People who design training need answers to many questions before they can jump in and get to work. But out of all the possibilities, three questions are fundamental.  They are:

1. What results do we want?
2. What behaviors will get those results?
3. What knowledge, skills, and attitudes will lead to those behaviors?

Upon answering Q#3, training designers have a foundation for where to start.

Side note: A big hat tip to Donald Kirkpatrick, as these are derived from his famous work on Evaluating Training Programs.

But – these questions are also excellent for managers to use in just about any situation, from planning a project to solving a troublesome problem.

Easily Modified

Take problems, for example. Managers could get stuck in the blame game, or they could focus forward on fixing the problem. Choosing the latter (highly recommended), these three questions work great. And – can be modified quite easily:

1. What results do we need?
2. What must be done to get those results?
3. What resources are available to help us do that?

Upon answering these foundational questions, managers can start creating an action plan to solve the problem.

The Challenge

Since these three questions are easily memorized, here’s my challenge to managers, supervisors, and leaders: For the next week, when you encounter a problem—or, when someone comes to you with a problem—ask these three questions.  Pay close attention to how they focus people (including you), and see if they don’t get things moving faster in the right direction.

Obviously these are silly to ask when problems are small, but use common sense and see how they work for you.  Then: I’d love to hear back from you about what went well—and what didn’t.

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Filed in Work, Training, Motivation, Management, Leadership, Workplace, Train the Trainer, Coaching