Career Development - Conducting A Training Needs Analysis

Having been a trainer in Singapore for the last 15 years, it's been somewhat surprising to me that many organizations do not have the capacity to choose their trainings properly.

Why should an organization know this?

you clearly define your goals in developing a training program
you save more time in selecting a potential training provider
you are certain of the deliverables and can identify them
you can justify the reason why you chose your provider
you can chart your training progress more easily

If you happen to be in charge of training needs, you should actually pay attention to the following broad areas:

What problems do you have in the organization? or if you think you haven't got any problems...
What goals would you like to achieve for your organization?
How much time do you have to conduct the training?
What measurement system would you like?

What problems do you have in the organization?
I've had some people who have really been up front about their organizational issues. Of course, the best person to talk about this would not just be one person. To get a fair picture about the issues at hand, it would be best to talk to a range of people. However, if you already have done an employee survey, it would be clear what their main complaints are. These problems are often segmented into two parts. The first part is a skill issue, which must be tagged to the appropriate trainer. After all, if your employee is unfamiliar with legal procedures, or company operations, then training is a must. The second part is an attitude and culture issue. In reality, too few training companies or consultants really know how to transform attitude and culture. If you are up for a discussion regarding this, please speak with my corporate training division.

If you have some difficulty, it is possible for use to initiate a study of your organization and offer some ideas as to how to get a better picture of your company's training needs.

Broadly, here are a few training needs that we hear frequently:

inexperienced new but intelligent leaders;
dipping of morale;
productivity needs to be raised but don't know how;
the need to help employees develop life skills in general;
enabling employees to create value;
awareness of potential safety hazards in the workplace
... and the list goes on

How much time do you have to conduct the training?
This is where training managers in companies balk a bit. They know very well that in order to have a good training, the amount of time factors in. But, they don't always want to give the impression that there is a lot of time to spare because some training providers just give a week worth of games instead of real content.

Personally, my rule of thumb is simple. Given a set of clear competencies, you will need at least half a day to cover ONE competency. Most of the time, the number of competencies a company wants to cover is way too broad. Example, the issue of resolving inter-departmental conflicts often requires the following:

Ability to empathize and put oneself into another's position
Ability to ask questions in a manner that enables the other person to feel understood, not undermined
Ability to clarify one's point with another person
Ability to diffuse tense situations by building effective rapport
Ability to read another person's intent
Ability to consider a person's personality style in communication, particularly in stressful situations
and more...

So, we have 6 competencies to cover. They have to be tagged to specific deliverables (e.g. a skill set that helps to improve the ability to put oneself in another's position) that are agreed upon. Which are most important to you, if you only have 2 days, because this will take at least 3 days to teach, demonstrate and measure.

If it is a non-tangible set of capabilities like a team building training, it should be at least 2 days with rigorous activities to demonstrate team communication and allow collaboration.

What measurement system would you like?
Ah... my favorite topic. There's the post training survey, which is great for immediate feedback about the training, but says nothing about effectiveness and transfer of learning. Back in the office, a segment of seminar attendees still need coaching (1) to refresh their memory as to what can be applied to the workplace; (2) for better support with new skills. Training seminars are NOT a substitute for coaching!

The trouble begins when we know there is no transfer likely. I mean, honestly, how am I supposed to know if your leaders are going to do what I taught? You need to give me more power to measure this. For example, add a requirement for them to complete a particular task that will be assessed in their regular annual employee appraisal. Or, peg the achievement of certain competencies to the way in which you get a raise or get promoted. To ensure these are done, you will need a much more comprehensive suite of measurement tools and systems. Some of them will require a longer time to implement but essentially, the more effective the transfer, the higher the cost of such a measurement.

Once again, if you have questions regarding training in your organization, drop by at my corporate training division.

About this Author

Stuart Tan, MBA (Western Michigan) has been training for over 15 years and developed multiple programs all across Asia particularly in leadership, organizational performance and change.

Stuart is the national best selling author of three books, "Master Your Mind Design Your Destiny", "Secrets Of Internet Millionaires" and "Secrets of Millionaire Students". He hails from the small city-state of Singapore, and has spoken to over 120,000 people across Asia. Contact him at StuartTan.com for your human resource development needs.

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