The most important part of conducting a training needs analysis is that you need to be familiar with your own company and its people. Technically, a good training needs analysis is based on a structured system following basic steps that any organization can participate in without incurring any real costs:

Step #1: Establishing the company’s vision and mission for the year, if it has not been done.

The reason why this is done is simple – your top management needs a common language to agree upon, before sub-units embark on their goal setting to align with what the organization needs. Without this essential step, people will not find any purpose whatsoever to take part in any initiative. Empirically, we know that when human resource development efforts are supported by top level management, the effects are more widespread due to sanctions.

Step #2: Establishing a company-wide personal development planning process.

If you have not developed a PDP system in-house, you are probably in for trouble. This basically means that appraisals are on a whim and fancy without employee-manager discussions. Anything that is planned and discussed is supposed to be put on paper with 5-7 major annual objectives that need to be accomplished by the end of the year. Then, gradings can be given once there is agreement upon these objectives (yes, they will follow a formula of ensuring they are “SMART” oriented)

Step #3: Integrate PDP with TDP (team development planning).

Most companies lack this because there is (1) no incentive for teams compared with individuals, (2) there is a severe lack of knowledge about team development processes. After all, administrative HR personnel hardly understand organizational psychology. It is important, therefore, for HR to be strategically aligned with their business entities to be able to support the development of strong and productive teams.

Step #4: Feedback culture and regular reviews

This is essential and needs to be instituted proactively. Many organizations simply pay lip service to doing a PDP but do not ensure that it is tied in to performance appraisals. Star performers who reach a 5/5 grading are those who achieve higher than expected results due to initiatives they proactively champion and achieve results upon. This is truly the point of time where you can distinguish those who add long term value versus those who merely react to circumstances. Without a positive feedback culture, people will lack psychological safety, a concept that has proliferated organizational development literature, and therefore present a “show” rather than really look into the real issues that need to be corrected.

Step #5: Update the company competency lists based on revised strategic objectives

Competencies have to guide the employees who have even less knowledge than the HR department. These competencies should be based on empirical support (the relationship between these competencies and company results needs to be measured) and ensure that individuals are clear on their direction in development.

Step #6: Offer a menu for training and learning development opportunities… bearing in mind “transfer” needs

Sometimes, learning and development does not need to be “training”. In fact, some of the best learning experiences happen on the job. But, without properly facilitated learning-oriented discussions, the learning will not transfer. In other words, there will not be any extension of value back into the workplace. I’m sure you’ve encountered problems like this before, where a training was fun, but the actual value was neither measured nor deemed effective. To do this well, learning and development partnerships need to be established. A clear discussion on how to measure the value of training and learning has to be discussed so that empirical studies can be done utilizing Kirkpatrick’s levels of evaluation (although the evaluation needs to be wholistic and tailored, not linear and standardized as some companies suggest)

Since this is really a responsibility of the organization, it is important for the HR department to develop this skill set to sustain its capabilities. For more information on how a positive learning and development relationship can be developed with us for your learning and development needs, contact us for a discussion on your needs, or meet us at one of our regular open-house workshops.
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