Training Needs Analysis – why bother?
Veronica Stephens
Are you finding the demands of training, skills development & staff retention all a little too much?
Skills Development is not aimed at levying and returning funds. The eventual focus is the improvement of the skill levels in your industry. With the current skills shortage, retaining existing employees is even more vital than recruiting new people. Organisations cannot afford to lose the company knowledge, which employees accumulate over time, and Rimmer therefore recommends that salaries are kept market-related, and are adjusted when new people are brought in.An organisation’s track record and reputation for handling its employees is far more important than offering opportunities to work on leading-edge platforms.Can it be easier?The Company Training Intervention Programme is targeted to train members of a specific Company in the various aspects needed to develop and increase work performance.The first step in the Training Needs Analysis (TNA) is to ensure that the organisation has clear, focused business objectives. Top management should agree on these objectives so that a clear idea of what the organisation is trying to achieve is understood by everyone in it.Gathering knowledge- What do people need to do in order to achieve the objective?
- What skills and knowledge do people already possess?
- What skills and knowledge may be required in the future to continue to achieve future objectives?
Analysing the informationThe analysis The analysis should answer the basic questions:- What gaps exist in both knowledge and ability of the current people in the organization to do their jobs now?
- What gaps exist in both knowledge and ability of the current people in the organization to do their jobs in the future?
This Analysing the information stage in the TNA is both stimulating and challenging. Analytical skills are required, and time to carry out the analysis is essential. In order for the organisation to benefit from the effective use of resource in training, the person carrying out the TNA must be free to carry out a full and proper analysis. If not, the whole process is self-defeating.The analysis leads naturally into the final stage of the TNA.Identifying the gaps
This final stage is really indistinguishable from the analysis in practice, but is given a separate heading because the way you actually record the gaps can be important for the application of the TNA. Some method is required of recording those gaps in a way that facilitates the next stage following a TNA - drawing up a training plan.The training plan
The whole point of the TNA is the actual planning and implementation of relevant training for the people in the organization.Training plans should be documents the organisation use to plan the training of everyone, costing out and budgeted for. They are working documents (in other words they keep changing as events and circumstances change) and form the core of investment in the development of the people. They are also the end result of the TNA, as it is hardly worth investing all that time and effort in identifying training needs if nothing happens as a result.“The difference between try and triumph is a little umph”.
Company Training Intervention Programmes are available in the following fields:Administration Series, Hospitality, Business Communication, Health & Safety Rep Training, Client Services, HIV/AIDS Awareness, Coaching & Mentoring, Life Skills, Computer Training, Customer Service, Employment Equity Programme, Transformation & Diversity, Management & Leadership, Frontline Reception/Secretarial, Sales, Warehousing & Stock Control and Human Resources.For more information contact Synergy human resources on 044 874 7880 or visit www.synergyhr.co.za
