Training Needs Analysis

A Training Needs Analysis is a review of the learning and development requirements for your staff, volunteers and trustees. This section includes a step-by-step guide to carrying out a Training Needs Analysis across all levels of an organisation organisational, team and individual level. Individuals Any appraisal of your own training requirements needs to balance the support you need to help you meet your work objectives, your ambitions and interests, and the development opportunities your organisation can offer. It is important that both you and your line manager are realistic so that neither of you have expectations that are too high. If you are asking for peoples training needs, then as an organisation you need to be able to meet them, or at least partly m eet them, relatively quickly. If people ask for training and dont receive it they can get disenchanted and it affects t heir view of training. Claire Kruse Training and Development Manager, National Trust Assessing your training needs You can use our Training Needs Analysis competence based tool (pdf) to help identify job-related learning needs either for yourself or with your line manager. This is a template that sets out the core competencies of your role and then identifies the areas where you would benefit from developing confidence and skills. The example in this link is designed for volunteer managers and sets out the competencies for volunteer managers as outlined in our National Occupational Standards for volunteer managers. However, you can adapt this format for other roles. You can use the national occupational standards that we have for trustees, campaigners, fundraisers, managers and development workers to help you identify the core competencies that people need to do those jobs well. If you are a leader or a manager then you may also find it helpful to use a 360 degree feedback assessment system. This takes your responses to the competence based tool but also includes anonymous feedback from other colleagues, managers and stakeholders to give a rounded picture of individual performance, and the impact that people are making at different levels within the organisation. Meeting training needs Identifying learning needs at individual level is not just about what needs to be learnt, it is also about how best to do it. There are a number of ways that organisations can support learning and skills development. You can read more about the main ways that organisations do this in the Meeting learning needs section. You might find it helpful to think about the learning methods you are most interested in before you discuss your Personal development plan. Theres also information on learning styles and how people have enjoyed and benefited from learning at the Campaign for Learning website. Personal development plan The outcome of Training Needs Analysis at an individual level should be a personal development plan (.pdf) which outlines you personal learning objectives and links them to your agreed work objectives. The link takes you to the personal development plan we have developed as part of our Training Needs Analysis toolkit. Personal development plans tend to address the following questions [1]. 1. What do you want to get from your work?

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

What are your strengths? What areas would you like to improve? Where would you like more responsibility? What is preventing you from developing as you would like? Which interests or talents would you like to develop? How do you like to learn? What skills or experience would allow you to feel more confident at work?

[1] Adapted from Business Links Personal Development Plans Personal development plans should also identify the learning requirements within the organisation, prioritise them and set out the ways in which the requirements can be met; including the resources needed, the timescale and how the learning will be evaluated Advice on how you can assess your own training needs. Organisations Advice on assessing the training needs across a whole organisation. This section has guidance on carrying out a Training Needs Analysis of your organisation and promoting learning across the whole organisation. Before you start There are some things you can put in place that will make it easier to carry out a Training Needs Analysis. Here are some questions you can ask to help you identify what those are.

Do we have a strategic and operational plan? Do we have an appraisal system? Do all staff have up to date job descriptions? Do all staff have written objectives? Do we have a competency framework or use National Occupational Standards? Do we have a training strategy or statement of committment supporting training and learning? Do we have effective formal and informal consultation processes across the organisation?

The more questions you can answer yes to the easier it will be to carry out, implement and evaluate a Training Needs Analysis. We have developed a diagnostic tool to help you identify and meet organisational training needs. This identifies the organisational processes that support training and learning and signposts you to external resources that can help you plug any gaps. You can find it in Appendix 1 of our full Training Needs Analysis toolkit. We have a formal performance management process which includes development planning. The development plans inform the training needs analysis - as does any strategy that may bring the charity to a new direction or skill set that we feel should be trained to all. Alexandra Hartley Director of Learning and Development, GOSHCC Strategy and objectives If you dont already have a strategy in place then your Training Needs Analysis needs to start with defining your organisatio nal strategy and objectives. NCVO has information on how to define your organisational strategy and develop a strategic plan. Once you have a clear picture of the organisations strategy you can review the knowledge and skills needed for the organisation to acheive its objectives and address any weaknesses.

Use a SWOT analysis (pdf, 65Kb), to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing your organisation. Then ask the following questions about the skills, knowledge and behaviours in your organisation. You can do this exercise with your senior management team. You may also want to include other staff and volunteers and / or your Board depending on the size of your organisation. When thinking about the knowledge within your organisation, remember to include staff, volunteers and trustees. Strengths How can you capture the good practice and expertise that already exists? How can you build on the strengths, skills and knowledge already in the organisation? Weaknesses What skills, knowledge or behaviours could help address the identified weaknesses? Opportunities What skills, knowledge or behaviours that could help your organisation make the most of the opportunities? Threats What skills, knowledge or behaviours that could help your organisation manage and overcome the identified threats? The answers you come up with in response to these questions will help you identify the knowledge already in your organisation. You can then make plans to address any knowledge and skills gaps. Creating a learning culture A learning culture is one in which learning is valued and is embedded across an organisation. It takes time and commitment to establish a learning culture. However, there are a number of practices and tools you can use to promote and encourage learning. People learn a lot from teaching others. Most people have a range of skills and knowledge, some of which may not be visible in their daily jobs but that is still useful to the organisation. You can encourage people to share what they know with others in writing, at team meetings, at staff conferences and events, either informally or more formally. You may want to set up staff mentoring schemes whereby staff and volunteers are supported to share particular skills across different teams or levels of seniority. There are initiatives such as Learning at Work day which encourage people to participate in taster sessions on topics which may be unrelated to their daily work. See the Campaign for Learning website for ideas. Investors in People is a quality standard which encourages good practice in developing peoples skills. As an externall y assessed standard, Investors in People also means your work in this area is recognised and they will help you to identify areas where you can improve. There is more information on the Investors in People website or in Not for Profit, Fully Professional. Skilled managers Line managers need to have the necessary skills to work with staff and volunteers to help them identify their training needs and the knowledge about how to meet them. Having managers with the core competencies to carry out a training needs analysis of their team is partly about recruiting managers with those competencies and partly about supporting your managers to develop these skills, including providing training for them.

The core competencies for a number of roles in third sector organisations, including leaders and managers, are outlined in our National Occupational Standards guides. These set out the competencies that people need to have to be able to do their jobs well and the additional skills they can develop to progress their career. The National Occupational Standards for managers and leaders have information about the competencies that good managers should have. You can use these to write job descriptions and guide annual appraisals for your managers. They can also guide your managers about the things they can do to support learning within their teams, particularly the unit on Providing learning opportunities for colleagues. If senior management and line managers can appreciate and become enthusiastic about the value of learning and development for both themselves and others, this sets the tone for the organisations. The Governance and Leadership team at NCVO can help with ideas and opportunities for developing leadership. Teams Advice on assessing the training needs of your team or department. In larger organisations you need to analyse the skills and training needs of each department or team against the teams objectives and any targets. A team Training Needs Analysis will involve taking into account the needs of people within the team but also evaluating anything that can help the team to work together more effectively. Involve the people who really know about whats going on on the ground. The people who are delivering services are the ones who can decide what outcomes are really needed, and help to determine learning opportunities that are fit for purpose. Diana Farmer Head of Training and Development, Rethink Objectives and targets Before you can carry out a Training Needs Analysis of a team and the people who make up that team you need to know your team objectives and any targets. Once you know these, you can assess the skills within the team and how effectively they can deliver the team objectives. You can also set the objectives for each member of the team. Any gaps between the teams objecti ves and the skills of the individual members or the wider team, will give you an early indication of the training needs of your team. Assessing the needs of team members A Training Needs Anaylsis of a team is partly about identifying the support people need to meet their work objectives and partly a reflection of their individual ambitions and interests. Even in organisations where there are few opportunities to move up a set career ladder, people are unlikely to remain motivated unless there are some development opportunities and challenges. Annual appraisals and performance reviews are a good time to assess peoples interests and to discuss their specific work objectives. Remember to include volunteers too, if appropriate. Annual appraisals should include discussions about what additional skills and learning they need to improve what they do and what their career ambitions and personal development objectives are. Be clear in advance what skills and learning development opportunities your organisation can supprt. More information on appraisals can be found in NCVOs Good Guide to Employment. For sample appraisal forms online, have a look at VolResource and ACAS. Relying on an annual appraisal to identify learning needs will not allow you the flexibility to address challenges as they arise, so build in more frequent training reviews, for example as part of regular supervision sessions.

You can use our Training Needs Analysis competence based tool (pdf) to help identify job-related learning needs. This is a template that sets out the core competencies within each team members role and then identifies the areas where they would benefit from developing confidence and skills. The example in this link is designed for volunteer managers and sets out the competencies for volunteer managers as outlined in our National Occupational Standards for volunteer managers. However, you can adapt this format for other roles. You can use the national occupational standards that we have for trustees, campaigners, fundraisers, managers and development workers to help you identify the core competencies that people need to do those jobs well. Skilled managers Line managers need to have the necessary skills to work with staff and volunteers to help them identify their training needs and the knowledge about how to meet them.

Def of Training needs: Training needs are all those needs that can be fulfilled by imparting training to the participants of a program and that training thereby will improve the productivity of the participants. Your next part of the question asks about training imparted for the purchasing department well that is a tricky one because it all depends upon the size of your department, the scope of their work, the cultural values of the place your department is working at, the average qualification of your staff i can go on and on. Though I would suggest you to consult a professional to whom you can give the detials and may plan his/her visit to your department.