Read this article to learn more about how to structure the work for conducting a needs assessment during the first phase of the training lifecycle.

Why Every Training Professional Needs a Structured TNA Process.

Recently, while reviewing several trainers during practice sessions, I noticed something puzzling. The sessions were well prepared, the trainers confident, and the activities engaging. Yet something essential was missing: the learning experience felt fragmented rather than coherent.

A few years ago, I worked with a senior leader whose organization was facing what many would describe as a performance crisis. Targets were being missed, the team was disengaged, and decisions were slow, often revisited, and sometimes avoided altogether. The instinctive response was predictable: more training. More frameworks. More tools.

Training doesn’t fix performance. Leadership does.
 

There are moments in training that stay with you—not because they were planned, but because of what they reveal about learning. One such moment unfolded during a three-day program I was facilitating.

Recently, I observed a trainer conducting a two-day training. Even before the session began, I was curious to see how participation would unfold.

Let Them Discover the Boxes: A Small Shift That Changes Learning

Last week, while observing a mock training session for content review, I witnessed a small facilitation move with significant learning implications.

عندما نسمع كلمة “قيادة”، غالباً ما نفكر في رئيس تنفيذي، أو وزير، أو مدير عام.
نادراً ما نفكر في مدرب يقف أمام مجموعة في قاعة تدريب.

لكن الحقيقة التي تعلمتها عبر سنوات من العمل مع بنوك، وزارات، مجالس إدارة، ومنظمات مختلفة، هي أن من أكثر أماكن القيادة وضوحاً وتأثيراً هي قاعة التدريب.

When people hear the word leadership, they usually imagine a CEO, a minister, a general, or a board chair. Rarely do they think of a trainer standing in front of a group with a flip chart marker in hand.

What actually happens in your breakout rooms once you click ‘Open’? Silence? Confusion? One person doing all the talking? Or real learning? Breakout rooms are not off-stage time. They’re where online learning either comes alive… or quietly dies.