Assessing Training Needs (Lecture 1: 25th November)

Why assessing needs is crucial?

• Managers often choose training based on intuition or according to the latest hot topic, often on issue not specific to the organization.
• This will be major reason for the failure of the training, resulting to unproductive training, and resistance for future training.
• The purpose of training is to help employee work efficiently to meet organization objective by reducing any problems or gaps in organization.
• The best way to identify problems or gaps is through need assessment.

How it helps?

• It focuses us to be aware that the problems exist.
• Focus us to define the problem
• It helps to be certain that the problem can be solved through training or not.

Need Assessment

• Allows the manager to identify the organization's needs, identify the needs of employees, the needs of job and task, and establish criteria for developing training and measuring its success.
• It determines the organizational gaps between ideal and actual performance.
• Examination of gap focuses on the cause of the gaps the extent of the gaps and possible solutions to them.
• It focuses on long term fix of the problem and allows to identify solutions that get at the root of the problem.
• Training director or manger, or someone form training and development or human resources department conducts need assessment.

Identifying needs

• The success of training program depends on how clearly the gaps between ideal and actual performance is identified.
• The precise assessment will form basis for selecting training program.

Gap Analysis

• It is process of comparing the operations standards to the actual performance of employees.
• Ideal outcomes – actual outcomes = gap or problem.
• We need to determine the gap is due to:
• ◦      Lack of skill
• ◦      Lack of knowledge
• ◦      Lack of appropriate system  

Training problem or performance problem.

• Performance problems and how efficiently employees do their jobs may be seen as training problem in the beginning.
• First look out for the position of skills, knowledge and systems for employees
• Closer examination may reveal that a performance problem is not related to training
• It can be problem form management, working conditions, equipment, poor hiring. etc
• Once it is conclude that the training is the solution, look how the problem can be addressed. It can be done through:
• Training needs survey
• Observation
• Employee surveys
• Guest comments
• Employee meeting
• Inspections

Vague standard

• Clear identification and analysis of problem will provide strong base for developing standard.
• While developing standards for the Training department must be confident that “What level of performance would yield the right response”.
• To vividly analyze this situation help form department managers is indispensable.