A training request is not the problem
Step 1 / 4·A good person meets a bad system
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Learning objectives — after this module you will:
- Distinguish a training request from a performance problem
- Grasp Rummler's classic line about systems and people
- Ask diagnostic questions instead of taking orders
A good person meets a bad system
Understand the foundational idea of performance consulting.
Performance Consulting is the maturing of an L&D professional: instead of taking 'course orders' and delivering, you DIAGNOSE the real performance problem and propose the right solution — which may or may not be training.
Geary Rummler — one of the fathers of the performance-improvement field — left a classic line: 'Put a good performer in a bad system, and the system wins almost every time.' Meaning: when performance is poor, the cause is usually in the SYSTEM (process, tools, information, rewards), not in a person lacking skill. Training a good person to work in a broken system just creates a frustrated person with skills.
L&D's trap
Because L&D sells 'training', every problem easily looks like 'lack of training' (to a hammer, everything looks like a nail). A good performance consultant dares to tell the boss: 'Training can't solve this problem' — and points to the real cause. That's what earns you trust, not the number of courses you've run.
Key takeaway: Rummler: a good person in a bad system loses to the system — diagnose the cause, don't assume it's a training gap.