Identifying Gaps in Training Through Assessment

Your training budget is bleeding money. Here's why: You're measuring the wrong thing. Most manufacturers track: → Hours in training sessions → Certificates earned   → Courses completed → Knowledge tests passed But here's the brutal truth: Training is a COST until it's applied. I've seen teams ace Six Sigma exams, then go back to the same wasteful processes. I've watched operators get certified in TPM, then ignore equipment maintenance schedules. I've met managers who can recite lean principles but can't eliminate a single bottleneck. The problem isn't the training. The problem is the gap between learning and doing. The Real ROI Formula: Training Cost ÷ Measurable Floor Improvement = Actual ROI If the denominator is zero, your ROI is zero. No matter how much you spent. No matter how good the training was. Here's the system that actually works: STEP 1: Identify Your Losses First ↳ What's costing you money right now? ↳ Downtime? Defects? Delays? Waste? ↳ Quantify the pain before you buy the solution STEP 2: Map Skills to Losses ↳ Which skills would directly impact these losses? ↳ Root cause analysis for quality issues? ↳ Preventive maintenance for downtime? ↳ Value stream mapping for delays? STEP 3: Assess Current Capabilities ↳ Who has these skills already? ↳ Where are the gaps in your workforce? ↳ Don't train everyone in everything STEP 4: Train with a Target ↳ Before any training: "We will apply this to solve X problem" ↳ Set a specific improvement goal ↳ Timeline for implementation STEP 5: Apply Immediately ↳ The window between learning and doing should be days, not months ↳ Start with a pilot project ↳ Measure the impact STEP 6: Scale What Works ↳ If it worked on one line, expand it ↳ If it didn't work, understand why ↳ Refine and try again The shocking reality: Most training fails not because of poor content. It fails because of poor application. Your operators know what to do. They just don't do what they know. The question isn't: "What should we learn next?" The question is: "What have we learned that we're not using yet?" That podcast on lean you listened to last week? Apply one concept today. That Six Sigma training from last month? Start a small improvement project tomorrow. Because untapped knowledge isn't potential. It's waste. What's one thing your team learned recently that they haven't applied yet?

Bridging the gaps in Kirkpatrick to prove enablement’s impact: Reminder… The four levels in Kirkpatrick: 1) reaction 2) learning 3) behavior 4) results Problem: Almost no one gets to level 4. Why? The levels aren’t actually connected. Just because someone reacts favorably, doesn’t mean they learned. Just because someone learned, doesn’t mean they’ll change their behavior. Just because the change behavior, doesn’t mean you’ll see results. You need to bridge the gaps. Here’s how: From 1 —> 2 Bridge: Effectiveness Perceptions (See Will Thalheimer’s “Performance Focused Learner Surveys”) These ask questions to glean insights about the effectiveness of the intervention (not CSAT). - did you receive enough practice? - was practice realistic? - did feedback guide your performance? - were OTJ resources provided? - did you practice using those resources? - is your manager supporting you? - etc These indicate your intervention has a high likelihood it was effective at imparting new knowledge/skills. — From 2 —> 3 Bridge: Competence Not “competency” (ie do you know it / do you have the skills). But COMPETENCE - can you demonstrate that you can make the kinds decisions/perform the types of tasks you’ll need to OTJ? Acquiring new knowledge or skills is meaningless if you can’t apply them correctly OTJ. — From 3 —> 4 Bridge: Outputs What are the effects of the behavior? What is produced when they are correctly applied (and to what standard)? Something valuable ought to come of them, otherwise it’s behavior for behavior’s sake. What’s produced? A document? A report? A relationship? An assessment? A decision? Behavior means nothing if it doesn’t produce valuable work. BUT…these outputs mean nothing if they aren’t anchored to business outcomes. — This is why to apply this framework, you always need to start with the desired outcome. What are the results you seek to support and influence? Deconstruct these down to influenceable leading indicators. What outputs do those influenceable outcomes depend on? To what standard must they be produced to ensure the outcomes happen? What behaviors must be applied to produce them? What obstacles are in the way? How must performers demonstrate they’re competent? What must they learn/develop or use? You get the idea…

We helped scale a marketing agency from $700K/yr to $2.4M/yr in 24 months. The biggest growth lever we pulled was using skill gap assessments. WHAT THEY ARE: Skill gap assessments do three things: 1. Defines every skill needed per employee role 2. Creates visibility into your team’s current skills and what they need to develop 3. Creates skill gaps into structured development plans WHY THEY’RE VITAL: As an agency owner, your biggest growth constraint is your team. If they’re not A-players that are bought into the vision? Your growth suffers. If they don’t have the skills and capability of delivering A+ work for clients? Your growth suffers. If they lack motivation to develop, get better, and become a valuable asset? Your growth suffers. Skill gap assessments solve these problems. They create a bridge that makes it easy to acquire new skills and get promoted. HOW TO USE THEM: They’re easy to implement. You need to link skill development to career advancement for your employees. Example: Let’s say you’ve got a junior employee. They’re getting results, he’s loyal, and he’s got the capability to scale with your agency. They need visibility into getting promoted into a senior position. It’s as simple as sitting down with them and saying: “If you want to get promoted, here are the skills you need and how to get them”. Break it down into 3, 6, and 12-month training roadmaps. This way, they’ll feel motivated knowing they’ve got a progression path laid out for them. The oneness isn’t just on them though - this is where agency owners go wrong. Your managers need to be proactively developing their juniors through:  - Regular training sessions  - Weekly, biweekly or monthly check-ins  - Progress reports This keeps both your managers and junior employees on the ball when it comes to development. WHY THEY WORK: They’re an accountability tool to make sure that employees’ skills keep up with scale. Juniors feel motivated knowing that they’re a path ahead for them which boosts retention. They keep employees sharp and keep them focused on becoming more valuable assets. MY MAIN LESSON: You won’t scale to 8-figures with a mediocre team. You’ll hit growth plateaus because performance worsens with scale. You as the founder will get dragged into putting out fires. Churn rate increases because delivery worsens as you grow. Constant client intervention drains your resources and focus. The biggest way to solve this is upskilling your team. Provide the systems, resources, and operational systems to do this. Your growth will be frictionless and you’ll be a lot less stressed as you scale.

You Can’t Fix What You Don’t Measure. But, most teams avoid asking the tough questions. Here’s how to close skill gaps in 3 steps. Pillar 3 of the ACADEMIES Framework isn’t just paperwork—it’s survival. Assessing capability gaps shows where you’re losing value. Ignore them, and your competitors will capitalize on your weaknesses. One of our customers—a leading tech company—discovered their engineering team lacked cloud-native development skills. - They faced the truth. - They invested in training. - Their results exploded. 📈 Six months later: ✅ Product launch timelines improved by 40% ✅ Infrastructure costs dropped by 25% ✅ Customer satisfaction skyrocketed Want the same results? Follow these 3 steps: 1️⃣ Map current skills. Document what your team actually does daily. Compare it to what should happen. The gaps will glare back. 2️⃣ Quantify the pain. A slow product team costs $100K in lost revenue per quarter? Multiply that by four. Now it’s a priority. 3️⃣ Fix what moves the needle. A 10% skill boost can drive a 40% productivity gain. Focus on quick, high-impact improvements. Your people want to grow. Your business needs them to. Ignoring skill gaps isn’t an option—closing them is a competitive advantage. Companies that align upskilling with business KPIs see: 🚀 24% higher workforce productivity 💰 35% savings on hiring costs This newsletter will give you a proven process to assess skill gaps and estimate the true value of upskilling—without relying on outside help. Ready to take action? Let’s dive in! ⬇️ --- P.S. Found this helpful? Follow Christina Jones and tap the 🔔 for updates. ♻️ Repost this to help your network level up! #AI #LearningAndDevelopment #WorkforceTransformation #Upskilling #Leadership #HRInnovation #FutureOfWork #ACADEMIES #StackFactor #microlearning #business #goals