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Gathering Good Requirements
By Kendra Lee, President, KLA Group
Successful training programs come from knowing exactly what the
training must accomplish for the business, the department, and the
individual. They don't just happen. Whether you are developing or
contracting training, use these steps to improve your requirements-gathering
process, spend less time doing it, and drive more effective training:
Plan your time
It sounds simple, but in our busy world, too many people enter a
requirements gathering meeting without knowing specifically what
they must accomplish. If you frequently gather requirements as part
of your role, create a simple template of the information you need
to gather from sponsors and spend as little as 10 minutes and no
more than 30 minutes gathering the key information you need.
Select your interviewees
Before you jump in, determine whom to interview. Typically, there
is more than one person with an interest in the training, including
the sponsor, stakeholders (such as the participants themselves and
their managers), and subject-matter experts. You may not need to
interview that many people. Instead, interview enough people to
gather a complete set of requirements, and stop once you begin hearing
the same information again.
Apply effective questioning techniques
Begin by gathering the strategic information while the interviewee
is fresh and alert. Converse using broad, open-ended questions that
require the person to think, then offer an explanatory response.
End the meeting with tactical, easy-to-answer information, such
as delivery details. You'll know your questioning technique is working
when your head is full of ideas regarding what the learning objectives
are and what the design of the program should be.
Gather business expectations
Be sure to gather sponsor and any executive stakeholder expectations.
Even the best training won't be praised if it does not meet management
expectations and business objectives. This can be accomplished by
asking open-ended questions such as these, which are likely to elicit
in-depth responses:
- What business objective would you like this training to meet?
- What do you want the training to accomplish and for whom?
- Why do you think this training is important?
Get to the hidden issues
The person you are interviewing won't hold back information on purpose,
but she may not realize the existence of important underlying information
that could help you build a program that will better address business
objectives. To avoid this problem, listen carefully to the answers
to your questions, then continue questioning in order to fully understand
what is being said. Don't jump to conclusions. Instead, question for
complete understanding. The answers will help you prioritize the training
content and your project plan. Sample questions include the following:
- Why is that business objective or behavior change so important?
- What challenges are the team having today?
- How are those challenges impacting the business or department?
- What needs to change?
You'll know whether hidden issues exist if you summarize what you
heard back to the respondent and she responds with more information
to add.
Identify expected behavior change
You need to find out exactly what changes in participants' day-to-day,
on-the-job behavior are expected as a result of the training. You'll
then use this information to determine which activities and reinforcement
exercises will be required in order to ensure that behavior change
occurs. Sample questions include:
- What do you want participants to be able to do differently following
the training?
- How would you rate participants' competency on these topics
today?
- What should change as a result of this training?
Determine the ROI
Determine the business return that the sponsor expects from training
- including both financial results (e.g., productivity increases)
and soft benefits (e.g., employee morale improvement). Other common
return on investment (ROI) measures include decreased expenses, improved
customer satisfaction, and incremental sales. If you can identify
the ROI the sponsor wants to achieve, you can craft more effective
learning objectives, and ultimately determine which topics to train.
Here are some questions to ask:
- What business results do you expect to see as a result of this
training?
- How will you measure success of this program?
What do you do if the sponsor cannot provide you with the expected
ROI? Go back and question to uncover the business need and hidden
issues until you can determine a business need or issue that drives
a financial business result. All training should be able to show a
business result in some way.
Kendra Lee is author of "Selling Against the Goal"
and president of KLA Group. Specializing in the IT industry, KLA
Group helps companies rapidly penetrate new markets, break into
new accounts and shorten time to revenue with new products in the
Small & Medium Business (SMB) segment. Ms. Lee is a frequent
speaker at national sales meetings and association events. For more
information, contact the company at +1 303.741.6636 or info@klagroup.com
or visit www.klagroup.com.
KLA publishes an industry-leading online newsletter. To subscribe
and get a free Quota Gap Calculator ($18.95 value) visit www.klagroup.com.
For information on sales training, call 303-741-6636.
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