Session Description
Organizations continue to invest billions of dollars in training each year, yet many performance problems persist—or worsen—after training is delivered. The issue is not a lack of instructional design capability; it is a lack of diagnostic discipline before prescribing training.
This session introduces Diagnose First, Train Second, a practical, evidence-based approach that helps learning and performance professionals distinguish true skill gaps from problems caused by unclear expectations, misaligned incentives, workflow constraints, leadership behaviors, or system design. Rather than defaulting to training as the solution, participants learn how to apply a structured diagnostic process that protects organizational resources, strengthens L&D credibility, and ensures training is used only when it has a realistic chance of improving performance.
Through realistic organizational scenarios, participants will practice diagnosing common performance requests—such as calls for coaching training, onboarding programs, or compliance refreshers—and learn how to identify when training will fail before it is ever built. The session also addresses a common real-world challenge: what to do when leadership requires training even after a precise diagnosis that it is not the primary solution. Participants will learn how to reframe these situations to protect credibility, clarify expectations, and design training that serves the correct organizational purpose when constraints exist.
This is an applied performance session, not a theory overview. Participants will leave with a repeatable diagnostic approach they can immediately use in stakeholder conversations, needs analysis, and program planning, reducing wasted training effort and improving the likelihood that learning initiatives lead to measurable results.
Learning and Performance Objectives
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
1. Differentiate training problems from non-training performance problems by applying a structured diagnostic approach before recommending solutions.
2. Identify common non-training causes of performance gaps, including unclear expectations, misaligned consequences, system constraints, and leadership behaviors.
3. Evaluate when training is likely to succeed—or fail—before it is designed, using evidence rather than assumptions or stakeholder pressure.
4. Apply a Diagnose First, Train Second approach to real organizational scenarios, enabling more credible and defensible learning decisions.
5. Respond effectively when training is required despite diagnostic findings, by reframing the purpose of training and protecting L&D credibility.
6. Improve stakeholder conversations and decision-making by asking better diagnostic questions and clarifying what training can—and cannot—fix.
About the Speaker
Mike Saunderson is an accomplished, results-driven leader with over 14 years of experience supporting Fortune 500 organizations in training needs assessment, instructional design, and evaluation. He has a proven track record of designing learning solutions that lead to measurable improvements in employee performance and business outcomes.
Mike holds a Ph.D. in Learning Design and Technology from the University of Hawaii, where his research focused on evaluating training transfer and leveraging technology to analyze performance data.
He is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences, where he shares evidence-based strategies for evaluating learning effectiveness and measuring behavior change. Mike is also a published author, contributing multiple articles to Training Magazine and Training Industry.
His academic foundation, combined with practical experience, enables him to design and evaluate learning programs that are both data-informed and performance-focused.