The following is an article that proposes ways to identify training needs and for arranging for the 10% of an organization’s learning & development strategy.

Is training supposed to be conducted just because it’s a part of a to-do list?

In today’s fast paced world where production and operation seem to run at break neck speed, Human resources and its functions are day by day being distanced away from grass root realities and actual employee needs. This seems to occur because of the rigidity of HR practices. In the beginning of any year, most organizations chalk out training calendars based out of some logical and some illogical needs. These training needs are either collated by the Business and Operational function heads or solely by the Human resources department. In the end what seems as a delivery of a training program in order to develop certain knowledge, skills or behaviours among employees turns out to be just a “tick” on a to-do list for the HR function. Whether or not real value addition has occurred seems to be measured by just an end-of-the-program feedback or a “Smilie” sheet.

To answer the earlier question, I propose another question

What should go into a training calendar?

First, training calendars are to be made in such a way that they remain flexible for addition of new programs or cancellation of planned programs. For this, training budgets should have sufficient amount dedicated to “unplanned and urgent” training programs.

Second, the training calendar should be designed first from the employees, then the middle management, next the leadership and finally presented to the Human resources team. Today in most organizations this takes place in exact the reverse order minus the middle management and the employees.

Third, Training calendars should cater only to those sections (levels, teams, employees) that require the training. The reason I say this is because, employees are sometimes nominated simply because they haven’t been for any training program for a long time. When this occurs, one will find that the transfer of learning never really happens resulting in the training program being less effective when actually the real problem began in the identification of the employee and the employee’s training need.

So, this gets me to the third question;

How is the training calendar designed?

A training calendar can be designed by using any of the following methods

1) Individual needs analysis: Through Gap analysis of Job profile (KRAS or KPIS) vs. Actual on the job performance (Appraisal) of the employee. This method though time intensive, results in the best bang for the buck. Common Training needs are then collated on to a sheet and then prioritized.

2) Focus Group analysis: The organization can decide to have certain levels, departments, teams or just a random lot of people in a meeting with the analyzer (in this case mainly a training consultant). This group is quizzed and asked to discuss certain individual & organizational strengths and impediments. This data is then analyzed by the HR, operational and training team to arrive at the training needs.

3) Team/Department needs analysis: With the help of one-on-one interviews with the team management and through focus group discussions with the team members, one can derive at those areas that need urgent development and which are trainable. A good sub method here is to ask another closely associated team/department to provide their inputs towards the other team’s development

4) Top Box/Bottom Box: Through the help of performance data, one can sieve through what makes the top (best performers) work better as compared to the bottom (poor performers). The best and quickest way to improve organizational productivity in this case is to first train the Middle box (average performers)

5) Training needs questionnaire: This method is one of the quickest ways to identify legitimate training needs. The questions should have questions that provide you information on whether the employees have the right amount of Knowledge, Skills and behaviours for performing the job.

6) 360 Degree Feedback: This multi-rater instrument provides an individual not only feedback for improvement but also data for the analysts to derive at generally what Skills and behaviours do employs in the organization need to develop on.

7) Organizational Strategy: Most organizations that begin the year by devising strategies and goals for the new-year should also be looking at what new knowledge, skills and behaviours are required and by whom in order to meet the planned objectives. It is important that these needs should be the first ones to be accommodated into the training calendar.

8) Organizational Imperatives: Sometimes many companies go through major events such as mergers, acquisitions, recession, lay-offs, scandals, market movements etc. In these cases, HR should be the ones partnering with the leadership teams to devise what training programs need to be conducted so that every employee is geared and ready to face the challenges during such events.

Who finalizes the training?

If HR were the sole decision makers in finalizing training needs, then most of the trainings would be as per their whims and fancies. The ultimate responsibility lies with the HR representatives or the Training consultants only after they receive the training request from the operational managers. They then should first investigate whether the training program is needed or not (Research on the Robert Mager Approach to find correct solutions). They should ask questions such as “What other solution is available to fill this performance gap other than training?”, “What stops the employees from displaying this skill?”, “Have they ever been trained on this topic before?” “What are the organizational roadblocks that are causing this performance gap?” “Were they displaying the skill/behaviour earlier?” Through the answers derived from these questions one will be able to judge how genuine the training needs are and suggest appropriate solutions.

The decision maker has to realize that training is never the only solution towards performance improvement. There can be systemic causes, motivational issues and organizational obstacles that cause the performance gap and no amount of training will give any return on investment.