There are several ways that this “denial of need” can happen:
- Cowardly boss: “I don’t want to admit to my managers that they need training”.
- Don’t know what we don’t know: “My managers will not admit that they need training”.
- Futility: I honestly believe that my managers don’t need training, even though quite a few of our projects are late or over budget
The result of the above is that I get asked
“…..so can we have something advanced or special rather than basic?” when I KNOW that what they need is to understand (and then DO) the basics.
What do to?
Sometimes I DO run a more advanced course, as requested, but then, predictably, I get told it was too hard to understand, and anyway I KNOW it’s futile because they won’t be able to implement it without the foundations being there.
Another option is: Do the basic training but call it something else….
I find this a bit dishonest, and also it’s risky – you’re wide open to “That programme looks a bit basic” or “this is different to what we expected” or “We’ve heard this before (but we’re not doing it)”
Another option is to get them to admit that they need help:
We could ask them questions about two things:
- How is your current PM process working for you?
- How much do you know about PM?
To the first question, “how are your projects going?”, unfortunately the answer might easily be “quite badly, but not my fault, because they are difficult”. “And the sales people keep selling impossible jobs”. or “And that’s just how the market is – we have to quote impossible timescales just to get the work.”
The answer to “how much do you know” could be “not much of the academic theory, but I can use my instinct and experience. I don’t need the theory. Life is not like theory anyway, our particular business is not like the theory, I don’t need the theory ”
It’s hard to argue with beliefs like this.
Nevertheless, I would like to find a way to ask them:
What percentage of your projects are delivered on time?
Does every project have a Gantt chart?
Can you see the progress of your projects on a Gantt chart, quickly and easily at the press of a button?
Do you know why you need two kick off meetings instead of one?
Do you know why you need a network diagram as well as a Gantt chart?
Do you have a scientific way to work out how much contingency to add on?
Could you easily tell me the six combinations of progress and spend and what they mean?
If I gave you a simple example, would you be able to forecast the finish date and finished cost of a project based on where it is at the moment?
(this could be positioned as an initial training-design survey, or an annual appraisal information collection exercise, perhaps?).
But these could be interpreted as attacks, and people migth respond fearfully, or aggressively.
So maybe the best thing would be ask them THIS:
Would you like to see….
How to discover lateness and overspend in the early stages rather than getting nasty surprises late in the project
Would you like to see…..
a Gantt of Gantts, which allows you to see the progress of all of your projects in one diagram, and also allows you to work out whether it’s possible to do all the projects that you want to do this year?
Would you like to see….
An easy way to calculate how much contingency you need.
Would you like to see….
A quick and easy way to make a Gantt chart for all of your projects without using software like Microsoft project
Would you like to see….
How to plan large projects but still keep a single point of clear visibility, without feeding everything into an unaccountable computer or spreading the work over lots of people
Would you like to see….
The expected finish date and expected final cost of every project, always up to date, viewable all on one page.
Perhaps by focusing on the benefits (which they know they don’t currently have) rather than the contents of the training (which they can claim they don’t really need) we can get them to reluctantly fill in the gaps of their knowledge!
