PART 3 — Needs, Contexts & The Silent Killer of All Training: Bad Assumptions (Part 3 of 6)

  

1. The Simple Version: Before You Teach Anything, Ask ONE Question

Ready?

“Do people actually NEED this training?”

You would be shocked how many companies skip this question completely.

They see a problem and immediately shout:

• “We need a workshop!”

• “Make a course!”

• “Let’s train everyone!”

This is how terrible, useless trainings are born. Instructional Designers prevent that disaster.

A lot of them will be like (i'm sure all of us worked in retail back in school, right..remember those videos??? so boring and lame..they even tell u "take ure finger and use it to press the button called key on the register...yaay..u did it..u can do thing in the world...u have received our  "best new employee award" 

2. Needs Assessment: The Adult Version

Needs assessment = Reality Check 101.

It answers:

✔️ Is there really a problem?

✔️ What EXACTLY is the problem?

✔️ What’s causing it?

✔️ Is training the right solution — or are we blaming the wrong thing?

This is the MOST underrated skill in the entire ID profession.

3. The 3 Types of Needs (ID Gold Standard)

Most problems fall into ONE of these categories:

1. Problem-Based Need (“We’re in trouble”)

Something is broken.
Performance is failing.
Customers are complaining.
The data looks ugly.

Examples:

• Sales dropped

• Error rates increased

• Onboarding confusion

• Staff not following procedure

Training might help… but only if the cause is a knowledge, skill, or attitude gap.

If the cause is:

• bad leadership

• outdated systems

• no accountability

• impossible workload

Then training does NOTHING.
We diagnose that.

2. Innovation-Based Need (“Something new is coming”)

Not a problem — just change.

Examples:

• New policies

• New software

• Updated procedures

• New compliance standards

• New equipment

• New customer expectations

Here, training is ESSENTIAL.
People can’t magically use tools they’ve never seen.

3. Discrepancy-Based Need (“We’re doing okay… but are we actually good?”)

Compare: What is vs What should be

This often shows hidden improvement opportunities.

Examples:

• Courses being taught, but goals not fully met

• Evaluations showing inconsistent results

• Learners understanding content but not applying it

• Gaps between policy and actual behavior

This is the quiet category that catches most organizations off guard.

4. The Most Important Questions Every ID Asks

(These should be tattooed onto every project brief..with a cool design of a dragon..cause dragons r so cool)

🔹 What is NOT happening that SHOULD be happening?

🔹 Why do you believe training will fix this?

🔹 What evidence shows this is a performance issue?

🔹 What’s the gap between the current state and desired state?

🔹 What is causing the gap?

🔹 What solutions will actually close that gap?

These questions separate a real Instructional Designer from someone who “makes slides.”

5. Learning Environment Analysis: Where Will This Training Actually Live?

Because guess what? Training must fit reality.

Not fantasy. Not ideal conditions. Not “what the manager wishes the environment was.”

ID asks:

✔️ Where will learners actually learn?

• Classroom?

• Virtual?

• LMS?

• Mobile?

• Blended?

• Simulation?

✔️ What constraints exist?

Some environments CANNOT support certain types of training.

Example: You can’t teach forklift safety with a PowerPoint in a broom closet.
(Well, you can, but please don’t.) 

✔️ What resources exist?

• Budget

• Technology

• Time

• Tools

• Instructors

• Space

✔️ Can the environment simulate the REAL job?

This is huge.

If the learning environment is too different from the performance environment,
transfer fails.

IDs design around that gap.

6. Learner Analysis: Who Are These Humans?

Learners are NOT one-size-fits-all. Like in the song Malvina sings "Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same". (nice song from the 60's)

Before designing anything, IDs analyze:

✔️ Prior knowledge

✔️ Cognitive styles

✔️ Motivational factors

✔️ Technology comfort

✔️ Learning preferences

✔️ Diversity & inclusion factors

✔️ Languages

✔️ Disabilities

✔️ Emotional/mental states (stress, fear, confidence)

We don’t just “make courses.”
We design for real people.

7. The Silent Killer of All Training: ASSUMPTIONS

Let’s list of few of Corporate Lies:

❌ “They know what they’re doing.” (They don’t.)

❌ “Everyone learns the same way.” (No. Just no.)

❌ “The environment doesn’t matter.” (It matters more than the content.)

❌ “We can skip needs assessment.” Enjoy your useless course.

❌ “Learners will do the pre-work.” LOL.

❌ “We can fix everything with training.”

Training does NOT fix:

• broken processes

• poor leadership

• terrible systems

• toxic culture

• unrealistic deadlines

This is why IDs exist — to stop companies from making dumb decisions.

8. The Sri-Style Punchline

Instructional Designers don’t just build learning.

We prevent wasted money
We diagnose real causes
We map human behavior
We design for transfer
We protect learners from bad decisions
We save organizations from themselves

This chapter is where people finally understand:

Training is NOT the automatic answer. Analysis is.

Coming Up Next:

PART 4 — Task Analysis: Turning Messy Knowledge Into Clean, Teachable Steps

This one is going to be chef’s kiss.
We’ll break down:

• Learning goals

• Outcomes

• Cognitive domains

• Hierarchies

• Flowcharts

• How to turn SME chaos into structured brilliance

• AND how to write perfect learning objectives