Needs Analysis--Understanding the First Steps

Analyze Your Situation

The most important step in choosing the right training for your organization is learning what you need. Oftentimes, businesses opt for "too little, too late" in employee training. This leaves employees with incomplete or inappropriate solutions. Therefore, it's best to perform a training needs analysis early in the process. An experienced training specialist can lead your company's focus toward the right questions. For example, a needs assessment for an employee training project might ask the following questions:

• Are we making any major changes in our business process?
• How do those changes impact our employees' job functions?
• What information and training will our employees need to continue being successful in their jobs?
• How will our employees best accept and integrate this information and training?
• How best do our employees learn?
• What is the best way that we can get this information and training to our employees?
• Are there any corporate needs that are not being met?
• Does our staff have the skills they need to do their jobs effectively?

Plan for the Future

You can conduct a training needs analysis for a single project, a class of employees, or even your entire company. In our case studies section, we show how a needs analysis benefited the Alaska Department of Transportation in developing a training budget for mandated and desired training hours.

If you would like help with a training needs assessment, please contact one of our training experts.