How to Identify the Real Needs of People

As you begin your project management training needs assessment, don’t be surprised if you encounter a mixture of resistance, indifference, constructive helpfulness, and—sometimes worse than resistance—overzealous enthusiasm. Your difficult task is to sort out sometimes conflicting information and come up with an accurate composite picture of your organization’s project management training needs. As you proceed through this needs analysis, you’ll want to manage the expectations of those with whom you are consulting in order to avoid premature assumptions about what your training program will look like and what it is trying to accomplish. Here are some considerations for each of the types of people you’ll likely run into as you conduct your analysis:

Resisters. Resisters are usually the way they are because they have fallen into the “No Time for Planning” trap. To them, project management training looks like nothing more than one more demand on their overfull schedules. It might be tempting to dismiss their input from your needs analysis, but listen carefully to their complaints. At this early stage, you are more interested in coming up with a complete statement about the current state of project management in the organization. The resisters may not see training as a solution to the problem, but they can give you insight into what gaps need to be filled.

“So what?” people. These people may not actively resist the idea of project management training, but they also don’t see any particular value in it and may be skeptical that training can change the current situation. Again, listen carefully to their observations. Ask probing questions—lots of “Why do you suppose that’s the case?” questions—to help get to some root causes of their skepticism. Ask them if previous training efforts have failed and, if so, why. Ask them if they could picture any kind of scenario in which training could help. What would get them to want to come to a project management workshop; what would it look like?

Helpful people. Love them. Nurture them. Protect them. Recommend them for promotions. Write thank-you letters to them. Send them flowers and candy. These folks are worth their weights in gold. You would like all of the participants in your needs analysis to be like this group, but in the real world there will probably be only a handful of individuals who 1) have a good understanding of the overall goals and of the organization, 2) are familiar with the current state of project management practice within your organization and can help you identify gaps between desired behavior and current practices, 3) are willing to answer questions throughout the needs analysis process, and—not required but desirable—4) know something themselves about project management.

Overzealous people. You might call this group “helpful people on steroids.” They can suddenly inflate your planned two-day workshop into an international symposium or your three-workshop series into a Ph.D. program. Very often, these people are looking for opportunities to expand their own learning (a good thing) but often are less interested in the real project management training needs of the organization (a bad thing). Your challenge will be to harness their energies and manage their expectations so you can get the most accurate picture of what’s really needed. Be open to their ideas, but triangulate frequently by verifying their observations and stated needs through conversations with others in your organization. Again, we are initially trying to get a good statement of the training gap and identify possible ways to address it. Their suggestions may eventually turn out to be useful. Just don’t let them force your hand so that you make promises that are unrealistic or that lead to training offerings that serve only a small handful of individuals within your organization.

Article added at: 11.17.2006 by Kelly Huston