A Guide to Conducting a Training Needs Analysis [Free Template] 12-11-24, 3:58 p.m.

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mprove employee e!ciency and performance? Conducting a
ensive training needs analysis might be your answer.

y Erik van Vulpen ! 18 minutes read As taught in the Full Academy Access

by Monika Nemcova ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 4.67 Rating

Training needs analysis is a key tool in the arsenal of any L&D professional,

trainer, or training consultant. It’s e"ective in determining learning and Subscribe to our
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development areas you need to focus on to address performance gaps that
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get in the way of achieving organizational goals. In this article, we will explain
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what a training needs analysis is, provide a guide for conducting this analysis,

and helpful examples. Email

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Contents

What is a training needs analysis?

What is the purpose of conducting a training needs analysis?

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Training needs analysis best practices

How to conduct a training needs analysis

Training needs analysis examples

Training needs analysis template [Free download]

Training needs analysis questions

FAQ

What is a training needs analysis?

Training needs analysis (TNA) is a process to identify the gap between the

actual and the desired knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) in a job.

The need for such analysis usually arises due to an organizational problem. It

can be a lower-than-expected quarter for the sales team, changing

technology threatening to impact the continuity of train operators, or

constantly low customer satisfaction scores forcing the product team to be

more agile and customer-focused. In all these instances, the problems can

potentially be resolved through training.

In other words, when a lack of knowledge, skills, or abilities causes the

problem, conducting a training needs analysis and subsequent training can

be a viable solution.

Conversely, training needs analysis won’t be e"ective if it’s broader

organizational issues that cause the problems. This may mean that instead of

a lack of knowledge, skills, or abilities, our diagnosis may point out that sales

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are low because of a mismatch between the work and the rewards. Or that

customer satisfaction is low because the top-down driven product strategy is

not in line with what customers are looking for.

These problems cannot be solved through training (alone) but require

organizational interventions.

An example we’ve run into is assertiveness training that a large county

hospital was looking to purchase from a respected vendor. The problems

were increased harassment incidents and medical errors caused by nurses

not speaking up. The organization was looking to train these nurses on

assertiveness.

During the intake, the trainer realized that the organizational culture was

highly hierarchical and that it was common for people who did speak up to be

fired or otherwise punished. The trainer refused to participate, explaining

that the hospital first had to work on a culture where it was safe to speak up

before training its sta". Doing it the other way around could have devastating

consequences for the nurses.

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Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

KSA refer to the knowledge, skills, and abilities that an employee must
have to perform their responsibilities within their roles. They’re listed in
the job description and guide candidates and employers to assess the
person’s chance to succeed.

Knowledge

Topics and subjects that can be used when performing work functions

when the person is hired.

Examples:

Knowledge of accounting principles and practices

Knowledge of budget control policies and procedures

Skills

Technical or manual proficiencies are usually gained or learned through

training. They are observable and measurable.

Examples:

Skills in analysis and problem-solving

Skills in using Microsoft Excel and accounting software

Abilities

Capacity to apply knowledge and skills to perform a task. It also includes

personal and social traits which are innate or acquired without formal

training.

Examples:

Ability to process large amounts of numerical data

Ability to prioritize work and meet deadlines

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Training needs analysis levels

There are three levels of training needs analysis based on your organization’s

goals and the knowledge and skills required for goals at each level:

Organizational level TNA – It determines training needs related to

performance metrics, new employee knowledge at the company-wide

level, and continuous training to optimize company performance and

productivity to achieve its goals. It’s designed to address problems and

weaknesses of the organization as well as to further improve the

company’s current competencies and strengths. More importantly, it

takes into account other factors like trends and changes in the

economy, politics, technology, and demographics.

Group/job role level TNA – This type of analysis identifies specific

training needed to upskill a team, department, or business unit.

Moreover, it determines which occupational groups experience skills

gaps or discrepancies and ways to eliminate them.

Individual level TNA – This training needs assessment is dedicated to

an individual or individuals in a team. It is conducted in conjunction

with a project or changes that could impact each team member. It is

also used for an employee’s personal development for future career

advancement.

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What is the purpose of conducting a

training needs analysis?
The purpose of training needs analysis is to identify and bridge the

knowledge and skills gaps in the workforce to achieve optimal performance.

TNA also uncovers the reasons for the gaps and helps determine the di"erent

approaches to removing those gaps.

Moreover, training needs analysis helps in:

Aligning training with business goals – Alignment ensures that you’re

investing in training that will help your organization achieve its business

goals. Identifying the short and long-term objectives for your

organization and the skills needed to achieve them helps L&D

professionals to focus on the scope of the training.

Uncovering skills and performance gaps early on – Performance

gaps occur, for instance, when a business is undergoing change or new

technologies emerge. As such, employees need to constantly upskill to

acclimate to these changes. TNA allows organizations to resolve these

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gaps before they become a major issue. However, a study by PWC

pointed out that only 40% of employers are upskilling their workers to

address skills and labor shortages.

Prioritizing training – A TNA will help you determine which training

you need to prioritize with respect to time and budget. “Training needs

analysis is critical if you want to ensure you don’t waste resources, time,

and energy,” notes Emily Chipman, executive coach and principal

consultant at Rushman Consulting Solutions. “When done correctly,

people learn more quickly, there is a greater impact on job

performance, and it reduces the frustration that comes for employees

when taking on new roles and tasks, thereby impacting employee

engagement.”

Planning targeted training – You can create training plans that target

exactly the skills and knowledge you identified are missing, so

resources are invested properly.

Determining who gets trained – With TNA, you can make sure that

specific people get trained on what they need. Customizing your

training program based on your employees’ needs allows you to

maximize the benefits of your training programs.

Training needs analysis doesn’t only benefit the organization, but also

positively impacts employee experience. Karolina Kijowska, Head of People &

Culture at technology startup PhotoAiD, explains that they conduct training

needs analysis not only when a problem arises.

“We also go for it when employees ask for more growth opportunities

because we want to o"er them the best-tailored training. L&D programs

based on training needs analysis helped our organization raise eNPS scores

from 57 to 65 points. That’s because we provide employees with the training

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opportunities they asked for,” Kijowska points out.

Training needs analysis best

practices
Here are three best practices we recommend applying when conducting a

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training needs analysis:

Start with the desired outcome. Identify which activities lead to these

organizational outcomes before identifying training activities. This

outcome can be an organizational or departmental goal. Or it could be

an individual that needs improving.

Manage expectations. Training and training need analysis requires

advanced stakeholder management. Stakeholders include employees,

service users (or customers), educational providers who design and

deliver the program, and internal sponsors who pay for the educational

event. Ensuring that the training satisfies all groups is crucial for its

success. In other words, when a manager thinks a communication

training session will solve all their internal problems, you need to

manage their expectations.

Use an integrated approach. Research shows that training programs

that place new skills in a broader job or organizational perspective and

integrate them with other organizational processes and activities are

more successful. This does not mean that you cannot focus your

training on something specific, but you must place what people learn

into an organizational perspective.

Next, let’s have a look at how to conduct a training needs analysis.

How to conduct a training needs

analysis
When conducting a training needs analysis, it is good practice to follow a

standardized process.

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We will go through each of the training needs analysis process steps using an

example, explain the di"erent elements to account for, and define what is

needed to move forward to the next step. In our example, we will assume

that a training solution can fulfill an organizational need.

Step 1. Defining organizational goals

As described earlier, a training needs analysis is always initiated by an

organizational symptom or pain point. Filip Moriau calls this ‘organizational

stress’ in the context of future skills in the video below.

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Usually, a (senior) management comes to the L&D team with one of these

symptoms and asks them how they can help to fix it. These problems can

include:

an organization losing its innovative lead

a sales department struggling to increase market share for a fast-

growing scale-up

the board has come up with an organizational capability that every

employee must develop.

The pain points often also relate to new opportunities that an organization

wants to get ready for. According to Veena KV, Head of People Ops at

FirstPriciples, some examples are:

Introducing new technology or processes that employees need to be

trained on

Trying to improve compliance or safety within the workplace

Wanting to develop the skills of the organization’s workforce to prepare

for future business opportunities or to stay competitive in the job

market

All these challenges relate to organizational goals. If this is not the case, the

challenges are usually not worth fixing. The manager is unlikely to approach

L&D for a training solution. If the organizational goal is unclear, take your

time to explore it. Exploring it will help you diagnose the problem and training

needs.

When we talk about organizational goals or outcomes, we focus on

measurements like:

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Financial performance

Revenue

Profit

Return on Equity

Return on Capital Employed

Earning growth

Share price

Softer outcomes can include customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and

organizational culture.

Organizational goals and outcomes are hard to influence as the entire

organization contributes to them. They are subject to influences outside

employee behavior, so it’s hard to improve them through training.

The best approach is to break the organizational goal down into a

department or individual goal (we will do this later in this article), or focus on

core competencies.

Core competencies are competencies that all employees in the organization

must have. Most organizations have defined and specified what good

performance on these competencies looks like. Everyone in the organization

should have a basic skill level in these competencies. There is consensus on

these core capabilities, so it is easy to define their relevant job behaviors (step

2).

Before going to the next step, the L&D professional should examine if this

organizational goal is attainable through appropriate job behaviors alone

(step 2). Non-behavioral influences can also impact these goals, which should

be addressed in tandem with the learning solution.

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The training needs analysis process is highly similar for individual cases.

Instead of an organizational goal, an individual or departmental goal is listed.

The individual goal should be directly related to a departmental or

organizational goal to ensure the maximum impact.

DOWNLOAD FREE TNA TEMPLATE

Step 2. Define relevant job behaviors

Let’s say we are an L&D professional working for a large consulting company.

Currently, a small group of partners sells large-scale projects to clients.

However, in the future, all consultants will be required to sell their services to

(potential) clients. In other words, this will be a new core competency that

everyone in the organization needs to develop.

The next step is defining the appropriate job behaviors that will build this

competency to help achieve the organizational goal.

For consultants to sell their services, they need to build relationships, spot

and explore opportunities, provide solutions, and seal the deal commercially.

If we were to define these behaviors, they would look like the following.

Behaviors Description

Build Able to e"ectively build and maintain relationships with a wide

relationships range of potential clients; staying top of mind.

Spot
Able to spot and e"ectively scope opportunities when they arise.
opportunities

Turn
Specify how they can solve their problem through expertise and
opportunity into
close the deal.
a deal

The following step is breaking down these high-over behaviors into the skills

and knowledge required to show this behavior e"ectively.

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When it comes to an individual job, you can conduct job analysis to analyze

job behaviors. The most-used approach here is the task inventory. For

example, a receptionist has many duties, including a hospitality duty. The

tasks for this duty can be defined as follows.

Hospitality duty for a receptionist

Tasks Frequency Importance Di"culty

Answering the intercom when the doorbell

300/day Medium Low
rings

Welcoming guests and guiding them to the

120/day Medium Low
waiting room

Providing guests with a drink 80/day Low Low

Answering questions from visitors 30/day High Medium

Managing expectations about waiting times 30/day Medium High

Receiving and handling complaints 6/day High Very high

The receptionist may have other duties as well, leading to a long overview of

di"erent duties with their related tasks. Based on these tasks, the job analyst

or L&D professional can score the task’s frequency, importance, and di!culty.

They collect this information by looking at the job description and talking to

the manager and employees. This job analysis provides input for steps 2 and

3 of the process.

Step 3. Define the required knowledge & skills

The relationship-building and commercial behaviors we have defined earlier

need to be specified before we can move on to a training program. The more

specific we can make these behaviors, the easier it will be to create training

programs that fulfill these behavioral dimensions.

Behaviors Description

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Required Skills
S1. Actively reach out to create networking opportunities

S2. Establish rapport by finding common ground

S3. Adjust approach to accommodate variance in clients’

characteristics, needs, goals, and objectives

S4. Ask client about a preferred method to communicate (e.g.,

email, phone, WhatsApp, WeChat)

S5. Staying top-of-mind and regularly checking for new

opportunities.

S6. Validate assumptions about client’s financial status and

purchasing readiness
Build
S7. Leverage information related to client’s decision-making process,
relationships
organization structure, and profile of all individuals involved in the
& spot
purchasing decision
opportunities
S8. Establish a follow-up communication schedule
S9. Maintain relationships with key decision-makers and influencers

Required knowledge
K1. Client relationship management system/database

K2. Client’s social style (e.g., analytical, driver, expressive, amiable)

K3. Emotional intelligence

K4. Importance of customer experience to build loyalty

K5. Question techniques and how to use them to extract client

needs and build opportunities

K6. Sales conversation techniques

Required skills

S1. Identify buying signals

S2. Sell using subject matter expertise

S3. Ask the client for its business

S4. Conduct process and identify areas to improve in future

opportunities

S5. Clarify objections to understand a root cause

S6. Develop a timeline

S7. Achieve consensus versus settling

Turn S8. Involve experienced seniors in closing complex deals
opportunity

into a deal Required knowledge

K1. Closing techniques (e.g., assume close, close on minor points,

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overcome objection as a barrier to sale, o"er an incentive to close,

use last chance, ask for business directly)

K2. Di"erence between closing with sale vs. securing the next steps

in the sales process

K3. Objection handling or resolution processes

K4. Negotiation techniques

K5. Influencing tactics

As you can see, we have combined three behaviors into two behavioral

groups and defined the required skills and knowledge for each. We used a

competency framework by the Canadian Professional Sales Association for

the basic skills and knowledge elements and adapted them to consultative

sales.

To complete this framework, ask employees who already have these skills. Go

back to the assignment-giver to check if these behaviors, skills, and

knowledge will help achieve the organization’s goals. The employees can say

to what degree the knowledge and skills accurately reflect the core

competencies the organization needs.

The last step is to assess the current skills in the organization. Not everyone

will need the same training. For example, the partners in the consulting firm

already have extensive sales experience – they will not benefit from this

training. A senior sta" member will require di"erent training than an

associate or a junior. All these details must be considered before moving to

the next stage.

For individual jobs, you can define the required knowledge & skills. This can

be based on the task inventory and supplemented by other information

sources.

Training needs analysis techniques

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You can apply di"erent training needs analysis techniques to map the
required and available skills. Some common techniques include:

Observations: Directly watching employees perform their duties to

identify skills they possess, as well as gaps and areas for

improvement.

Questionnaires: Distributing structured surveys to employees to

gather insights about their skills, perceived training needs and

areas of interest.

Interviews: Conducting one-on-one or group discussions with

employees to explore their training needs, challenges, and

suggestions for development opportunities.

Assessments: Utilizing tests or simulations to evaluate employees’

current skill levels and identify specific areas where training is

needed.

Skills audits and skills inventories: Conducting comprehensive

reviews of the skills and qualifications currently available within the

organization to identify strengths, gaps, and areas for

development, and inventorizing the data.

Employee development plans: Identifying groups of employees

with similar KSA.

HRIS data mining and text mining CVs: Applying data and text

mining techniques to HRIS data, resumes and CVs to uncover

patterns, trends, and gaps in the workforce’s skills and

qualifications.

Text mining of job descriptions or job vacancy texts:

Determining required competency levels per function.

Job analysis: Breaking down jobs into their component tasks and

determining the necessary skills and knowledge for each task.

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Contents

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Step 4. Develop training A Guide to Conducting a Training

Needs Analysis [Free Template]

The final step in the process is the training design. Here, you’ll communicate
What is a training needs analysis?
the needed learning outcomes you defined in step 3 to the training
What is the purpose of conducting a
provider(s). You also determine a budget, scope the time investment of the training needs analysis?

training, and decide if you will work with internal or external trainers. Training needs analysis best
practices

Remember to consider non-training alternatives that can help develop the How to conduct a training needs
analysis
required knowledge and skills. It can be the inclusion of these core
Training needs analysis examples
competencies in the performance management review and praising and
Training needs analysis template
rewarding the defined behavior. Or you can also add them as selection
Training needs analysis questions
criteria in the hiring process. All these interventions will help build and
Over to you
reinforce the knowledge and skills.
FAQ
Relevant Articles
The training phase is where you can apply the ADDIE model. The ADDIE

model is arguably the best-known model of training design. ADDIE is an

acronym for Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate. Good

training design involves going through all five stages.

The first stage, Analyze, is where the training needs analysis comes in. In this

phase, you:

Define instructional goals and their alignment with organizational goals

Determine the target audience

Recognize behavioral outcomes, and

Identify learning constraints.

All these elements are addressed in the training needs analysis process you

learned about in this article.

In the following stages, your team designs, develops, and implements

learning programs. Finally, you evaluate their e"ectiveness. All these stages

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are much easier to do well once you complete the training needs analysis in a

thorough manner.

Terry Traut, CEO at leadership development company Entelechy, highlights

that at every step, it’s important to stay focused on how to improve

performance regardless of whether the ideal solution ultimately requires

training.

“We may find that skills and knowledge are not the issue – or not the only

issue. To increase performance, perhaps a simple job aid is required;

sometimes it’s as simple as telling people what’s required; other times

perhaps employees would benefit from a mentoring or coaching program,”

notes Traut.

To learn more about how to conduct training needs analysis and integrate it

within your L&D e"orts, check out our full Learning & Development

Certificate Program!

Training needs analysis examples

1. Email Marketing Executive example

Let’s have a look at a practical training needs analysis example for a specific

role – Email Marketing Executive.

First, we need to define a goal. What should an employee in this role achieve?

Then, we look at job behaviors that will enable an employee to achieve this

goal. Each behavior comprises specific knowledge, skills, and ability

requirements.

Once you break down the job behaviors into KSA, you can look at the current

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level of each KSA within your organization or in a particular employee and

determine what the need for training is. Finally, you can identify the right type

of training that will help develop the required knowledge, skill, or ability.

This is what a training needs analysis could look like in practice:

2. Organizational level training needs analysis

example

Another example of a training needs analysis would be on an organizational

level. Let’s consider a simple example of a training needs analysis (TNA)

conducted at an organizational level for a company experiencing a decline in

sales performance over the last quarter.

An analysis of sales data and employee feedback indicates that the sales

team lacks advanced negotiation skills and up-to-date knowledge of the latest

product features, which are critical for closing deals.

Goal:

Increase quarterly sales performance by 15% to reverse the recent

decline and improve overall revenue.

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Job behaviors:

E"ective negotiation with clients to secure sales

Accurate and persuasive presentation of product features and benefits

Skills and knowledge:

Skills:

Advanced negotiation techniques, including how to overcome

objections and close deals

E"ective communication skills for presenting product features in

a compelling way

Knowledge:

Up-to-date information on the latest product features and how

they compare to competitors

Understanding of customer needs and how the company’s

products meet those needs

Training needs:

The sales team requires training in advanced negotiation techniques

and an in-depth product knowledge update, including competitive

analysis.

Training recommendations:

Organize a series of workshops on advanced negotiation skills led by an

external expert

Conduct product training sessions to update the team on the latest

features, benefits, and competitive positioning

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3. Hiring Manager example

Steve Dion, Founder & CEO of a leadership consultancy company Dion

Leadership, shares a training needs analysis example from a client. The

company was looking to implement interview training on their relatively new

process. A training needs analysis revealed that the problem wasn’t that

hiring managers didn’t know or understand the process.

“They too often “freestyled” their approach to interviews to fit their comfort

level, thus missing key points the process was designed to address, which

resulted in poor hires,” says Dion. “The training solution we designed covered

not only the mechanics of the process, but the “whys” of each detail, the

“unlearning” of old habits, and the clarification of expectations and support.”

Training needs analysis template

Get our free training needs analysis template to conduct e"ective analyses at

your organization:

DOWNLOAD FREE TEMPLATE

Training needs analysis questions

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In each step of the training needs analysis process, you can ask specific

question that will help you conduct the assessment in an e"ective way.

Step 1. Define organizational goals

What problems are occurring in the organization?

What is the organization trying to achieve?

Which organizational goals require the biggest change in employee

behaviors?

Which departmental goals are lagging?

Which individual performance goals should be improved?

Can these problems be solved through di"erent behaviors?

Step 2. Define relevant job behaviors

Which job behaviors contribute to the goals defined in step 1?

If the listed job behaviors are ‘fixed’, does that bring us closer to the

goals defined in step 1?

Do the listed job behaviors align with our organizational core values?

Which cultural cues reinforce undesirable behavior?

What other influences play a role in reinforcing undesirable behavior?

Step 3. Define the required knowledge & skills

Which skills are required to display the behaviors we defined in step 2?

Which knowledge components are required to display the behaviors we

defined in step 2?

Once the listed skills and knowledge components are taught, will the

relevant job behaviors always be displayed?

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What is hindering the display of relevant job behaviors once the listed

skills and knowledge components are taught?

Step 4. Develop training

Is all the information required to start the training design and

development process present?

Are there non-training alternatives that we can deploy that will have a

similar e"ect?

Over to you
Training needs analysis is vital in helping organizations determine the specific

learning needs of employees so that they can be more e"ective and

productive in their roles. It can also uncover in-demand skills that are

currently lacking in the workforce.

It might be an arduous task, but without performing TNA, your training

initiatives are bound to fail, and you might end up wasting company

resources on irrelevant learning programs.

FAQ

What is a training needs analysis? 

Why is a training needs analysis important? 

How to conduct a training needs analysis? 

What are TNA tools? 

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A Guide to Conducting a Training Needs Analysis [Free Template] 12-11-24, 3:58 p.m.

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Erik van Vulpen

Erik van Vulpen is the founder and Dean of AIHR. He is an expert in shaping

modern HR practices by bringing technological innovations into the HR context. He

receives global recognition as an HR thought leader and regularly speaks on topics

like People Analytics, Digital HR, and the Future of Work.

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