It is crucial to conduct a training needs analysis to determine the training needs of employees. To perform this properly and ensure positive results from the training there are certain steps to follow.

Achieving positive results from employee training means that employees improve their performance on the job. A training needs analysis helps you plan the training program and focus on the specific needs of each employee.

It also builds mutual understanding between employees and management on what training will do to help them be more productive in their job. Training and development is an important resource for everyone today as it helps stay productive in an ever changing workplace and adds to the marketing potential of a person when looking to change jobs.

To help you conduct your own training needs analysis I have created a worksheet containing columns for levels of importance, performance factors and levels of achievement.

This may sound like a performance appraisal, but it is a training and development tool and needs to be treated that way. The conversation with employees when using this tool is to be on improvement not on evaluation. Watch the video to see me explain how to use this worksheet in detail. I make reference to another video on the responsibilities of a manager, in which I list specific job skills associating with managing and supervising employees.

My training needs analysis worksheet has the managerial skills already loaded as performance factors and there is another tab in the Excel worksheet that is a template with the performance factor column left blank.

I have also created a questionnaire in Word to go along with the Excel worksheet. This document contains questions to have the employee answer as part of the needs’ analysis process. This helps you to focus in on what the employee needs to improve and discuss what that skill improvement would look like when applied on the job. You can download these documents through this link.