The method
Diagnose before you prescribe.
Every gap is a learning and development need. The real question is which kind, because that decides how you develop it. Default everything to a standard course and you keep missing three quarters of the work.
The Four Kinds of Need
Environmental & Contextual
Do they perceive, understand, and know how to leverage what their environment offers — tools, systems, process, resources, the situation itself? Develop through sense-making, exposure, and guided experience. A course rarely fits.
Role & Will
Do they understand their role, believe in it, have clarity on what and why, and have the support to act? Low will is rarely laziness — it's a gap in one of these. Develop through role-shaping, sponsorship, and managerial support.
Subject-Matter
Do they lack specific knowledge or technical skill? This is the one place a well-designed standard course can fit. Be honest when it does — and honest when a stated 'training need' is really disguising one of the others.
Self
Do they have the self-awareness, regulation, and internal narrative to perform under pressure and ambiguity? Develop through reflective practice, feedback, coaching, and structured challenge.
The Ladder of Inference
Before diagnosing, split what was observed (data, quotes, metrics, behaviors) from what was assumed (interpretation, attribution, inference). Assumptions dressed as facts corrupt the diagnosis. The AI does this split for you and asks you to confirm before it proceeds.
The Consultative Conversation
The AI runs a short, targeted interview — at most eight questions — to surface the real business result behind the request, actual vs desired performance, who is affected, what has been tried, and what the requester is assuming about cause. Then, and only then, the diagnosis.