By Mike Hitchen Consulting - the consultancy that puts principles before profits.How do you identify training needs?
There a number of different ways of identifying training needs that you could employ within a client group. The client may be your own organisation or an external organisation. The training requirement could be in any number of fields and industries, but the approach to identifying the training nee remains the same.
The importance of targeted training
The mistake frequently made by organisations is inaccurate training needs analysis which results in employees being trained in the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong way.
I came across such a situation recently with an American university. Instead of taking the time to establish training need and suitability, the powers that be instead implemented a knee jerk reaction to a crisis situation. They put on a hastily arranged training course that only succeeded in causing many of the participants to complain, "I didn't know why I was there. I don't work in this area and know nothing about it." Actually a few phrased the last part a little more bluntly but I used editorial discretion!
When training is being planned for an adult group, the motivations and incentives for the learners also have to be considered if the training is to be successful.
Analysis of training needs essentially investigates a performance gap, that is, the difference between expected performance and the actual performance of an individual. The analysis collects information on the skills, knowledge and attitude of the individual/s
Tomorrow: Training Program Goals
Mike Hitchen
