Human Resource Archives | Training Needs Assessment System

TNAS Review

tnas1201 — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 11:31:47 +0000

An AI-Powered Software Built For HR and Employees

Mehak Kazmi
MK@KAYBOX.CO.UK

When it comes to Performance Management, CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personal Development) say it the best. It’s about creating a culture which encourages the continuous improvement of individuals’ skills, behaviours and contributions to the organisation. The task for identifying learning and development needs in employees and leverage the results to enable greater business performance, is one that is a constant struggle for many organisations and HR departments.

In this article, I will specifically go over a Training Needs Analysis System that creates a robust and comprehensive tool for the organisation, the HR or training managers, and the employees. An intelligent AI-Powered software that’s conceptualised, developed and already used in the Middle East, by Dr Mohammed Tikrity. He is an author and R&D consultant, with over 20 years of experience working closely with the public and private sectors in HR.

The software is called TNAS, and in this article, I will go over what it is, how it works, and why it matters. I will also highlight how TNAS positively impacts on all four levels, the organisation, the managers, the HR admins and the employees. And how you can get the best out of training and development with this tool.

The Current Problem in Training

Since covid-19, there has been a shift in workplaces going virtual. With this significant move, there is also an increased need in moving to digital learning experiences for organisations. According to a new report (Learning & Skills at Work 2020) from CIPD and Accenture, it’s reported that only 29% of organisations claim to have clear L&D plans for their employees.

The time to harness online tools and foster a supportive culture of learning is more needed than ever. Traditional methods of training, which promotes Scrap Learning, is one that organisations can’t afford to do anymore. And if organisations can’t measure the return on investment in training, then it’s even more difficult to justify the importance that L&D is bringing to an organisation.

Lack of training leads to low employee performance, low morale or job satisfaction, less opportunities to grow, and so much more.

Employees need to understand what’s expected of them, and how they will improve their skills to contribute to the organisation’s success. To do this, they’ll need the right skills, resources and support from their managers and budgets from their organisation. This contributes to a group activity that is approached holistically by all three levels.

Four Levels of Responsibility that Impacts Training

A constant problem lays on all four levels.

The Employee Level

On an individual level, it can be difficult to voice concerns to managers on differences in skills that require training. Sometimes, the wrong training can hinder the progression of an employee rather than the other way round. This, in return, can leave to low motivation and satisfaction – and not feeling heard.

The HR admin Level

The HR admin steps in to make sure training needs are prioritised in the right places and reports are developed to present in meetings and decision making. Also, to ensure a fair approach is delivered between the employee and manager.

The Managerial Level

For managers, their role is simple. It’s to make sure the training budgets are spent and utilised in the best way and to ensure employee retention is low by identifying what knowledge and training employees require to reach their full potential.

With all these responsibilities, it can get difficult to prioritise and make an actionable plan that is effective, realistic and measurable.

The Organisational Level

For organisations, they aren’t just thinking about the employees, but also the customers and stakeholders. There’s a bigger picture here, and it’s the organisation’s responsibility to make sure budgets are being assigned to HR, and that there’s effective and high-quality management being done. They also have to keep record of training and development, and make sure strategies and values are met.

What is TNAS and Why Does it Matter for Organisations?

To identify the correct skills in employees, you can take many approaches. Such as, carrying out direct observations, questionnaires, interviews, exams, or focus groups. But each approach has it’s downfall, which can also negatively impact on the training success. There are opportunities for bias, employee and manager conflict, misunderstandings, overload of paperwork and lost records, delayed time spent organising and so much more.

TNAS System was built on the presumption of solving three things; to save time, effort and money, using an algorithm that produces accurate results online.

This software helps to identify the most important skill needed, but not only this. It also helps to prioritise the skills based on performance. Saving managers time on calculating this.

1: Identifying the right skills

Listing the required skill set to perform a job can be deceptively tricky. As there are many things to take into account. Common questions are, ‘do this role require customer service or organisation?’, ‘can this role be done without the need of relationship building?’. The TNAS actually breaks this down, so it’s easy for the managers to list the skills, as they can prioritise the importance of each skill in the next step.

2: Assessing the importance of skills

In this part, the manager is required to mark the importance of each skill from 1 to 5. The software calculates the average importance of that particularly skill set. Which is beneficial when it comes to knowing how much time and energy to invest in training for that role.

3: Assessing the employee’s performance by the manager

This is a crucial element of TNAS, as now there is a gap filled between knowing the importance of the skill and knowing where the employee is at.

In this part, the manager marks each skill out of 5, based on the employee’s performance. So for example, problem solving might be marked as 4 based on what the manager has observed of the specific employee and time management might be marked as 2 as the employee has shown evidence of being late.

The marks are then calculated to an average rating score of the employee’s performance.

4: Self-assessing performance done by the employee

At this point, an assessment is required by the specific employee to mark their own skills from 1 to 5. This is based on what they believe is right.

5: Assessment of the employee’s performance by the manager and self

An overview of both findings are compiled in one report to bridge the gaps between the two parties. This encourages transparency and discourages bias or misunderstandings. Both managers and employees can see the skill required for training, the ratings and a score that determines the priority and importance.

Getting to Know the Algorithms

Based on the input, a report is then produced to show the skills gap percentage in each skill and also the priority index. You can see the below diagram 1 for reference.

Using TNAS to Get the Best Out of Training

The software is built to provide an online and organised way of managing employee training needs.

Three parties related to the system are HR admins, managers and the employees. The impact of skills in workplace has an effect on economic and social factors for employees and organisations. It can be determined that those who utilise their skills in the correct way end up having better job satisfaction and career progression.

This is all showing the relationship between the manager and the employee. But what if the skill assessment for the role is for more than one person?

Dr Tikrity designed this tool with all of these scenarios in mind. Knowing the skills gap and priority of training is just one part of the software. TNAS delves further into calculations based on the input of the manager and employee and displays the assessment on performance levels for groups as well as reports containing relevant information for employees, managers and HR department.

In diagram 2, you can see how the required skills are compared with many employees. Which certainly saves time and effort, having to work this out. On top of this, it also shows which employee requires the most training and attention in a snapshot.

Organisations who have employees who have skills that are matched with their role lead to a better workforce and business success.

As Dr Tikrity says, ‘digital transformation is a continuous process, in which modern technology integrates with all functions and areas of business to improve operations, talent, value and build a new future for organisations’.

TNAS System helps the organisation by increasing and improving resources. And also helping to manage training budgets effectively and keep an organised record of training and development. Which is also accessible online.

For HR admins and training managers, the system helps to identify the knowledge and performance gaps in employees. Allowing the department to address these gaps with appropriate training needs and determine who needs training the most in order to perform well. Not on this, the TNAS System helps to identify the type of training required in terms of the skills, knowledge, abilities and behaviour of the employee.

On the other hand, for employees the system ensures that the right people get the right training. A problem that many face in today’s workplace. Employees are reminded of the importance of training needs and a culture of health guidance and counselling is promoted as perception is taken into account when analysing the data. In return, employees are much happier and satisfied with a system like TNAS.

Below you can see how the system can go beyond the performance reviews and training needs analysis and provide many tools for Learning and Development.

Individual	Employee performance appraisal by the manager Evaluation of an employee’s performance by the employee himself Evaluation of employee performance by both manager and self
Group	Evaluation of performance levels for each employee by the manager Self-assessment of employees’ performance Evaluation of employee performance by the manager and employee
Performance Gaps & Training Needs	Employee performance gap reports Training Priority Index

TNAS System is a built-in intelligence that can solve many goals for organisations. If you’re a HR professional looking to find a way to simplify the TNA process in your workplace, get in touch with us today to receive a demo of the system.

Overview of TNAS

Below is an overview of the AI-Powered system:

Because not all skills gaps have the same importance, TNAS built-in Intelligence calculates training priorities using a new innovative “Priority Index” parameter.
Over 700 skills classified into 50 categories, allow you to customise and build your exact skill sets for your organisation and departments.
What training is needed and Why, and Who needs it?
Scalable as Use TNAS for individuals or groups with or without manager or employees assessment
Can be customised as you can define your own required skills or training areas as the basis for the assessment.
Supports both Occupational assessment (position requirements) and Individual assessment.
Identifies skills gap based on skill importance and current employees performance levels. The skills gap = position requirements – worker skills set
Generates a detailed reports with current skill levels analysis and proposed training plan.
Reports for employees, managers/supervisors and HR or training managers.
Each report includes a learning and education sections to educate the employees and improve their awareness on how to develop their performance.
Helps employees to create their action plan based on needs, reflection and goal-setting within the context of a career, training & development and self-improvement.

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Functions and Roles of HR

tnas1201 — Thu, 20 May 2021 11:48:47 +0000

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear about HR? Like most people, you may likely link the term to an organisation’s workforce. Although this is also used in labour economics, the term human resources or HR is popularly applied to refer to the individuals that constitute the workforce of an organisation. It also refers to the functions of the group that is tasked to implement the policies in relation to the training and management of individuals.

If you have tried applying for a job, the people whom you will first seek out and go through before you meet the bosses of the company, are those who are part of the HR Department. They are responsible in assessing your competencies and skills. Once you have passed their approval, they are going to endorse you to meet up with the higher-ups in the organisation.

Modern Term

The term, human resources, was only coined on the latter part of the 60s. Its responsibilities revolve around the management of workers that include development, training and in implementing training courses. Once accepted in the company, the HR will also look into your performance and see if the training needs assessment or what other things they can suggest that you undergo in order to improve your skills.

The function of this department is now defined as personnel. They are very much involved in various processes that workers go through in order to become more competitive and highly skilled.

Functions and Roles

There may be differences in terms of the implementation of the functions of the department, but the key roles are the same. These roles cover many areas that include the following.

The department plays a great role when it comes to resourcing qualified people into the workforce of the company. They are involved in the recruitment and selection phase. Once they have chosen the qualified individuals, they are still involved in processing their transfer on to the rightful departments.
All the people who are part of the HR team of an organisation or company must always be aware of the labour laws on various levels that include the state, federal and local. They have to make sure that the company abides by these laws and all its employees are promptly briefed. They must also be aware of the changes, so that they can do all the necessary adjustments with the policies and procedures of the company.
This department is in charged of the development of the structure and organisation al design. They must do this according to what is lawfully right as well as what is preferred by their bosses. This must also be done according to what will benefit most of the people within the organisation.
After the HR team has pooled the right individuals to work for the company, they are still in charged of the record keeping of all the documents and files of these people and make sure that they maintain the confidentiality of these records.
They have to analyze and perform the duties that involve workforce personnel data management. They are also involved in the learning management that involve further training or implementation of the training courses whatever they deem to be best fitted according to the skills and capabilities of their employees.
They are also the ones whom the employees will go to whenever they have problems with compensation and benefits. They need to supply all concerned people about what they need to know regarding the matter. They must also update them regarding any changes or if there will be any delays in delivering any expected raise or bonuses.
The role of the HR team involves the morale building of all the people who are working for the company. They have to get their views about the work-related issues that they often face. This way, they can act on these to help boost the moral of their employees, get their loyalty and improve the retention rate.

Setting the Standards

The human resources department may directly implement everything that needs to be done regarding to the functions that have been mentioned above. This all depends on the company that they are working for. The HR managers must also be able to apply and act on the legal issues that the company faces.

A typical organisation must be able to follow certain standards that are considered to be major trends in the industry. These include the diversity, demographics and qualifications.

The diversity refers to the differences of the people within the organisation. These include the differences in ages, gender, race, sexual orientation and many more. Through this, the institution will be able to come up with the right strategies and plans according to what is going to be the best and best suited for the people who are working for the company.

The demographics refer to the characteristics of the people who are working within the organisation. These will rate the employees according to age, social class and gender. The results will help the company analyze the insurance packages that will suit the employees, pension rates and other system-related issues.

The department should analyze the qualifications of all those who want to be part of the company. They must also be active in searching for highly skilled people who will fit the important roles in the company or those whom they think will bring in more success in it. If they find themselves competing for the approval of highly skilled individuals to be part of the company, they must be able to come up with competitive financial rewards and other packages that will help convince these people to take a second look at their offer.

This is an interesting department and also a very integral one in any company’s structure. This may be the reason why many people are getting interested with careers that involve any HR tasks. If you want to pursue the venture, you have to be broad minded and well aware of the issues regarding the industry that you want to be part of.

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Developing a Skilled Workforce

tnas1201 — Wed, 19 May 2021 03:37:56 +0000

Essential Components to Developing a Skilled Workforce

In today’s corporate world, a competitive workforce is a skilled workforce. By “skilled” this means that most — if not all — of the employees can carry out, and sometimes do more than the tasks expected of them.

While achieving that seems relatively easy, a company’s human resource (HR) staff focusing on training and development knows otherwise. It is true that companies can choose to hire “skilled” individuals only – those applicants who have years and years of work experience in their resume and can work in a plug and play mode. But those applicants are really hard to come by. They come once in a blue moon and sometimes, waiting for them to show up is not an option at all.

Because of this dilemma, a lot of companies or organisations turn to hiring fresh graduates or individuals with little to no experience. Generally there should be no problem if a company chooses to do this since employees who are fresh from school, are practically bursting with ideas and most often they are willing to work twice as hard as the older ones. But since they have not been “out there” yet, they sometimes lack maturity and some skills to perform their jobs well. So to bridge the gap in between newbies and competent workers, training and development is necessary.

Training as most of you know is the part where an employee is given formal instructions on what he or she need to do in his or her job. The activities in this part may include classroom sessions and immersion on the actual job itself. In short, this is where an employee gets the know – what’s of the job – what is the year end sales goal of the company, what are the acceptable means to obtain their goals and what systems are they using to track it and so on and so forth.

Just note, however, that training should be constant and structured. All sessions/ batches should learn the same things, understand the same concept and know of the same rules per se. This gives them the opportunity to stand on equal ground and start with their tasks as smoothly as possible. So a trainer, a talent and development specialist, a subject matter expert or whatever you call them should be responsible in carrying out a standard curriculum for everybody. He/ she also needs to sound and look credible, so that she can instill everything that he/ she needs to teach with the right conviction. But, apart from knowing how to stand up in front and talk, trainers should also know how to do several other things. One of them is performing TNA or training needs assessment as necessary.

As implied, training needs assessment is a process where one identifies which training are and will be appropriate for a certain group of employees and which will not. In short, this is the part when a trainer or sometimes an HR staff makes sure that engineers are given trainings for engineers only and accountants are given trainings for accountants only and not vice versa. This is important because these job specific trainings can provide different groups of employees competencies that they need to progress with their respective jobs.

Note that training needs assessment is not a one-time thing. It is a cycle. Most companies are confident in doing TNA at least once a year while the rest opt to do it more often as they find necessary.

Like any cycles, TNA often has steps or components like:

Having the training specialist sit out with department heads or leaders to determine which specific courses are needed by their staff based on their current skills and the new technologies in the market
Identifying training courses to offer based on the input of the leaders
Sourcing out the trainings from internal and external groups (especially if no “canned” trainings are available)
Carrying out a training calendar to provide the requested sessions or courses
Doing post training assessment to determine if the trainings worked or if they increased performance
And at the end of the year, sitting down with the bosses again to go back to the first step

While training focuses more on concepts and knowledge base, development entails more activities that reinforce the applications of the lessons taught during trainings.

Some of these activities may include:

Mentoring sessions – special one-on-one sessions where the team leader sits down with his or her subordinate to discuss goals and give tips on how those goals can be achieved.
Assignment of special projects where an employee is given the chance to unconsciously work his leadership, communication skills and innovation.
Exposing the subordinate to meetings, forums and subgroups to help him increase his visibility and expand his network
And/ or simply coaching or helping him do everyday tasks and overcome challenges at work.

You may notice that the developmental activities above are mainly carried out by an employee’s direct superior or leader but this does not necessarily mean that the HR staff is totally out of the picture. Sometimes, a part of his/ her task is to track or to make sure that those activities are really happening. In a few instances, he/ she may also need to get with the leaders to give them training on several topics like: effective means on providing feedback and communication. So in a way, he or she oversees the entire training and development process. And with his/ her efforts, plus the cooperation of everyone in the company new employees can become competent and skilled contributors in no time.

In summary, hiring newbies with little skill but a lot of potentials can be challenging. But if a company is willing to spend time and sometimes money to hone their talents and competencies and if they have a dedicated HR staff the employees are bound to become a part of the so – called competitive workforce that any organisation wants and needs.

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Human Resource Management Functions

tnas1201 — Wed, 19 May 2021 03:36:51 +0000

Human Resource Management (HRM) is the organisational function that is primarily responsible for recruiting, managing and providing direction for all the people who work in the organisation. It focuses on issues relating to people such as staffing, organisational development, compensation and benefits administration, performance evaluation, safety and welfare, training, employee discipline, labour relations, and employee motivation, among others. Some HRM functions are delegated to line managers.

A key measure on the efficiency of the HR Department of an organisation is the performance of each individual employee. Productive and effective employees that contribute to the overall efforts of the organisation to achieve its corporate goals and objectives indicate good human resource management.

Following are some of the typical functions of the Human Resource Department:

Staffing – The need to hire a new employee is usually initiated by a requesting department or a vacancy created by a separated employee. The role of HR Management is to screen applicants based on the predefined job descriptions and job requirements, and schedule those who have the required skills and the required qualifications, for interview.

It is the HR Department’s responsibility to attract qualified applicants through job postings in various media, and some other creative means. Although the manager of the requesting department usually has the final say in the selection of candidates, HRM decides on whose applications deserve to be endorsed for further processing.

HRM also plays a major role in planning for reorganisations where new positions may be created, or existing ones changed or removed.

Performance Evaluation – Another function of HRM is to motivate employees by rewarding commendable performance. The department is tasked to put in place a formal system for this purpose through periodic reviews and appraisals. Because the section or department heads are in constant contact with their staff and are in the best position to measure their contributions to the departmental and corporate goals, they normally do the evaluation, sometimes in the presence of the HR manager. Formal job evaluations also serve the following purposes:
- To guide personnel movements and actions such as promotions, lateral transfers, firing, and suspensions
- To provide feedback specifically on areas where the employees are weak and need to improve on; and for a job well done, to let the employees know that their efforts are highly appreciated
- To identify training courses that may be necessary to help the employees perform their duties better
- To reward deserving employees with promotions, bonuses, and other forms of incentives
- To provide the Human Resource Department with data that will be useful in future job planning sessions
Compensation and Benefits Administration – The ideal scenario is an environment where employees are happy with what they receive in terms of salaries, wages and benefits; and employers feel that they get their money’s worth in terms of employee productivity. It is the responsibility of HR to make sure that the compensation paid to each employee is ethical, legal, motivating, fair, and satisfactory.
Training and Development– The periodic performance appraisals provide the proper venue for training needs assessment. Aside from providing the employees with the right training courses to address their current weaknesses, the Human Resource Department must also equip them with the proper tools for possible growth opportunities in the future.

Because organisations evolve continuously to adapt to the times, and the ever-changing business environment, HR must make sure that the employees also obtain the necessary skills and competencies to keep up with the changes.

Likewise, training and development may be used for the following purposes:

To orient employees on company policies and procedures
To educate employees on safety measures to prevent accidents
To develop necessary skills for the job
To provide professional or technical education
To provide supervisory or management seminars for those being eyed for promotions

Training and development benefits not only the employees. The employer also has a lot to gain from having well-trained people. For one, work productivity and efficiency will improve because the employees will be more motivated to do well in their respective jobs. This will redound to significant savings because there will be less spoilage on materials and supplies, and fewer accidents are likely to occur. This is also a way for management to manifest its concern for the professional as well as the personal development of the employees.

Labour Relations – Labour unions have been in existence since the American Revolution and are organized to address issues and concerns related to employment. Most employees who join do so in order to have better pay and to achieve better working conditions. Higher wages, more work leave days, and better medical coverage are some of the benefits that organized labour unions have obtained for their members.

However, the methods that some labour organisations employ to achieve their goals sometimes result to conflicts with the management. In most companies, it is the responsibility of the HR manager to mediate and resolve collective bargaining issues, and come up with a contract that will contain all the agreements made during the negotiations. Labour unions sometimes resort to strikes and lockouts if management does not give satisfactory offers. On the other hand, management can declare a lockout if no peaceful resolution is in sight.

Health and Safety– The employers must ensure that their workers are made to perform their jobs under safe and healthy working conditions. Taking the proper measures to eliminate or minimize work-related accidents that cause injuries is management’s responsibility. One way to address this is to continuously conduct health and safety training for the workers. After all, accidents and injuries affect employee productivity and performance that lead to higher operating losses.

In order to be effective in its various roles in the organisation, the HR Department must keep in step with the latest industry trends as far as compensation and benefits administration; staffing; performance evaluation; training needs assessment; safety and health; and labour relations are concerned. Constant research and learning are necessary. As HR is vital to the success of all the other departments in achieving their respective departmental objectives, it must be able to respond to the challenge of providing them with the support they need.

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Five Stages of the Training Process

tnas1201 — Wed, 19 May 2021 03:35:58 +0000

Five Stages of the Training Process

Training and development is one of the important facets of HR. It is the acquisition of knowledge, competencies and skills after attending a training program that is related to one’s job fulfillment of tasks. The training is either before starting your new job in a company or for improvement in order for you to function well in your position.
Now, how does training takes place? You have come to the right page. This article will let you understand the five stages of the training process.

Stage One: You will identify the training needs

The first stage of the training process is knowing, identifying or finding out the training needs. You may want to consider answering the following questions to help you identify the training needs:

What training is needed?
Who are the participants?
What are the profiles of the participants?
What are the reasons for conducting the training?
How will the training be conducted?
Is training the answer if there are any gaps in the performance of the target participants?
What is the expected outcome of the training?
How will it be measured if the training was successful or reached the requirements?

What you can consider as well is conducting a thorough training needs assessment to the intended participants. It is very crucial that you conduct a diagnosis and assessment for you to be able to come up with a program that will answer your needs and that will be truly beneficial to the intended participants.

Training needs assessment or TNA is very important because it requires time and resources. It will prevent you as well in committing errors such as giving the wrong programs to the participants.

Stage Two: You will design the solutions

At this stage, you are now going to plan, design and develop the training. After assessing the needs of the target participants, you have to list first the training objectives, goals and rationale of the program. Based from the assessment you have done, identify what should be the result of the program or what are your expected results from the training.
The most important part in planning and designing the solutions is preparing the content of the program through initially preparing the course outline. This is your working blue print or your road map for your program.
You must answer the following questions when designing and planning your training program by considering the results of the assessment you have conducted:

Who are your participants? Will you be segregating your audience? For instance, you are to conduct business communication training courses. Will you be having basic and advanced sessions? According to the results of your TNA there are employees who know how to write professional email communication and just need to learn some techniques and strategies. On the other hand, there are employees who cannot write a simple email confirming a participation in a program. With these results, you have to prepare two separate programs.
Who are the best trainers to conduct the program? Trainers and facilitators have expertise and forte as well that’s why you have to think carefully who can conduct the program that will have the greatest impact to your participants.
What would be the techniques and methods that would be used for the program? Will there be simulation, hands-on, role play, group activities, case discussions, games and other activities. For example, the training will be on management and leadership. One technique to conduct the program is case discussions. There will situations and cases on management and leadership. Each participant will answer on their own first the guide questions then later on there will be with a group. Afterwards, there will be a class discussion on the results of each group.
What should be the level of the training program? Will it be basic, intermediate or advanced? For instance, you would want to train your employees how to speak Spanish for the upcoming visit of your major investors. Most of your employees do not have any background on the language. The appropriate level for them is basic or level 1.
Where and when the program will be conducted? Will it be allowed to conduct the training during operation hours or after? Will the training hamper the daily operations of the company? Will it be out of town or within the premises of the company?
What are the things needed in the program? Does it require machinery, equipment, software or a simulator room? For instance, the training will be on a new software that the company will be installing for the delivery of HR services like application of leaves, monitoring of attendance, salary statement and personal profile. You would need enough computers and licensed software to conduct the program.

Stage Three: You are now ready to deliver the training solutions

At this stage, you have to make sure that the delivery of the training will provide the learners to learn and the program is effective. You have to choose and decide which technique and strategy that is appropriate in meeting the gaps and needs of the learners.

Stage Four: Application and monitoring of the training program in the work environment

This stage of the training process is about making sure what the learners have learned from attending the program is applied and reinforced. At this stage, management plays an important role. They have to monitor the improvement and development of the learners. At this stage as well, the immediate supervisors must be reviewing the individual progress of the learners.

Stage Five: Evaluation of the training program solutions.

Stage Five: Evaluation of the training program solutions

This is the final stage. You have to collect, analyse and present the information to prove that there have been changes and improvements to the learners’ performance upon attending the training program. You can either conduct tests, cost benefit analysis, comprehensive studies, interviews and questionnaires. For instance, the program that was conducted is about new software that was installed in each computer of the employees. The software will help employees upload, access and transfer files easily with the use of internet connections only. A questionnaire can be distributed to the employees on how the training helped them used the new software.

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Training Needs Analysis – Why bother?

tnas1201 — Wed, 19 May 2021 03:31:38 +0000

In every company, training is needed. Your employees would need training regarding new facilities, new jobs, new technology and new trends. You can also have training programs on how to improve competencies and skills of your manpower. However, you cannot just send someone to attend training courses without knowing what your employees need. The first step in the training process is you have to diagnose and assess your target participants. How would you do this? You need to conduct a thorough training needs assessment or TNA.

Before you conduct a TNA, you have to equip yourself with the different methods of needs assessment. Be familiar with the methods for you to know what suits your organisation ’s needs.

User analysis – This method is identifying who will be your target participants and trainers. You have to answer the following questions below to guide you with this method:

- Who will benefit from the training?
- Who will receive it?
- Who will conduct it?
- What is the learning style and capacity of the participants – individually and as a group?
- What type of teaching methods will make the participants respond to best?
- What is the extent of knowledge and expertise on the subject matter of your trainers? For instance, you intend to conduct business correspondences course to seafarers. Your trainer is very equipped with the general knowledge on business correspondences but he might lack the knowledge in the company’s industry like the terms used on board. Your trainer might need first an overview on the industry to be acquainted with the terminologies for him to use it as examples during the training proper.

Task analysis – This method considers the requirements that are needed to perform the work or job well. In this method you have to specify clearly the tasks and the level of the skills needed for the said tasks.

Content analysis – This method of assessment is wherein the source of materials will be analysed if it is deemed fit for the training proper itself. Here are some guide questions:

- Do you have updated documents to support the program?
- Are the materials at hand relevant to the program?
- Will the materials help accomplish the aims and objectives of the program?
- Will the materials help to have the desired results from the participants?

Cost-Benefit analysis – This is another type of TNA wherein it equates Return on Investment or ROI. There is an equivalent cost for every training session – hours spent by the employees during the training and all expenses incurred to conduct the training. In this method, you have to assess how long it will take to get results from the training. For instance, when will the participants use what they have learned from the program in their respective job roles and tasks? Will the participants can immediately apply what they have learned or it will take time to see results?

Training needs assessment must answer and cover the following areas:

What are the reasons for the training?
Are there gaps to be filled? Are there desired behaviours, competencies and skills to close the gap?
It should analyse the current behaviours, knowledge, skills, and competencies of the intended participants.
Conduct a check point if training can fix the organisation’s issues and gaps.
Choose and decide for the appropriate delivery methods. Include the training plan with the corresponding costs.

Benefits of the training needs assessment:

- The participants will receive a tailored fit program for them to answer their needs.
- The program will be able to answer organisation al needs.
- Trainers will be aware of the training needs of the group and the organisation.
- The management can set their expectations from the training program.
- It answers issues that are non-training that affects performance of the employees.
- It serves as a basis for post-training evaluation.

Here’s a sample of a how to conduct a training needs assessment:

You would need to gather in one conference hall all the employees that have the same job and function. You would need white board, markers, extra paper and pens. It would be advantageous for you if someone from your HR team will help you document the session. It will serve as a future reference as well.
Start the session by asking the participants what they consider as their top ten training needs. Make sure that you will tell them to list their specific training needs. Most of the time, employees will just write team building or any communication program. Examples of specific training needs are how to deal solve conflict with colleagues, how to receive feedback from supervisors, how to write email correspondences or how to answer phone inquiries professionally.
Ask the audience their individual answers to share it with the entire class. As a person shares his training needs, you as the facilitator will capture the details through writing on the board. It is your task to screen their answers to avoid duplication.
Once everyone has shared his answers and you have listed their training needs, it is now time to know which program should the group prioritise. You can do this in a weighted voting process. Ask each participant to give points in each listed program.
You should now list the order of importance of the training needs based from the number of points received of the program. Make sure that someone is taking note of all the comments, concerns, issues of each person while discussing the programs.
After your initial session with the employees, set another session to brainstorm for the goals of the planned training programs. You should also discuss the expected results of the course from the employees at the same time their needs are also met.
You have to remember that not all the needs of the employees are the priorities of the entire group. You have to consider building training opportunities incorporated to the employee’s performance development plan.

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