to lower the loading
speed. For the long-term solution, the organization

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was able to add an additional machine and process
more products without the previous problems
occurring. And this applied to all the packaging
machines in the factory… and other factories as well.

By looking at the full process and all parties involved

you might just find out there are other areas that
affect your ‘problem’. Take the time to go out and
have a look for yourself. Talk to the people involved
and listen for clues that help you understand the
problem in a way you otherwise never would have.

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#16 - Which employees (5) can we talk to
that experience or are impacted by the
problem or change?

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It’s amazing how often I have been declined access to
people of my target audience. Looking back the past
decade I’ve mostly had to work with the subject
matter experts that were provided by my business
stakeholders. Asking to talk to people that experience
the problem I was asked to solve usually was deemed
not necessary and too time consuming. After all, this
project needed to be done yesterday! Never happens
to you, right? The stakeholder always knew what the
solution was, and I should just get going and develop
that. Funny thing though that since I’ve made this step
to ask these questions an absolute requirement of the
process, it has never failed to bring new insights.

I remember a project I did where the business

stakeholder thought the biggest need was a shiny
‘what & why’ awareness type solution. Preferably in
virtual reality. When talking to the people on the floor

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we found out that they needed a wiki-style support
platform where they could see the processes and the
steps required to perform activities that were new to
them and those that they did not do regularly. They
were looking for a safety net in this time of change so
they could perform their jobs, including the changed
and new requirements. They couldn’t care less about
awareness training. They knew stuff was changing and
kind of knew why. They needed to feel confident to do
what was asked of them in this new reality.

If you don’t talk to the people in your target audience,

you don’t have a clue about their needs. If you find
that the needs from your stakeholder and your target
audience don’t align you’ve uncovered something
really important, a big risk, and need to bring that to
the table.

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It’s good to note that this does not always mean your
stakeholder will be happy with that insight. You’ll
quickly find out if there is a real desire to solve the
problem of the organization or if there is a desire to do
a prestige project. Sometimes they just want
something cool and ‘innovative’. It’s up to you to
decide if that is what you want to be a part of. In the
example I just mentioned I remember we got push-
back on everything! The client did not agree with the
persona’s we created, they did not agree to the ‘real’
need as described by the employees and in the end
when we presented our solution concept, that got
really good feedback from the target audience.

In the end we got summoned to the head office,

yelled at and asked to leave the building. We were
only allowed back in if we would come up with a cool

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awareness solution in VR. You win some, you lose
some...

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#17 - What materials are available already
and where?

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When digging into a problem it is important to
understand what kind of material is available to
support the people and organization. Is there training
material or support material that has been created
before? Are there experts available to help you? How
available are these experts? If there is any material
available find out what works and more importantly,
what doesn’t. Dig into why it worked or why it hasn’t.

This will help you when you are designing your

solution. Whatever you do, don’t just take what is
there and re-use it before you know how this might
help or hurt your solution.

There are many simple things that are often available if

you know what to look for. A simple example is your
Learning Management System. Use those reports

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what they are supposed to be used for. To learn how
people are using your training.

If I’m asked to update or redesign an existing training

one of the first things I pull up is the data we have
stored in the LMS. How much people have used this in
the past 3 years? How was it evaluated? The people
that participated did they actually complete it? For e-
learning it helps to look at the actual time spent. If the
course is 45 minutes long you can discard all
participants that spend 30 minutes or less. You can
also discard all entries that are over 1,5 hours. Such a
simple filter can paint a very different reality.

I was asked once to do a project on a global course

that needed to be updated. This was an e-learning
focused at the entire organization. It was deemed
super important to understand the organization. After

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pulling up the LMS report we learned that 2000
people had ‘completed’ it in the past 4 years. A meager
1% of the target audience that we were told should
have done it. A closer look, filtering on time-spent,
brought that down to about 180 people that spent a
realistic amount of time on the module. This kind of
data, which is easily obtained, can tell you if it makes
sense to spend a lot of time and money on an such a
request.

Go out and find the data you need. It doesn’t need to

be hardcore science, go look for the trends that tell
you what you need to know.

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#18 - Which technical requirements and
limitations do we need to consider?

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In my lifetime I’ve rarely encountered an organization
that did not have technical limitations. Find out what
the existing tools and systems are in your organization.
Look beyond just training tools. Look at what
communications, marketing and IT have to offer. Go
out on the floor where your target audience is and find
out what tools and systems they are using. Don’t
assume anything!

I was tagging along with a project for forklift truck

drivers once. We wanted to support them in the flow
of their work but weren’t sure how to connect with
them in the logistic centers where they worked. When
we went there and got introduced to their forklifts, we
found out they had digital screens. Pressing a few of
the buttons, that normally weren’t used showed us it
was connected to a network. This allowed us to give

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them the support they needed right there on the
forklift, accessible with just two presses of a button.

Find out what the minimal technical requirements are

for the tools and devices that are being used by
people in the organization and dig a little deeper. Are
these the minimal requirements everywhere in the
company? Does this allow you to meet your target
audience or are they in a ‘unique’ position where they
don’t have the standard access? That global platform
that they all should use, are they using that? What is
keeping them from doing that? That social network, is
it open to all people? Go find the limitations. Ask the
obvious questions as you might not get the obvious
answers you expect. Find out if there are testing
machines/systems in place you can make use of as
you don’t want to end up with your project done and
unable to test if it works on the tools and systems the

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people in your organization use. What happens if you
need to (globally) scale up the solution in the
organization. Get that info and share it with your
stakeholders as it will help them understand within
what framework you must work.

A simple example is bandwidth. In large organizations,

especially global ones, not everyone enjoys the
bandwidth you have in the head-office. That means
your digital solution might work like a charm where
you are testing it. But what about those other places?

An example that many people can relate to since the

COVID-19 crisis is the use of Microsoft Teams as a
platform in your organization. However, this does not
mean you get full access to all you can do with Teams.
How is the rest of Office365 rolled out. Can everybody
access all features and more importantly is your target

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audience capable of using the technology. In many
organizations digital literacy is one of the bigger
challenges when implementing solutions that lean
heavily on technology.

Make sure you know what your reality is and build on

that!

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#19 - Which means are available for
implementation?

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Implementation.

It often feels like an afterthought doesn’t it?

Whether you’re working as an internal or external

consultant, when we are done with our project and an
amazing solution has been developed, we hand it over
to the organization to roll it out and take care of the
implementation. Only to find out later that people are
not using our solution at all. How did that happen?
Well let me tell you how that happened. Unless your
solution is a compliance type solution it probably is
not mandatory for people to take. It most likely is
hosted in your organization's Learning Management
System, the place where few employees go to look for
solutions to their work-related problems. So how
would they find it? How would they know it exists?
You think they will because you’ve created a

85
communications package that you handed over to the
business owners? Do you think they will because you
have placed some nice banners on the intranet for a
couple of weeks and written an article about it when it
launched? Or is it because you’ve shared all the above
in your learning and development and
communications network so it can trickle down into
your organization.

Yes, well… it doesn’t work like that in real life. In all the
years I’ve been doing this, this is where most projects
failed. In the implementation.

Remember the LMS implementation I talked about

earlier (question 8 - How can we measure the impact
of the solution)? After looking at what they would
need to do to prove the value of the LMS and defining
how they could monitor progress and coming up with

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potential required actions for the first year of the
rollout, the project leader suddenly cried out: “Wait a
minute. Do we need to do all that after we launch? But
that is like a project all on its own! We don’t have the
time, budget and resources to do all that! Why has
nobody pointed this out in the beginning of this
project?”.

This is just one example, but I’ve seen it time and time
again. If the implementation is not part of your project
from the start and you are not able to take the
required steps to implement your solution in the
organization you will have created another ‘hidden
gem’, a ‘best-kept secret’ only a select few know
about. Ultimately this means you have failed to have
the required impact in the organization.

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In my opinion, this is still one of the hardest things to
get right. Very often implementation is beyond our
reach and with it, our responsibility. We can advise,
prepare and support but if it is not our actual
responsibility there is only so much we can do.

What we can do and should do is discuss it at the

beginning of a project, so your clients won’t be
shocked when you’ve delivered a solution and are
ready to launch it into the organization.

This is where your value as a trusted business partner

shines through. This is the kind of advice that makes
all the difference.

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#20 - Is there anything relevant to this
project I should know that I haven’t asked
about?

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This may sound like an odd question, but I can tell you
it definitely is not. I still remember the first time I
realized that this is a super important question to ask.

I was working as an e-learning specialist for a

multinational about to start my first global project. The
business owner and I had done our homework and had
invited a potential supplier and sent them the project
brief. In my opinion, we had a great meeting. The
supplier asked a lot of very good questions and the
business owner answered them all. When the meeting
was over and I discussed the results, the weirdest
thing happened. The business owner was not very
happy. They had been asking too many questions and
they did not even ask about X and Y, which were very
important in this project. I was mind blown. You
seriously mean that there is something really
important that we have not shared with them simply

90
because they did not ask it? Heck, I did not know this
until he had just shared it with me now!

Over the years I’ve learned this was not a unique

situation. Several times more I found myself in a
situation where things had gone awry and the
response from a business owner was;” But you did not
ask about it!”. This is not because they want to make
your life difficult. There can be all kinds of reasons.
Often it can be as simple as them thinking you don’t
need to know since you’re not asking about it. Since
then, this question became my ultimate closure
question. And quite often some very valuable
information came into play.

Remember, you don’t know what you don’t know and

neither does your customer.

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#BusinessCase!

92
Congratulations! You have now pulled everything
together to make a good business case.

For you as a learning and development specialist, you

have proven your worth to your client and have
started building the relationship. You’ve also set
yourself up to come up with a proposal you co-
created with your client. How could they refuse?

Your clients also benefit. They can now go back to

their stakeholders and can now explain with much
deeper understanding what it is they are trying to
solve and what value it will bring to their organization.
What will work and what will not.

This is the change we need to see in our world. It is up

to you to ask the right questions. To stop, take a step
back and not jump into learning objectives and

93
training needs. Explore the real problem, together
with your clients. Make the difference, add the value.
Proof that learning and development is not a course
factory but a valuable business partner.

“These questions aren’t

rocket science; it’s how
you use them!”

The questions above are not rocket science. It’s in how

you use them where the magic lies. I use these
questions as a tool to co-create the business case
together with clients. It’s about having an active
conversation. Writing down what they are saying,
verifying if this is what they mean along the process.

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It’s not a 1-hour meeting where we just talk. It’s a 2 to
2.5-hour workshop where we figure out what we know
and what we don’t know and put it to paper. This
document is the ultimate outcome of your workshop.
It is your common understanding of the problem and
the road to a real solution. A solution that works!

Going through this process together with your clients

builds a relationship of trust. It shows you are the
business partner they need and can rely on. And that’s
a great start.

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Just do it!
One of my favorite slogans.

You’ve read about the questions and how to use them.

You’ve downloaded the document I use with my

clients, together with this book. I would like to urge
you to make it part of your process.

The rest is up to you.

Apply this way of working and see the results. I

guarantee, you will not regret it!

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Acknowledgements

97
I’d like to thank some people that have helped me put
this book together.

My wife Leonie, who has been encouraging me from

the moment I started and with that, making sure I
actually finished it.

A big shout out goes to Geraldine Voost. She has been

telling me to write a book and share my experience for
a long time. Over and over… And now it’s here.

Another big thank you goes to my proofreaders Marcel

van Lierop, Lizanne van Zyl and Geraldine Voost and
Donald H. Taylor. Your feedback and questions really
made the end-result better.

Finally, I want to thank you!

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You’ve taken the effort to download and read this
book. I hope you feel it was time well spend and share
it with as much as your peers as possible. Go and apply
the 20 questions and start making real impact!

Thank you all!

Jeff

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