Productive training or development relies on knowing what is needed for the individual, a department and the entire organization. With restricted budgets and the requirement for cost-effective solutions, all companies need to make sure that the resources invested in their training programs are targeted at zones wherein training and development is required and a positive return on the investment gets maximized.
Training needs analysis permits organizations to channel resources into the zones wherein they do contribute to employee development, improving morale and organizational performance. This concept of TNA is a natural function of appraisal systems and is the main requirement for the award of Investors in folks.
What is TNA?
TNA is the technique of determining in case a training need exists and if it does then what type of training is required to fill the gap. TNA seeks to rightly identify the degrees of the current situation in the target surveys, observation, interview, secondary data or workshop. The gap between the current day status and desired status might showcase problems that in turn can be translated into a training requirement.
What is the need for training?
Training is a medium to make sure that employees have the knowledge and correct skills to be in a position to do their work in an effective and competent manner. Training might be required when there is a gap between the wanted performance and the present day performance, and the reason for such a gap is lack of knowledge or skills. You cannot accept gaps in your organization, can you? What is the point if one employee is amazing and has rich skills and the other one is nil? You have to strike the balance between their skills and knowledge and you can do it only by providing an effective and productive training program.
What should be the reason that you use TNA?
a. Bolsters cost-effective training.
b. Splits the symptoms from the causes.
c. Caters commitment from managers and trainees.
d. Evade training for training sake
e. Aims areas of greatest requirement.
f. Caters information related to the organizations climate.
It is always better to invest in the right program than to regret later on. No organization has additional money in the bank to spend on the training programs. You should take all the precautions beforehand so as to ensure that your training program goes hip and effective. Once you have professional analyses of your training program, it would stay intact and effective. Many organizations run training programs every year or various times in a year, but what they fail to realise is their affectivity. They dont really think about the factor related to affectivity. If there is no affectivity in the training program, it would be of no use at all.
Carry out TNA in the following steps:
a. Decide the Desired Outcome by clarifying the goal of the training and expected business results.
b. Associate the Desired Outcomes with the behaviour of the employees. Also identify the competencies like skills, behaviours qualities and knowledge that are associated with desired results.
c. Then you should discover the Trainable Competencies. You can evaluate the critical competencies and decide if they are capabilities one must possess prior to job entry or capabilities that might be leaned on the job.
d. Examine Competencies and control Performance Gaps. You have to evaluate present-day competencies and identify where there are gaps between present ability and desired capabilities.
e. Next, you should also prioritise Training Needs. It means you should identify the percentage of staff members who need training on the competencies and find out the importance of the competencies to the objectives of the organization.
f. Find out how to Conduct Training. Here you can consider adult learning theory and finest practices available in training on the specific competencies.
g. Carry out a cost-effective Benefit Analysis. You can consider the costs linked to the training methods, the degree to which the training is going to address the performance gap, and the influence on business.
h. There has to be planning for Training Evaluation. Always remember that a training program is only effective if the data is retained and applied on the different job roles.
Do organizations use this concept of TNA?
Yes, since the competition is high and everybody wants to make the most of the resources and opportunities; organizations pay much attention to the tools they use. More and more organizations have started using training need evaluation so as to ensure that they are not wasting their time, efforts and money. They want to be sure that their training program is on the right track. What is the point of losing so much of time and money on training if the employees learn nothing afterwards? Training has to be such that imparts important skills in the employees and get them the best knowledge.
You can easily find many organizations using TNA for fruitful training programs. What should be the training program and how they should execute it; this is all that does matter a lot. Perhaps it is the reason that maximum companies today try to evaluate their training programs. There is nothing wrong in these analyses because if the training is not right, the employees investing their time therein would also suffer. Moreover, when a candidate joins your organization as an employee, he is new to your working culture and overall concept. If you give your new employees a shallow training that is of no use and rather wastes their time and frustrates them; it would lead a very negative impression on the new ones. They would share a negative impression of your organization. The level and standard of your training program have not just to do with productivity but with your reputation too. You have to ensure that your training program is strong, result oriented and effective.
Conclusion
So, having training needs evaluation is a gift that you might give to your organization. Save your time and money by assessing your training program well in time.