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Training Needs Assessment

Making sure your team is properly trained

So the members of your team haven't got the skills they need if they're to perform at their best, and people are coming at you from all directions with courses they want to go on. How do you identify the training that people really need, make best use of a worryingly small training budget, and negotiate for more money where you need it? This is where a well-conducted Training Needs Assessment can be a useful tool.

When you're designing any training and development program, you really need to know the fundamentals (who, what, why, how, where and when) before you arrange the training:

What training is needed?
Who needs it?
Why is the training important?
How will the training be delivered?

A Training Needs Assessment or a Training Needs Analysis is a good, structured way of doing this. It identifies the training that will successfully address any identified skill deficits. It does this by surveying the skills that employees already have and those that they need, and it helps you think about how to deliver the right training at the right time.

By looking at existing skills and competencies compared to the skills required to meet organizational needs, you make an informed estimate of the training that has to be delivered. From that point you can confidently develop a training program that addresses organizational objectives, and ties into the strategic direction of the company.

Understood in this way, you can see that Training Needs Assessment is much more than simple data gathering. Rather, it is a process that starts with gathering data and ends with a training plan.

Scoping Your Training Needs Assessment

Before you begin, you need to determine what the scope of your training need assessment is. To do that, it is useful to consider which of the following perspectives is driving the training needs that you are considering: