The Importance of a Training Needs Analysis / Assessment

Conducting a training needs assessment is a critical activity for the training and development of employees and/or clients. Whether you are a human resource generalist or a training specialist, you should be adept at performing a training needs assessment. To be effective and efficient, all training programs must start with a needs assessment. Long before any actual training occurs, the training manager must determine the: who, what, when, where, why and how of training.

The assessment begins with a “need” which can be identified in several ways but is generally described as a gap between what is currently in place and what is needed, now and in the future.

The needs assessment should be conducted at three levels: organizational analysis, task analysis and individual analysis. Organizational analysis looks at the effectiveness of the organization and determines where training is needed and under what conditions it will be conducted.

A task analysis identifies the knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities needed to achieve optimum performance for a group of workers.

Lastly, an individual analysis analyzes how well the individual employee is doing the job and determines which employees need training and what kind.

The results of a needs assessment can then be used to plan instructional objectives, and the design and delivery of your training program.

What is described here may seem like a lot of work on the front end but the payoff will be that you will be able to plan, design and implement a training program that helps direct resources to the areas of greatest need, those that closely relate to fulfilling the organizational goals and objectives, and will also improve productivity of your work force.