Do you do this? The 5 most common mistakes when conducting a TNA… and how to avoid them
1. Assuming that last year’s training needs analysis will be the same and simply increase or decrease the same training programmes along with the company’s productivity.
This leads to a no-growth, no-change situation for the company. It could well be that if training was provided in another previously unidentified area, productivity could be increased. This approach gives no creativity to the training department and leads to stagnation within the company. In reality, training departments should be constantly conducting training needs analysis of the company to identify any areas where training could be beneficial. Training departments, or external training companies, should be creative in suggesting alternative training to target previously untapped skills within the staff.
2. Assuming that all needs can be covered in the same session
If the internal client is expecting this for financial reasons, it could cause problems. However, it’s pointless to have half the classroom sitting looking around bored whilst you cover stuff they already know, and similarly it’s unproductive to have people attend for skills that they don’t need. Once a thorough investigation has been made of staff’s training needs, training should be broken down into blocks. These may not all need to be classroom led training sessions. Mentoring, books/DVDs and self-led learning are all options to choose from to achieve the maximum benefit from the training budget.
3. Failing to provide a goal and no clear benefit for the delegate
This is born of a shallow training needs analysis, where managers are asked what training they believe their staff need. Staff themselves should always be involved in the TNA as they can clearly identify what areas they don’t feel confident in. Courses should be clearly labelled with a benefit for the delegate. For example Excel Skills as a training objective isn’t as descriptive or effective as defining exactly what will be learned, for example, ‘to be able to enter key statistical formulae and produce graphs showing sales trends by product’.
4. Assuming that one form of training is the only way to cover a particular objective
Classroom training is often favoured by many companies but there are many other ways to meet identified objectives, which may be less taxing on the training budget. There are online courses available, mentoring, DVDs and books available that cover subject areas that may be of use to meeting objectives. These should be investigated and delegates given the time that they need to complete, read the books or watch the DVDs they require.
5. Failing to document an effective TNA process
It’s vital that the TNA process is officially documented so that it can be referred to in the future and used for further training needs. It will also help the business identify if they are covering all the areas that require training or other development. Some of the questions that need to be asked include:
- What is the businesses requirement for training, e.g. Why is the training required?
- What gaps in skills of knowledge do we expect to fill after we have had the training?
- Staff assessment โ assessment of the skills and knowledge of current staff.
- Checkpoint โ can training really fix these issues or are their other issues affecting staff such as dissatisfaction with conditions or internal disputes?
- Training Objectives โ what are the agreed training objectives?
- Measuring Success โ how and when will we measure success?
- Identify and choose appropriate training methods that meet both the budget and the staff’s training needs.