CDLA · Module 1 — Performance consulting and action mapping
Why "we need a course on X" is a request, not a diagnosis, and how to respond without refusing.
About 18 min
Practice in the lesson player
Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.
01
The customer service director writes: "Complaints are up. We need a two-hour eLearning on customer empathy for all 400 agents by the end of the month." The topic, the length, the audience and the deadline are already decided. The cause has not been checked. Every number in that sentence is a guess about what would help.
02
The request: Names a topic ("empathy"). · Assumes people do not know how. · Fixes length and format first.
The diagnosis: Names a result that moved (repeat complaints up 18% since March). · Checks tools, data, incentives and skill before choosing a fix. · Lets length follow from the practice the gap needs.
03
ATD Capability Model self-assessment benchmarks, 31 Dec 2023, all roles, N = 29,473. People who identify as instructional designers rate Instructional Design at 59.0% (N = 3,474).
Data and analytics: 33.5%
Technology application: 36.4%
Evaluating impact: 40%
Instructional design: 45.6%
Training delivery: 63.4%
04
If delivery feels easier than diagnosis and measurement, organisations keep ordering courses because a course is the familiar product. A course is also visible: it has a launch date and a completion report. A fixed tool or a changed incentive is invisible in an L&D report. Your first job is to change the first question from "what content?" to "what performance, and why is it missing?"
05
Mager and Pipe's performance analysis starts with one question the sponsor rarely asks: is the gap worth fixing at all? Estimate the cost of the problem (repeat calls × handling cost, rework hours, penalties) and the cost of the proposed fix. A two-hour course for 400 agents is 800 working hours before any build cost. When you show the sponsor that number next to the cost of the problem, the diagnosis conversation stops being a delay and becomes a business decision.
06
Pick one live training request in your organisation. Write down, in the requester's words, the topic, length, audience and deadline. Next to each, write what you would need to know before agreeing to it. This page is the first part of your module artifact. What this academy issues: an Innovito certificate of mastery. It does not replace ATD's APTD or CPTD, CIPD qualifications or a degree.