Living IT, Learning IT, Loving IT

Training Needs Analysis – Why bother?

05 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment

by Sheena in Bespoke learning solutions, Excel, Intermediate, Survey Monkey, TNA, Training, Training Needs Analysis

If you are looking to really give your clients a good return on their training investment, you need to be sure that you are giving them what they need, as opposed to what they think they need.

Perceived and actual skills are often very, very different.  The classic example is the daily Excel user who carries out a few tasks every day, but never creates a calculation or a formula.  To put this user directly onto an intermediate course, ‘because they are using Excel’ is a bit like putting me in a Formula One car just because I can drive.

However, mention a Training Needs Analysis and your clients can often react in the same way that people do to finding a spider in the bath.  Some shriek.  Some ignore it and hope it will go away.  Some frantically try to drown it back down the plughole.

A well designed and delivered TNA is not something to be scared of.  If you take the time to plan and construct easily accessible surveys, you can create a powerful tool in your training arsenal.

Ideally, a TNA should not be something you use to generate revenue – but should be a service you provide your clients to make sure they are getting the best from you.  You can also think of it as a roadmap to assist your clients to make the right choices about the services you offer.

By using an online survey, you can make the whole process a lot less personal.

Applications training is a bit of a minefield.  Adding egos to the problem can make it very difficult to explain that you don’t feel the delegates you are discussing are suitable for an advanced course, even if your client is telling you they are experts.

When working with clients who are looking for a blend of training options, I can also use these online surveys to determine prospective delegates attitudes towards learning, what their ideal learning styles are, and produce reasoned proposals for consideration rather than just offering ‘off the shelf’ solutions.

For example, if a client is considering running Presentation Skills training, I’ll suggest putting the delegates through a PowerPoint TNA.  I can then offer a customised learning solution that encompasses the manual skills of putting a presentation together, with the professional presenting skills to make sure it is used effectively.  The same applies with Project Managment.  An online survey which determines the skills that are missing when using Microsoft Project, allows me to suggest a training programme which covers aspects of project management, and the elements of using  project planning software.

Using an online TNA to focus on checking actual knowledge rather than assumed knowledge can give you a report that allows you to align the skills gaps you identify with the training you offer.  The TNA’s I use can be anonymous – although I prefer to get the delegates to at least use their names to allow for easier reporting afterwards.

I use Survey Monkey to present and deliver the Online Training Needs Analysis surveys that are on offer to my clients.  The surveys can be customised to suit specific job requirements, product knowledge, skills or even to support the rollout of new technology in the workplace.  I use them as part of my training provision to make sure that any new enquiries for training can be discussed with a benchmark of a TNA report behind them.

Delivered via an email invitation or weblink, these surveys can be completed at a time to suit the individual, meaning less disruption for the client, and no tedious printing and collating of paper TNAs.  I generally follow them up once or twice in the TNA period to try and get as many responses as I can.  All of the surveys for the applications training side of my business are aligned with Microsoft Certification – removing the personal aspect, and relieving any concerns that they are not just questions I made up whilst lying in the bath.

All of the data is then gathered into spreadsheets, and a customised report summarises the results.

My goal when using the survey is to provide my clients with a valuable tool to help create a comprehensive training program within their company – whether they want one day, or one year’s worth of training, it allows me to make recommendations based on knowledge based questions – not a tick list of meaningless options such as ‘Do you use Absolute Cell References – Y/N’.

By using a TNA process to create bespoke solutions to training needs – I can focus on designing programmes which provide the essential plugs for the skills gaps, and the next steps to improve knowledge and efficiency.

I want my clients to get the best training I can give them, and I firmly believe that a TNA helps me do that.  Simples!