Training & Development [Thread 89221]

Hi, I have taken on a new role as a training coordinator with an organization that has never conducted any training for its staff. They have a fully operational HR Department but no training and development department.

How should I go about setting up a training plan and identifying their training needs? I believe we would need to conduct a Training Needs Analysis (TNA). However, my problem is that I have never done a TNA before, and I believe the HR team knows absolutely nothing about TNAs.

Harold

Dear Harold,

I am a Bangalore-based freelance soft skills and behavioral trainer. I handle training across a spectrum of industries. My contact details are as below:
E-mail: - [Login to view], [Login to view]
+91

To make you aware of my training activities, I have attached my training e-Brochure. It will provide you with information about my training methodology and the list of programs that I conduct. I will conduct a Training Needs Analysis (TNA), customize the training program as per your company's needs, and deliver it as well. Later, I will measure the change in the behavior of the employees through a post-training questionnaire/survey.

Warm regards,
Dinesh V Divekar

Hi,

You could conduct a quick Training Needs Analysis (TNA) in the following manner:

1. If the company has a performance evaluation/appraisal/review mechanism for its employees, you could gather feedback on training requirements from supervisors and peers, compile the information, and identify problem areas.

2. Take a bottom-up approach by creating and distributing a simple questionnaire to all employees to gather their individual training needs and consolidate their feedback into training requirements.

3. Consider adopting a top-down approach to understand departmental requirements by conducting one-on-one sessions or group discussions with each department to identify training gaps.

Hope this helps.

Sanchita

Hi Harold,

I have taken on a new role as a training coordinator with an organization that has never conducted any training for its staff. They have a fully operational HR Department but no training and development department. How do I go about setting up a training plan and identifying their training needs? I believe we would need to conduct a Training Needs Analysis (TNA). However, my problem is that I have never done a TNA before, and I believe the HR department knows absolutely nothing about TNAs.

If the number of staff is small, you can individually meet each person to understand their technical training and soft skills training requirements to perform their assigned tasks. This approach would also enable you to personally assess the training needs of the staff.

Subsequently, you can gather separate assessments from their managers or Heads of Departments regarding each individual's requirements.

These assessments should then be analyzed in comparison to the individual's job description.

Following this process, you can compile a list of training needs for each individual in the company.

Conduct research on institutes that offer the required training or, if there is an in-house facility, design courses based on the identified requirements. Schedule the programs throughout the year so that each individual receives training at least once every three months. You can also determine the number of training hours each individual should undergo in a year; for example, a total of 40 hours.

I am confident that this approach will help you get started.

Best regards,
Vandana

Hello, Harold. Congratulations on your new role. Building on the suggestions of others, you can also get some information on the various methods of conducting a [training needs analysis](http://www.businessperform.com/html/training_needs_analysis.html) on my web page at [http://www.businessperform.com/html/training_needs_analysis.html](http://www.businessperform.com/html/training_needs_analysis.html).

Les Allan Business Performance P/L - [Training Tools and Templates](http://www.businessperform.com) [http://www.businessperform.com](http://www.businessperform.com)

Dear Harold,

Just to supplement what our members said, you may consider the following:

1. Employees' training requirements can stem from the role they perform and their career aspirations. In some cases, it can be classified as technical (related to the job) and non-technical (personality development) as well. Incorporate all the above points while you do this exercise.

2. You may consider meeting the head of the company (if the number of employees is smaller) or various business heads (if you have more than 2 or 3 individual business heads). They should be able to give you clarity in terms of their training requirements. These trainings can be done through internal sources (on-the-job training) or in some cases externally too.

3. Also, capture the employees' career aspirations and try linking them to the roles available within the company. This is an important step since the training cost incurred here should be an investment to the company. Also, this particular training requirement based on the employees' aspirations will be one of the best motivators for the employees.

4. Based on the above points, you can finalize the training plan as per your company's budget norms and resources available.

The above is only a gist of what you can do. Sky is the limit if you want to have more details incorporated. All the very best.

Pattabi

Manager - HR