Building a Comprehensive Training Needs Analysis with the Help of these 6 Templates

Today’s workforce is dynamic and fast-moving. Employees have constantly shifting skill sets and diverse interests. This means that training programs must keep pace with employee needs in order to retain top talent, avoid costly turnover, and boost organizational performance. This post will show you 6 templates that’ll help you build a comprehensive training needs analysis.

If you’re working to build a comprehensive training needs analysis at your company or organization, you probably feel like you’ve got a lot of information to sift through.

You want to make sure you collect all the data points necessary for creating an accurate picture of the current state of training within your organization. That way, when your team builds out the ROI analysis, it can be as robust as possible.

It can seem like there are a million different variables at play here — but don’t worry! We have the perfect solutions for you right here.

Check out this blog post for 9 different templates that will give you everything you need to build an effective training needs analysis and ROI analysis for your organization — whether that’s at work or school!

What is a Training Needs Analysis?

A training needs analysis is an in-depth investigation into the current state of training at your organization. It provides you with the data you need to make an informed decision about what training programs and initiatives to prioritize moving forward. This type of assessment is especially useful for large organizations.

If you’re working for a company with several departments, training needs are likely to vary across each division. A training needs analysis gives you the chance to collect data from all of your employees and departments and compile it into one comprehensive report.

Read also: How To Conduct A Training Needs Assessment: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Defining the Current State of Training within your Organization

As you’re building your training needs analysis, the first thing you’ll want to do is identify the current state of training in your organization. This includes data points like:

A company’s current training state is the foundation for your entire analysis. Your data points here will inform your decisions for all the other parts of your analysis. There are a few specific data points that are especially helpful for building a robust training needs analysis, including:

Employee training history: What has each employee received training on in the past? What gaps are there in their education?

Employee skill sets: What skills does each employee have? How closely do those skills align with the needs of the organization?

Employee skill gaps: Which employees are lacking certain skill sets? Where are there holes in their education?

Employee education goals: What does each employee hope to learn and achieve through training? How does this align with the needs of the organization?

2. Benchmarking: Comparing your company-wide training program to others in your industry

Another way to get a better understanding of your current training state is by benchmarking it against that of other companies in your industry. Though you’ll want to keep each company’s unique circumstances in mind as you conduct this portion of your analysis, this information can nevertheless be very helpful.

It gives you a general idea of where your organization stacks up against the competition — and it can also help you get a sense of what’s standard in your industry when it comes to training and development initiatives.

You can benchmark your company-wide training program by looking at training programs at companies within your same industry. You can also look at training programs for your company’s competitors.

3. Organizational assessment:

Determining key factors that influence employee growth and development

A training needs analysis is an assessment — but it’s also an assessment of your organization. This means that we need to take into consideration those factors that most influence employee growth and development. Organizational factors can include:

Company culture: How does your company’s culture affect employee behaviour and performance? What impact does it have on growth and development?

Departmental culture: What is the culture like in each department? How does it differ from department to department?

Employee demographics: What unique factors impact each employee’s growth and development?

Organizational goals: What are your company’s top priorities? What are its long-term goals? What does it hope to achieve in the next few years?

Organizational structure: What impact does your company’s organizational structure have on employee growth and development?

Organizational training program: How does your current company-wide training program impact employee growth? What are its strengths and weaknesses?

4. Culture assessment:

Understanding the existing organizational culture and how it impacts employee behaviour and performance

Another key factor that you’ll want to consider when building your training needs analysis is the organizational culture. This includes data points like:

What is the culture like at your organization? How does it impact the behaviour and performance of your employees? What does this mean for their growth and development?

You’ll want to dig into these questions as you build your training needs analysis. You want to be sure to incorporate cultural data into your analysis from the very beginning — because it’s an incredibly important factor that can have a big impact on your employee growth and development.

5. Employee survey:

Finding out what employees think about their own growth, development, and training within your organization

Another aspect of your organizational assessment that’s crucial to your training needs analysis is employee feedback and engagement. You can find out what employees think about their own growth, development, and training within your organization by conducting a survey.

You can conduct a survey using a variety of different tools, including:

Online survey software: Tools like SurveyMonkey and Typeform let you host your survey online. You can also send it out through email.

Paper-based surveys: These are great for reaching out to distributed teams. You can send them out via snail mail, or you can use tools like Google Forms to create and collect responses digitally.

Phone surveys: Another option for distributed teams.

6. ROI analysis:

Determining whether or not training will pay off for your company or organization

Another way to determine whether or not your company-wide training program will pay off is to perform an ROI analysis.

This includes data points like:

What are the costs associated with your company-wide training program?

How much does it cost to hire each employee?

What are the benefits of your company-wide training program?

What does the data show about the ROI of your training program?

Find some templates here.

Wrapping up

As you can see, there are a lot of different factors to consider when building a training needs analysis. That’s why it’s so important to use the right tools for the job — and to make sure that you’re collecting the data points necessary for an accurate analysis. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of 6 different templates that will help you build an effective training needs analysis.

These templates will help you to identify the current state of training in your organization, determine the key factors that influence employee growth and development, and get a better understanding of your organizational culture. They’ll also help you collect the data necessary for an ROI analysis — so you can determine whether or not training will pay off for your company or organization.