1. Training Needs
Assessments

2. What is a TNA?
• Identification of educational activities
employees need to improve their
productivity
• Focus is on needs, not desires
• A form of gap analysis

3. Why conduct one?
• Determine whether training will make a
difference in employee productivity
• Decide what specific training each employee
needs and what will improve their job
performance
• Differentiate between the need for training and
other organizational issues—and there are
always other organizational issues!

4. Commonly-used tools
• Interview managers
– Obtain info on upcoming projects, organizational goals
– Managers identify gaps
• Interview employees
– Find out what would make their job easier (“I could do this job better
if…”)
– Top performers can tell you what they learned, and how
• Conduct focus groups
• Conduct surveys
• Review any existing competencies developed for jobs
• Review employee development plans/performance reviews
• Review strategic plan and mission statement

5. Do I have to use them all?
• No 
• Rule of thumb: use at least three data
sources
• Make at least one data source
participatory—that is, involve the staff
whose needs you are trying to meet
– Focus groups, surveys

6. Focus Groups
• Classic methodology
– Script from CLEM c. mid-1980’s
– Can structure groups to meet a variety of
needs (mixed groups v. job-specific)
– Can use results to develop surveys for all staff
• Copies of script available for everyone
– We’ll walk through the technique: experiential
learning ;-)

7. Surveys
• Plug data into Zoomerang, Survey Monkey, or
similar tool and email to staff (view sample)
– Alert them it’s coming
• Collect only basic demographic data
– Some degree of anonymity is important to some
• Share compiled results widely
– Identify needs you plan to address centrally
– At CCPL, management groups provide in-service
training
– Supervisors can be alert to other opportunities

8. How Often?
• It depends…
– What are you looking for?
– What are you going to do with the data?
– How recent is your strategic plan?
– How fresh is your performance review data—and do
staff complete an IDP?
• Things change rapidly these days
• Sometimes discovery of those other
organizational issues is important!