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Training Needs Assessment Template
As we discussed in a previous blog, a training needs assessment is a method used by organizations to discover internal skill gaps and determine what training is needed to fill these gaps.
It’s frequently used for employee training but also works for other training like customer and partner training. It’s a relatively simple method that will help you clearly identify what training you should be carrying out in your organization.
Now let’s look a little deeper into a training needs assessment and discover how to create one.
How to conduct an assessment
Identify performance gaps
Firstly, you need to know what your learner’s skill levels are. Once you know this, you can set where you’d like their skill level to be. This level could be something specific to your industry, or one that meets your company’s goals and objectives.
For example, you may work in the service industry, which requires your learner’s to have a certification in health and safety regulations for your specific Country, State or County.
On the other hand, your company may require learners to have a basic knowledge of the software systems they use, or a security certification.
List of skills
When creating a training needs assessment, we find it’s best to create a list of skills you want your learners to learn or improve upon. Try splitting the skills into hard (or technical) skills and soft skills.
Rate skills
This is the trickier part – rating skills that individuals or teams need. Create a rating system that works for you. This can be anything from a scale of 1-10, or a color coded system. We find it’s best to open communication channels with each department head. This way you can find out what they rate each skill. For example, the Head of Sales and Head of Customer Service will rate communication skills higher than the Head of IT.
Once you’re happy with your rating system, you can apply it to your template.
Evaluate skills
Next is the meatier part – rating each learner or team against each skill. This is best done by each team lead. While you can use previous course data to assess each learner, you’re further removed from their day to day workings to make a full assessment.
To get around this, share your rating system and skills list with each team lead. Ask them to fill out the relevant rating with each skill applicable to their team/individual. Remember to set a completion date, so you have the information you need to make an informed decision on the company’s training future.
Analyze results
Once you have the evaluations back, you can analyze them to identify any skills gaps. Try to do this in conjunction with your own data on each learner. If you have a Learning Management System, use your Reports feature to make it as easy as possible.
Get a training needs assessment template
We want to make developing a training needs assessment as simple as possible for you. After all, many in L&D work with limited resources and time. To help, we’ve created a training needs assessment template that’s easy to use, and can be adjusted to suit your training offerings.
