Describe the gap in observable terms
“Improve communication” is too broad to design or evaluate. Describe a situation instead: handovers omit the next action, supervisors delegate without a deadline, or customer enquiries receive inconsistent follow-up. Compare examples of effective and ineffective work. Ask the employees doing the task and their manager what a useful improvement would look like.
Distinguish a learning need from a working-condition problem
An employee may know the procedure but lack system access, time or authority to complete it. A workshop cannot resolve every operational obstacle. Check whether the person understands the task, can perform it with support and has the resources to do it independently. Assign process or management issues to an owner alongside any training response.
Prioritise people and situations
Group participants by the work they need to perform, rather than sending everyone on the same course. New supervisors may need delegation practice; experienced managers may need coaching or cross-functional decision-making. Prioritise a small number of behaviours with a clear operational consequence. This gives the provider a focused brief and participants enough practice time.
Decide how the manager will review application
Agree a review point before the workshop. Use evidence close to the behaviour: a completed handover, a clearer briefing or a coached sales conversation. Record a starting example so improvement is assessable. Attendance and participant satisfaction can inform the review, but neither establishes that a workplace behaviour has changed.
Worked example: A handover problem becomes a useful brief
A fictional support team repeatedly reopens tickets after shift changes. HR reviews a small sample and finds that many notes omit the next action and owner. The training brief becomes “practise writing a handover with status, next action, owner and deadline”. The manager also fixes a missing field in the ticket template. A later sample can distinguish better handover behaviour from changes to the system.
Put it into practice
- Define one recurring workplace situation.
- Gather examples from employees and managers.
- Separate skill gaps from process barriers.
- Agree the participant group and review evidence.