An underskilled workforce is a concern at the best of times. For remote businesses, untrained employees and knowledge gaps are even more of an issue. Fortunately, you can preempt any problems by conducting a training needs analysis (TNA). With a TNA, you can quickly establish the training needs of individual employees, whole departments, or your entire organization. A TNA also helps evaluate and prioritize training needs, as well as inform your eventual training strategy.
Worried an unskilled workforce is holding you back? Keen to make your organization as competitive as possible? Read on for everything you need to know about how to conduct a training needs analysis.
What’s a Training Needs Analysis?
A training needs analysis allows employers to identify what type of training an employee needs to excel. It may also identify a shortfall in skills or knowledge gaps, but can also be used to provide additional learning to improve overall performance and productivity. A training needs analysis tends to be very specific and focus on short-term results. There are several different training needs analysis models to consider, each with unique benefits.
First up, there’s the organizational training needs analysis. This focuses on the larger business, rather than a single employee. The goal of this approach is to identify if there’s a need for specific training programs.
Then there’s the team training needs analysis model. As the name suggests, it focuses on individual departments and training specific to them. As well as identifying any knowledge and performance gaps, it may also explore employee engagement avenues and team-building activities to help improve communication and collaboration.
Finally, there’s the individual training news analysis. As this model is geared toward the individual, there’s a lot of scope for personalization. Most assessments commence with a performance review or more rigorous evaluation before career goals are discussed and an effective training program is identified.
Why is a Training Needs Analysis Important
With the right investment in employee training, you can turn your workforce into an industry-leading asset that gives you significant competitor knowledge. The more highly-skilled your employees are, the more appealing you’ll look as a business to prospective candidates. More importantly, you’ll be far more favorable in the eyes of potential clients.
A training needs analysis can also help you tackle high turnover rates. Many new hires are left feeling stranded after starting a job. A threadbare onboarding process isn’t the way to go about things if you want to retain your staff for as long as possible. The more you invest in your employees, the more loyal they’ll be.
How a Training Needs Analysis Can Benefit Your Business
By performing a gap analysis and identifying training needs, you can start seriously upskilling your workforce. Handle the process in the right way and you’ll unlock several business benefits, including:
Identify Urgent Training Needs
You probably don’t have a handle on the training needs of specific departments and roles within your organization. Performing a training needs analysis will allow you to comprehensively document what training needs to be afforded to each one.
A Proactive Approach to Problems
If employees feel unsure of their own workplace skills, you’re asking for trouble. Eventually, they’ll encounter a situation they’re poorly prepared for. This can lead to wasted time and expense. In the worst case, your reputation with customers may be irreparably damaged.
With a training needs analysis, you shine a spotlight on any knowledge and skill gaps before they’re allowed to become a problem. Single out the most important training needs and address these first if you want to avoid any major obstacles.
Helps You Realize Business Goals
All of your training content should ultimately help you realize your organizational goals. However, requirements change over time, so it’s easy for a disconnect to occur. Carrying out an organizational training needs analysis regularly lets you take stock of how well your training modules measure up against the needs of the business.
Conduct a Training Needs Analysis: Step-by-Step Guide
If you want to turn underskilled employees into top-tier talent, you’ll need to invest heavily in training programs. However, you’ll first need to carry out a training needs analysis. Need some pointers? We’ve got you covered.
Step 1: Establish Business Needs and Decide Goals
Before your training program can take shape, you’ll need to carry out a training assessment. This assessment makes it easier to hone in on training priorities that will have the greatest impact on organizational goals. This analysis will also establish the most cost-effective training avenues. To make the most informed decision possible, assessors need to have a deep insight into your company and its organizational goals.
Step 2: Measure Skills and Performance
Next, you’ll need to perform a gap analysis to determine the performance level and current skill set of employees or entire departments. This will give you a clear idea as to the scope of any training. Employee interviews, surveys, and HR records are all worth considering when carrying out a gap analysis.
Step 3: Take Stock of Training Options
By now, you should have a comprehensive list of training needs. You can now evaluate them by seeing how well they align with your current and future organizational goals. Use metrics like cost, compliance, and anticipated downtime to help prioritize training needs.
Step 4: Prioritize Training Needs
Are certain employees massively underskilled? Does an entire department need upskilling to be as productive as possible? Using the results of your assessment, you can assign each training option a priority.
Step 5: Determine How To Train
Consider how you’re actually going to deliver training. If you’re delivering training to a single employee, consider the learning styles they prefer. You should also factor business goals and any current training methods into the equation. If you’re operating virtually, webinars and asynchronous learning modules are viable training options to bear in mind.
Step 6: Deliver Training
Once you’ve decided on a training method, you can get the ball rolling. Make sure you’re monitoring the success of any training with a combination of surveys, questionnaires, and productivity gains. What’s more, don’t be afraid to make refinements to your training program if need be.
Enhance Online Training with Gloww
Have you just completed a training needs analysis and are eager to implement changes? If you’re operating in the virtual space, you’ll need a reliable video conferencing solution to stay connected with employees and deliver training material. With Gloww, you have all the features you need to upskill your workforce, wherever they’re based.
Create custom sessions for webinars, focus groups, and online training modules. Need some inspiration? You’ll find plenty of pointers in Gloww’s expanse template library. Want to lighten things up a little? You can gamify online training with Gloww, while there’s plenty of scope for interactivity and collaboration.
Get started on designing your online training with Gloww today. Want to unlock our advanced features? Be sure to check out our premium pricing options. Did we miss something? Get in touch with the team.
FAQ
What is a training needs analysis (TNA)?
A training needs analysis lets you establish how much training is required by employees or departments to perform effectively. A TNA quickly determines the scope of any knowledge gap, making it easier to decide between training options.
Why perform a training needs analysis?
A TNA lets you identify any knowledge or skills gaps within your organization. A TNA lets you prioritize urgent training needs while making it easier to design and deliver learning and development modules.
What is the difference between a training needs analysis and a training needs assessment?
A training needs assessment only focuses on whether or not there’s an actual need for training. With a training needs analysis, you’ll explore the reasons behind any training needs and consider methods of delivery.
