JEEVAN SANJAY

20BBA0091

Assessment of training needs class activity:

1. What is Training Needs Assessment?

Training needs assessment (TNA) is an assessment process that companies and other
organizations use to determine performance requirements and the knowledge, abilities, and
skills that their employees need to achieve the requirements. Three key areas are considered
accurate assessors of those needs:

 Skill proficiency of employees

 Employees' frequency of skill usage
 Level of employees' skills crucial to job performance

One of the outputs of the training needs assessment is a list of who needs what kind of
training. For instance, your company may find that the IT department is failing to keep up
with the industry standards and needs to undergo training that increases their knowledge
about the latest technological innovations. Or maybe the IT interns are coming on full-time
and require mentoring to become a competitive and productive part of the company.

2. Why do we need a Training Needs Assessment?

The purpose of a training needs assessment is to identify performance requirements and

the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by an agency's workforce to achieve the
requirements. An effective training needs assessment will help direct resources to areas
of greatest demand. The assessment should address resources needed to fulfil an
organizational mission, improve productivity, and provide quality products and services.
A needs assessment is the process of identifying the "gap" between performance
required and current performance. When a difference exists, it explores the causes and
reasons for the gap and methods for closing or eliminating the gap. A complete needs
assessment also considers the consequences for ignoring the gaps.

3. Five Steps of Training Needs Assessment?

Step One: Identify Organizational Goals

It’s nearly impossible to plan out your training needs without first assessing and identifying
what you want to get out of it. Consider your organizational goals on both micro and macro
levels and it’ll be much easier to define how to get the results you need. Talk with your
managers and the C-suite to nail down your goals for the next 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. How
is your current training supporting those goals? Do you need more training to achieve
them?

Step Two: Identify Need Type

Not all training is created equally and not all training needs require the same approach. Once
you’ve defined your organizational goals, take the time to outline what type of training
would best fulfil those goals. Usually, you can break training needs into three categories:

 Skills. Whether it’s better teambuilding, customer service, or public speaking, skills
raining should offer guidance and support in areas where learners are focused on a
specific type of behaviour.

 Knowledge. Knowledge training is often required for things like compliance training
or production information. Knowledge-based training requires learners to experience,
understand, and recall information. It may require less hands-on training, but it
shouldn’t be any less engaging.

 Practical. If you’ve noticed that your learners are completing training but their new
skills and knowledge aren’t translating to their jobs, you may need to build in more
practical learning. It’s where users test their new skills in a safe space, such as
simulations, role-playing, or knowledge checks.

The type of training you need the most will dictate how you create and deliver the material.
Outline what type of learning makes the most sense, keeping in mind that you may require a
blended approach.
Step Three: Gather Insight

Don’t make your training needs analysis a top-secret endeavour: involve as many people as
you can. The more insight you have, the better, and your learners are endless resources for
data and Intel. If you don’t know what your training needs are, just ask! Sending out a
survey, conducting casual interviews, or assessing current learner skills will give you the
information you need to start building a case for better training. Even something as simple
as observation offers valuable Intel on how your learners work and how gaps might be
affecting their performance. Once you’ve gathered as much Intel as you can, compare what
you’ve learned against your goals and needs and the path to mastery emerges more easily.
Step Four: Decide on Measuring Success

One of the most vital parts of a training needs analysis is also one of the most overlooked:
ROI. It’s because training ROI is often hard to measure. After all, you can’t assign a number
value to increased confidence, better soft skills, or a wider knowledge base. Still, part of
your analysis should revolve around what a successful training outcome looks like.

Perhaps you’ll finish your training with a knowledge check to see if learners understand and
recall the material. Maybe success looks like a higher training completion rate than usual or
positive feedback on a post-training survey. However, you decide to measure success, use it
as your navigation as you proceed, and work toward that metric.

Step Five: Make Your Recommendations

The last part of your analysis should be a write-up of what you’ve learned and how to apply
that information to your current and future training. Remember that your training needs
analysis doesn’t need to serve as a total outline of your training needs, methods, and
success. Sometimes, you may still need to reroute. Your analysis, however, should give you
enough information to boost your confidence in making recommendations for your future
training plans.

As you identify learning gaps, measure user satisfaction, talk to learners, and start planning
your path to training, your analysis serves to guide you away from pitfalls and stay on track.
In the end, it should be regarded as a toolkit item that helps you make better use of your
time and create the most impactful training possible.

It might not be the most glamorous part of the planning process, but a training needs
analysis might be one of the most insightful. Don’t skip this step because you’re eager to get
started or think you know what learners want: both could cause you to lose your way and
slow down your progress. Avoid getting lost by analysing what you know and using that
information to get you to your destination more efficiently. You may not get turn-by-turn
directions, but you will get a clearer pathway to success.