Root Cause Revealed: How Understanding the Audience Meant Everything
- Rebecca
- Jul 10, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 13, 2024
"We need a training that teaches consultants how to do their admin tasks on time"
A client came to us with this simple request. After talking to them more, we learned that the consultants did not know how to do things like fill out their timecards, report their availability, and list their skills and specialties. A training was needed to teach them how to do these tasks correctly and punctually.
But sometimes simple requests can still surprise you. You can find that the roots twist in ways you don't expect once you start digging. That's exactly what happened this time.
We set up interviews with consultants to hear their side
We set up some 1:1 interviews with a range of consultants to hear about their struggles first-hand. We spoke to people with a range of tenure, location, and role levels. With qualitative research like this, it doesn't take many interviews for patterns to emerge. In our final report, two key takeaways influenced the project in a major way:
A training on how to do the admin tasks already existed.
Consultants knew HOW to fill out their admin tasks, but many didn't know WHY it was so important to do them on time.
Consultants learned how to do their admin tasks quickly or else they would face disciplinary measures. But a common theme was that they didn't see the big deal in reporting their time a few days late, or not keeping up to date on their skills, or forgetting to report their availability perfectly.
We learned that many consultants at this client were first-time consultants who did not have the background to know how these admin tasks were integral to the running of a consulting business. And that punctual maintenance of their admin tasks was, in fact, a big deal. To them, to the company, and most importantly to their clients.
Our strategy pivoted to emphasize how these admin tasks were used by the business
The training we created kept the "what" and the "how", but we put a large emphasis on "why" each admin task impacted the clients and the business. For example:
Reporting time inaccurately on a timecard can lead to improper billing of the client.
Failure to list their skills and specialties can lead to them missing out on client projects they would have been perfect for.
Failure to report their availability accurately can lead to scheduling mishaps when the company is trying to pair open consultants with
We used several tactics to communicate these consequences to learners in ways that would make the lessons stick. Interactive storytelling put consultants on the other side and make them feel these consequences. They were given the opportunity to engage their own critical thinking by guessing these consequences before the answers were given. Testimonials highlighted real-life stories of these consequences.
The success of the course was beyond our hopes
Half a year after the launch of the course, a data analyst ran some numbers to evaluate the success of the course. He found that consultants who took this course had a 37% reduction in missed timecards compared to consultants who took the previous course.
37% reduction in missed time cards
This was considered an incredible success, and a number that was touted to impress higher-ups in the company for many meetings to come.
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