TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS GUIDANCE NOTES

As part of the HR Strategy the Training & Development (T&D) Team is required to evaluate activity provided by the
Corporate T&D Programme in order to demonstrate the effectiveness and impact of T&D on the achievement of the
University’s objectives and priorities.

Training evaluation is the process of identifying the need for and assessing the effect of T&D activity on the performance
of individuals, teams and the organisation.

These guidelines aim to help you understand the process and your role in it.

The Evaluation Process

Evaluation of T&D starts well before a training event at the point where the need is identified. The stages are identifying
the need; discussing possible solutions; implementing the solution and assessing the impact.

The Manager’s responsibility involves:

• Identifying school/service development needs and discussing individual staff development needs (e.g. in appraisal,
probation reviews, performance review discussions).
• Ensuring equality of opportunity.
• Agreeing and commissioning the T&D activities.
• Assessing the impact of T&D on the School/Service delivery and linking the outcomes in the planning cycle.

The individual member of staff has a responsibility to inform their manager and discuss training & development needs.

Identifying the Need

To do this you have to know what you want to achieve. Here are some questions that may need to be asked when
identifying needs.

Has this need arisen from the appraisal process (or how else has it been identified/discussed)?
Is there a problem and what is the nature of it? How big is the problem and is there a time constraint involved?
What is the performance standard required? What performance standard is achieved?
What prevents the achievement of the standard?
What skills do the people have? Is this an essential requirement for the individual to be able to carry out the job?
Is it desirable to improve job performance or for personal development?

Discuss Possible Solutions

After identifying the need you should consider possible solutions. Here are some questions/solutions to consider.

Why do you/they think that training is the answer? Will new tools/equipment solve the problem? Is there a time limit?
What training & development has been received in the past and how effective was it? How can it be funded?
Ask for /Give more feedback to staff. Change a procedure/process. Allow time for self-learning e.g. MARCET. What
type of T&D would be appropriate / preferable? e.g. On the job training; Mentoring/coaching; Project work; Self Managed
Scholarly Activity; In house training; External course/conference.

Implement the Solution

There may be an obvious solution that can be implemented quickly. There may, however be a need to discuss it further
with others e.g. your HR Manager and/or the T& D team in HR who will be able to help source training providers, may be
able to offer more cost effective alternatives and/or suggest other development methods.

If T&D is the best solution, the Training & Development Needs Analysis form should be completed.

Where theT&D activity is from the Corporate T&D Programme the form must be sent to the T&D Team, HR Dept.
to reserve a place. A copy of the programme is sent to all staff and an electronic version is e on the HR website.

Where the T&D activity is locally arranged it is recommended that the form is kept as part of your personal development
file and used in the appraisal process.

Assess the Impact

In order to assess the impact of any T&D activity the following should be considered.
• Analysing the perceived value of the T&D i.e.what objective has the T&D activity helped to achieve?
• Considering the costs and benefits of T&D to the organization i.e. how can the benefit be measured/demonstrated?
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