When to conduct a Training Needs Analysis
The most important thing is that you do not conduct a TNA reactively. Rather, strategically plan how you can conduct and maintain TNAs proactively. While we cannot say the perfect date in a year when you can conduct a TNA, we have put together our suggestions on when to plan to conduct or review current TNAs.
New Hires
As you hire a new staff member, there are many procedures to follow during their onboarding. While you may not conduct a TNA the first day they start, it is advisable to conduct a TNA during their onboarding, generally towards the end.
Conducting the TNA too early during the onboarding can be a waste of time, money and resources. The staff member is still learning their job role and has not yet been given a chance to demonstrate their abilities and where they need further support.
Additionally, the onboarding phase is to ensure that both parties want to continue. Conducting a TNA is a lengthy process for a new staff member who may not continue with the company. This is a great way to transition a staff member from the learning phase during onboarding to conducting job functions as part of their role.
Consider this as a chance to review their performance during onboarding and how you can plan for their next 3 months in the company.
Performance Reviews
Just like a TNA, performance reviews are lengthy processes that need to be completed frequently. Fortunately, the two processes go hand in hand. A performance review is a perfect opportunity to also review the staff members current TNA and update as appropriate.
During the performance review, conduct an analysis that focuses on if the staff member:
- Has improved in certain areas
- Is underperforming in other areas
- Now has extra job functions where they need additional support
- Still requires the same level of support
This will help you to determine what their development needs and opportunities are throughout their next review period. Strategically reviewing a staff member’s TNA will support you in making the right decisions for the company.
Prior to training
As the name indicates, a TNA is to be conducted before training sessions are organised. But, conducting one for each staff member prior to every training session can be very time-consuming. Not to mention expensive and cumbersome.
Rather than conducting individualised TNAs per staff member, use this time to review their existing TNAs. You may have a great idea for a training session that you want to conduct. But it is so easy to jump straight into the planning, creation and delivery of the training without analysing if it is truly in the best interest of the company.
How many times has a manager or staff member submitted a training request to you?
Imagine if you were to deliver on all of those requests. You can waste a lot of time and money on training that delivers no results for the company
Of course, this is where Training as a Service (TaaS) comes in. You are able to provide the training that your staff want without burning your learning and development budgets. Regardless of whether you are outsourcing or delivering in-house training, you need to review the TNAs to ensure that the training is the right solution to reach the company objectives.
Below expected performance
When performance starts to go below expectations, the quick solution is to deliver a training session in hopes that performance will increase. However, training is not always the answer.
This is when it is vital to conduct a TNA alongside other procedures to investigate the underperformance. At this time, you need to understand the cause of the underperformance. Now, that is a lot easier said than done.
It is not always easy to find the underlying issues. However, it is vital to have a thorough understanding of what is happening so that you can identify if training is the answer. The underperformance may not be related to the skills and abilities of the staff member, but rather external factors outside of their control.
For example, if a customer support team is not meeting the service level agreements, you can easily deliver training on tips to be more productive. However, what if the issue was that products were not delivered on time resulting in an influx of support requests that are beyond the team's capacity.
Training will be a quick fix but won’t solve the problem. Additionally, this may only be a short-term issue that has affected performance but is not an ongoing issue that requires training as an intervention.
If you were to go straight to training in the above situation, without an investigation or a review of existing TNAs, you can waste a lot of your company’s time without resolving the actual issue. Finally, taking this opportunity to understand the issue and review the current TNAs will allow you to explore if training has been attempted before and if it was successful in resolving the issue.
So, before you jump straight to training when you next see underperformance, take the time to research further and review (and accordingly update) current TNAs.
Company Planning Sessions
The perfect time to review current TNAs are before, during and after quarterly and annual planning sessions. While you may have your own plan for what training is to be conducted, this is your opportunity to ensure it is aligned with the strategic direction of the company. During planning sessions, you will further understand what the company objectives are. With this information, you can review your current TNAs to identify if staff members will require training to reach these objectives.
This is the time that you will update and modify TNAs to reflect current company objectives, making the process much smoother in the future. Once you have identified that training is required to support staff members, you can now analyse if the company is equipped to conduct the training or if you need to outsource. When you are using TaaS on a subscription basis, this is the perfect time to identify what training needs to be scheduled for the upcoming months that will support your staff in meeting their performance targets.
So, when is the right time to conduct a TNA?
There is no perfect time to conduct a TNA, but you can agree on times that you will conduct TNAs in your company. Conducting a TNA is not a once-off task but rather a recurring task. We have suggested different times to conduct a TNA above so you can choose when a TNA task occurs.
The TNA process includes conducting, reviewing, updating and modifying. Don’t wait until the last minute and be reactive. Proactively create a strategy to maintain your TNAs. With your team, decide on when a TNA should be conducted and when it should be reviewed and updated.
Here at CTSA, we recommend that you conduct or review a TNA to ensure you are enrolling your staff into the right training for their role. When you are conducting your next TNA, check out the training we offer Here .