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In our previous post giving you sample training needs analysis questionnaires, many readers asked for more samples. We did not create our own sample for the previous post. Now we have. Below you will find a training needs analysis questionnaire you can use or adapt to your own company’s needs.

There is no single type of training needs analysis questionnaire. There are countless versions, as they vary with the user’s industry and needs. This sample training needs analysis questionnaire is just one example, and you can edit it to work for your own business. Please do not ask us to email you other types of questionnaires. This is the only one available, and we do not create custom questionnaires for each reader. It’s easily customizable — just use it as a model and plug in different skills that are most important for your own business. If this one doesn’t meet your exact needs, you can find numerous other examples by searching Google or you can create your own custom template (which is ideally what all HR reps would do, to make sure the questionnaires are appropriate for their personal goals).

The questionnaire below relates to hiring sales staff for a business. The skills included are those companies would generally find important in their sales representatives who are dealing with customers directly. We hope you find it useful. If you want to use this questionnaire as-is, download and print the .pdf version.

Sales Staff Training Needs Analysis

In the questionnaire below, place a check mark in the column that reflects your current level of skill or ability for each skill listed. Rank your skills on a sliding scale, with 1 being poor or beginner-level skills and 5 being strong skills or more advanced experience in that area. Your responses will help us determine your current skill set, so we can plan the most effective training program to help you excel at your job.

How to Use this Training Needs Analysis Questionnaire

Whenever you’re conducting a training needs analysis, you’re looking to evaluate the current skills of your staff so you can figure out what areas they need the most training in. Having a proper training plan in place means that workers can work more productively and efficiently, because they’ll have the skills they need to get the job done right.

After distributing a training needs analysis questionnaire like the one above, you have to analyze the results.

The first step of doing that is deciding which of the skills listed are the most important to your business. Mark them or highlight them. Then look at those most important skills and see which of them has the lowest ranking based on employee feedback (the most 1s and 2s for example). These should be your priority areas for employee training. They’re the weakest skill sets in the most important areas for your company.

Once you’ve taken care of training in those areas, you can decide if the questionnaire results show training in other, less important, areas is also worth pursuing.

You may also enjoy reading Why Kinesthetic Learning Really Works in Classrooms Today.

Why are employees in some companies happy to stick with the company while others look for a change? The reason is that some companies know how to take good care of their employees and provide a working environment that helps them retain their identity, while proving themselves and growing along with the company.

Here are some of the best HR practices that help in the creation of a highly satisfied and motivated work force.

Work Environment

A safe and happy workplace makes the employees feel good about being there. Each one is given importance and provided the security that gives them the motivation and incentive to stay. This is usually achieved through internal surveys to find out whether they are satisfied and if not what they think needs to be changed.

Open Management

Employees don’t like the feeling of being kept in the dark about what is happening in the company. They feel motivated and develop enthusiasm only when the management opens up to them and discusses the company policies, sales, clients, contracts, goals and objectives. This encourages participative management. Asking them for ideas on how to improve will get their creative juices flowing. Being open about everything related to the company will help in building trust and motivating the employees. This open management policy can be practiced using several tools.

Performance Incentives

Every good performance is appreciated in the form of a pat on the back, bonuses or giving some other compensation for a job well done. Organizations that struggle to keep up with the attrition rate are mostly those that think employees are “just” doing their job. Even if it is the employee’s job, completion in an appreciable manner calls for an incentive, and this goes a long way in boosting the staff morale. These incentives can be implemented at the individual as well as the team level and it has been seen that this works wonders in getting the best out of the employees. But it is important to keep in mind that these bonuses should not be given without a reason, unless it is a commitment for annual bonuses or some such thing. Doing so will only reduce the perceived value of the bonuses.

Performance Feedback

This is one the methods that is being followed by many organizations. Feedback is not only taken from the boss, but also from other seniors and subordinates. Previously, appreciation was only sought from the immediate boss or the management, but now organizations understand the importance of collecting performance feedback from several quarters. The opinion of everyone matters, especially for someone who is in a leadership role at any level. Each person in the team is responsible for giving constructive feedback. This kind of system helps in identifying people who can perform well as leaders at higher levels in the organization. Even the senior level managers can use this system to their advantage, as a tool to improve themselves.

Employee Evaluation

Every company has an employee evaluation system in place but a good system links individual performance to the goals and priorities of the organization. This works well when achievements are tracked over an year. For a fair review of each employee, the evaluation, apart from being done by the boss, should be done by another person at a higher level, for whom the employee’s contribution is important. Ratings can also be obtained by other employees. This ensures a fair and accurate rating of each and every employee.

Sharing of Knowledge

Knowledge sharing is a wonderful strategy that helps in the betterment of the employees and their work. Keep all the knowledgeable information in central databases that can be accessed by each and every employee. For example, if an employee is sent on some training, the knowledge that is acquired by that employee can be stored in these databases for others to learn from it. Even innovative ideas that the management deems fit for employees to see, can be stored here for all to see.

Publicize Good Performances

Every company has some employees who outperform others. Such performances should be highlighted and displayed where other employees can look at them; such as on the display boards and intranet etc. This will encourage others to give their best. A proper system should be set up to make a list of high performances at specific times in a year.

Discussions

Successful organizations nurture ideas and they understand that employees who are actually working and know the business can provide the best ideas. The management should have discussions with employees to get these ideas out of them. There can also be suggestion boxes to capture these ideas. Through this system, managers can find talented employees and develop them.

Rewards

While recognition of talent is highly important, this recognition has to be made public and what better way than holding ceremonies and announcing to the whole world (the employees), the achievements of a fellow employee. There can be nothing better for an employee than the heady feeling from a resounding applause.

The Surprise Factor

Who doesn’t like a surprise? Surprise deserving employees – when they are least expecting it. It could be a gift certificate or a small reward of some sort. This surprise doesn’t have to be limited to the best performers, but it can be randomly given to others as a motivating factor too. Anyone can be given this surprise reward.

Such healthy HR practices encourage the growth of the organization as employees after all play a major role in the well-being of a company. Making an employee feel like a million dollars pays in the form of the success of an organization.

Earlier, we posted an article about how to conduct a training needs analysis (TNA). Many readers of that article expressed interest in sample questionnaires for an analysis of the sort described.

There is no single “one size fits all” questionnaire that can serve this purpose. Company requirements vary too widely, and any analysis of an employee base must be tailored to that specific group and the unique attributes of their work. That said, it is possible to share with our readers examples of the kinds of things that assessment instruments ask, with the understanding that these must of course be customized for the particular workplace being analyzed.

Sample Surveys

The previous article mentioned several components that may be chosen as elements of a TNA.  These approaches included observation, interviews, surveys, job description analysis, difficulty-of-task analysis, problem-solving conferences, identification of motivating personality factors, and analysis of organizational policies.

For the sake of providing a useful example in this limited space, we will focus on surveys. The reasons for this are threefold. First, no matter how a TNA is constructed, at some point it must entail direct input from the individuals who are candidates for training. Surveys accomplish this handily, and are perhaps the most frequently used tool in such analyses.

Second, a survey has arguably the broadest reach of any TNA methodology applied throughout an organization, so it is a high-value tool that offers a lot of “bang for the buck.”  Finally, once a survey is created, any interviews which are conducted can use that form as a starting point for more open-ended oral interviews. In this manner the survey does double duty, supporting more than one TNA technique.

Defining Survey Scope

Before using any sample surveys – or most critically, when creating surveys from scratch – it is important to be clear on precisely what the survey is intended to analyze. This in turn shapes what questions are invented, or what and how existing questions are customized.

The best way to achieve this is to first create a meta-list of the areas of inquiry the survey should explore. For example, let’s assume we want to assess the training needs of our customer service staff.  Even before looking at any pre-written surveys, we consider what we know of customer service operations and the nature of our business, and do a little brainstorming about topic areas to be addressed.  Perhaps we determine the employee survey should probe people’s knowledge of returns policies, their ability to deal with unsatisfied customers, and their judgment about when to escalate a problem to a higher tier of support.

Once this scope is defined, we might then expect to come up with a survey in three sections, with detailed questions in each of these subject areas.

We keep this in mind when evaluating existing surveys against our needs, or when creating questions for our own original assessment instrument. This ensures that the survey we use will be truly relevant to our requirements.

Training Needs Analysis Survey Samples

A well-done TNA survey can be lengthy. Rather than reproduce them here, the following links include a variety of examples in their entirety.  A link to a sample survey does not indicate endorsement of any associated products or services at that link.

IT Training: A Windows Office Suite self-assessment for computer users.

General Needs Assessment, Managerial and Office Skills

Common Business Needs:  Equal Opportunites, Sales, Health & Safety, more. Several samples online.

Skills Self-Assessment – portion of a larger TNA survey series.

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Deborah Teramis Christian is a freelance writer and former business consultant who writes on a variety of contemporary issues.

One of the most useful tools of any business is the quintessential employee manual or handbook. It is a manual that is given to new employees on being hired, as a means to acquainting them with the company procedures, functions and policies. It is the most essential communication tool between the company and the employee.

The employee manual should be designed with a lot of thought and only those policies that are specific to the organization should be given and not general policies, making sure it is in an easily readable compact form.

Some of the main policies that may be included are:

Welcome Statement

To make new employees feel at home, most companies start with a warm welcome note from the CEO, which includes important details about the company; the creation, mission statement, goals as well as the role of employees in achieving those goals.

Orientation Process

Orientation process may include having the employee read the manual completely and some companies also allow new employees to use some office time in the first few days for reading it and schedule a conference to answer any questions they may have. Many employers also get an acknowledgment signed by the employee stating that the employee manual has been read and understood.

General Policies

The employee manual should contain the following basic policies of the company:

Attendance: This can be included to avoid any confusion over attendance expectations. Every company expects employees to arrive at the work place prior to the scheduled start time and be engaged with their work by the start time. Details of how time off should be requested and sick leave details are also outlined in this manual. Attendance is considered by many companies as an important facet of job performance.

Use of workplace technology: The employee manual should clearly state what is expected of them, where usage of company technology is concerned. It should be made known that the company equipment should not be used for personal use; including the internet, laptops, telephones etc., without prior approval. If the company does not want them to download software, music or pornography, that should be stated too. If companies use tracking software to find out what each employee is doing, employees should be informed about it.

Confidentiality: If the company is dealing with sensitive information, this policy can be added in the employee manual, and employees told of their obligations and that any failure to comply with the policy can result in disciplinary action, which may include termination.

Dress code: The need for a dress code varies from company to company. This clause can be added to stress the importance of presenting a professional and clean appearance. The list of do’s and don’ts should be clearly indicated.

Other general policies could include, discipline, safety at work, sexual harassment, smoking, substance abuse, performance reviews and ground for dismissal etc.

After the general policies section comes the compensation and policies.

Compensation and Policies

Payroll: A good idea is to outline all the payroll processing options, if there is a different cycle being followed for different sections of employees. Any deductions that will be made, such as Income Tax, Federal Social Security etc. should all be mentioned in the employee manual.

Work hours and reporting: Mention of the normal workday and hours per week is made in the employee manual. Rules pertaining to overtime should also be given. If the employees need to punch-in and out, then the rules clarifying that they cannot use some other employees time-clock etc. should be clearly stated.

Holidays and vacation: Employees at all levels look forward to holidays. Employee manual contains a list of days recognized as holidays for the company as well as the payment policies for those days, whether it is an unpaid or paid holiday, whether floating holidays will be carried forward etc.

The vacation policy letting the employers know of the company requirements should be entered in the employee manual. This should define the eligibility for vacations, the accrual rate of the vacations, carryover policy and about any unused vacation.

Then comes details about sick leave, family and medical leave, maternity leave and any other leaves.

The policies included in an employee manual are not fixed and differ from company to company and provide the framework within which an organization bases its relations with the employees. This guide helps not only the employees but also the managers in applying policies consistently.

The only thing that organizations need to keep in mind is that any written record can be used against the company in case of a lawsuit. This is the reason; policies have to be well drafted and properly phrased.

Employee manual stands as one of the most important documents that give the employee a glimpse of the professionalism of the organization, its functioning, and a clear understanding of their role.

The person who can make hard things easy is the trainer.

Training needs analysis is the first step in the training process, and then we start setting learning objectives whereby we answer the following critical questions :

1. What must the training achieve?

2. How will the trainees be affected ( i.e., improved )?

In order to design an effective training programme, we have to translate performance deficiencies into training needs. If you know that salespersons do not sell well, and you have discovered that this deficiency is due to lack of product knowledge, then your learning objectives must address this issue

Why Write Learning Objectives? —— Five valid reasons:

1. Objectives give you a clear direction for training activities. As a trainer, you know where you are going an how will you reach there. Your time on designing a training programme is properly utilized.

2. Objectives give direction to other co-trainers who focus on the same direction. Consequently, they bring about uniformity in the training programme.

3. Learning objectives also motivate trainees to grow as they clearly see WIIFM (what’s in it for me ) that keeps them interested, involved and motivated.

4. Objectives serve as a yardstick and standards to evaluate training. At the end of the programme, participants give you their feedback on the character of the training: how many of learning objectives have been achieved, met or exceeded expectations ? —- This kind of feedback reflects the professionalism of your training, and provides trainees with input which they can use to further enhance their development.

5. Objectives also help sell the training programme to the management as well as trainees who would like to see the payoff for what they do. Objectives shown them the WIIFM for the training time and money they will invest.

Types of Objectives:

Training addresses 3 crucial areas: A S K- Attitude, Skills and Knowledge. Logically, learning objectives should be designed to meet needs in any of these 3 categories.

• Objectives for Skills are fairly easy to evaluate because the action is often the application of the same skills for which you impart training

• For Knowledge-related objectives, trainees should demonstrate that they know something

• Objectives addressing Attitude are challenging to frame. You must think how trainees will demonstrate the desired behaviours

- How would you know if trainees hold a particular attitude? Only through what they say or do.

Sometimes, attitude change cannot be truly measured in a learning situation and field follow-up must occur to determine if the objective has been achieved or not. For example ‘ At the end of this training programme, without a trainer’s participation, each trainee will agree unanimously on the superiority of positive mental attitude’.

Essential Elements:

Learning objectives must always contain these four essential factors :

1. An ACTION to be performed by the trainee

For you to know that a learning objective has been achieved, you should see or hear something which shows that trainees are now able to do something which they could do not perform before training. For this to happen, trainees must perform an action that allows them to demonstrate what they have learnt in the training.

2. CONDITIONS under which the trainee is to perform an action

- Will it be in the classroom or in the field?
- From memory or with an open book?
- With or without working tools and visual aids?

3. CRITERIA for achievement of learning objectives

This identifies how well trainees should perform to be successful.

- Do they have to get all the answers correct, or will 85% be OK?
- Must the action be performed in 5 or 10minutes?
- What is the performance standard, and to what extent trainees should meet this standard?

4. TIMING: Learning objectives must be time-bound

- By when the trainees will have achieved the learning objective ?

In most cases, the timing is ‘ at the end of this training programme, trainees will be able to ……’

Sample Objectives:

Performance Salespersons are unable to convert product’s features Deficiency into customer’s benefits

Learning

1. At the end of this programme, without resources and Objectives given 10 minutes, each trainee will identify at least 10 benefits of the product (Objective: Knowledge)

2. At the end of this training programme, using selling material and visual aids, all the trainees will make an individual presentation of products in terms of the buyer’s benefits (Objective: seeks to improve the Knowledge)

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Training needs analysis process is a series of activities conducted to identify problems or other issues in the workplace, and to determine whether training is an appropriate response.

The needs analysis is usually the first step taken to cause a change. This is mainly because a needs analysis specifically defines the gap between the current and the desired individual and organizational performances.

Who Conducts Needs Analysis & Why?

An in-house trainer or a consultant performs a needs analysis to collect and document information concerning any of the following three issues :

1. Performance problems
2. Anticipated introduction of new system, task or technology
3. A desire by the organization to benefit from a perceived opportunity

In all three situations, the starting point is a desire to effect a change. Given this, you must know how the people who will experience change perceive it. In the absence of a needs analysis, you may find employees resistant to change and reluctant to training. They may be unable to transfer their newly acquired skills to their jobs because of the organizational constraints.

A needs analysis often reveals the need for well-targeted training areas. However, we must keep in mind that training is not always the best way to try to close a particular gap between an organization’s goals and its actual performance. Those conducting the needs analysis must get a clear idea of the problem, look at all possible remedies and report on their findings to management before deciding on the best solution.

When properly done, a needs analysis is a wise investment for the organization. It saves time, money and effort by working on the right problems. Organizations that fail to support needs analysis make costly mistakes; they use training when another method would have been more effective; they use too much or too little training, or they use training but fail to follow up on it. A well-performed analysis provides the information that can lead to solutions that focus on the areas of greatest need.

Process of conducting a training needs analysis is a systematic one based on specific information-gathering techniques.  Needs analysis proceeds in stages, with the findings of one stage affecting and helping to shape the next one. There is no easy or short-cut formula for carrying out this process. Each particular situation requires its own mix of observing, probing, analyzing and deducting.

In many ways, the needs analysis is like detective work; you follow up on every lead, check every piece of information and examine every alternative before drawing any solid conclusions. Only then you can e sure of having the evidence on which to base a sound strategy for problem solving.

A needs analysis is not a one-time event. Professional organizations administer needs analysis at regular intervals, usually every year or two.

Methods of Identifying Training Needs

Training needs will differ with the backgrounds of the employees to be trained, and their present status in the organization. Basically, a candidate for training may come from any one of three groups :

1. New hires
2. Veteran employees
3. Trainees currently in the training pipeline ( currently in the training program )

Consideration of the varying needs of these groups provides a frame of reference for discussing and suggesting the methods of identifying training needs :

• New Hires

Addition of new employees creates high and low peaks in placing new persons into the training program. This problem may be solved by a program where progression is made in different sequences. It will eliminate a jam that will occur if all phases of the program must be taken in a definite sequence.
The new employees will normally be of somewhat different backgrounds. Being new, they are not familiar with their new employers. As a result, the earliest phases of the training must concentrate on company orientation. During these phases, the organi- zation, organization policies and administrative details should be covered. It is also a suitable time to acquaint the trainees with what will be expected of him, and how he will be evaluated throughout the phase of training.

• Retaining & Upgrading Veteran Employees

The people in this category offer a real challenge to the training department. There- fore, the number and amount of training required by this category should be carefully considered. Often the retraining and upgrading of former employees can be very rewarding for training instructors. At least two schools of thought exist as to how these employees should be rekindled. There are advantages in keeping this group intact and tailoring the program to their needs. On the other hand, this category of employees can also make significant contribution to training if they are co-mingled with the new hires.

• Pipeline Employee Requirements

A good training program will normally have participants in various phases of comp- letion. An awareness of completion dates and how the potential employee will be employed should be the concern of the training staff and also the employee’s supervisor. A trainee should have a challenge in all phases of his training. All these challenges should not be confined to those phases where the pipeline employee is sitting in a classroom. Therefore, it is recommended that thorough interim test-work be given to pipeline employees in periods between formal classes. This may take the form of solidifying what he learned in the prior phase and serve as preparation for the coming phases.

Techniques for Determining Specific Training Needs

There are a number of practical methods you can use to gather data about employees’ performance. Each works well in given circumstances; therefore, you must determine which be the best for you. None of these methods can stand alone. Always use at least two, if for no other reason to validate your findings. One of those you choose should always be observation.

1. Observation

In this approach, an employee’s performance itself is you source of information. You evaluate a worker’s performance through first-hand observation and analysis. This is best accomplished by watching the worker and playing the role of non-participating observer. This means that you watch and listen and evaluate what you see and hear, but do not get involved in his work process in any way.

To make this activity more productive, use a checklist to remind you of what to look for and take notes.

The objective during observations is to identify both the strengths to build on and the deficiencies to overcome. A key advantage of using direct observation in the needs analysis is that you gain first-hand knowledge and understanding of the job being performed and the strengths and weaknesses of the relevant worker.

2.  Interviews

The use of interviews in conducting the needs analysis is strongly urged. The prime value of interview guides is that they ensure the same types of data from all sources. This allows you to determine whether a piece of information is one person’s opinion, or part of a widespread perception. Since the interview guide forces you to ask each worker a number of predetermined questions, you must select those questions that are essential to what you are trying to learn.

Interviews allow you to meet employees face to face to discuss their impressions of performance. Because you are in conversation with workers, you can explore their responses in depth. You can ask or clarification of comments and for examples of what they mean. In this way, you obtain a full understanding of their performance deficiencies.

You also gain these benefits through interviewing :

1. You build credibility with your interviewees by asking intelligent questions and
Listening well to their answers

2. You obtain employees’ personal involvement and commitment to your efforts

3. You establish personal relationships with potential trainees who are important to your success as a needs analyst and trainer

3.  Questionnaires

A questionnaire is a sort of interview on paper. You create your own questionnaire by writing down all the questions you want employees to answer for you. Then you mail it to them and await their responses.

The key advantage of a questionnaire is that you can include every person from whom
You want input. Employees can complete the questionnaire when and where they choose. You need not travel and spend time with all respondents. Every employee is asked the identical questions, and consequently data is very easy to compile and analyze.

Questionnaires can be useful in obtaining a ‘ big picture ’ of what a large number of employees think while allowing everyone to feel that they have had an opportunity to participate in the needs analysis process.

4. Job Descriptions

Before establishing a job description, a job analysis must be made. This job analysis involves a thorough study of all responsibilities of the relevant job. It is company wide in scope and should be detailed to such a degree that those conducting the training can use the job analysis as a yardstick for their course content. After the job analysis phase has been completed, the writing of job description and needs analysis is a relatively simple task. When an employee’s job description has been defined, the trainer can easily tailor his training curriculum to a very close proximity of what will be expected of the employees.

5. The Difficulty Analysis

The Job Analysis will focus attention on enumerating the numerous duties that a worker must perform. On the other hand, the Difficulty Analysis establishes which of the duties cause the employee the greatest amount of troubles and how this trouble can be reduced through better training.

A good Difficulty Analysis offers many advantages. For example ….

• It enables a needs analyst to weigh certain aspects of the training in relationship to the expected difficulty that the worker will face in coping with those duties.

• A well thought out Difficulty Analysis will provide the training program with an abundance of role-playing material and situations.

6. Problem Solving Conference

Another time-tested technique for gathering needs analysis material from employees is to conduct periodic problem solving conferences which may take the form of or be part of a plan for a new product, task or technology, or tied in with a training program It is always helpful to utilize an outside consultant to moderate such sessions. This outside sponsorship has a tendency of letting the workers express their feelings about his organization, and the session can then be geared to training needs. The current problems will evolve that represent potential areas for training.

7.  Appraisal Reviews

During the periodic counseling performance interview, an employee should be ques- tioned regarding the duties and training of a worker. Comments rendered during the appraisal interviews normally are genuine, and can frequently assist in establishing the needs, variations and penetrations that a training program should include. Feed- back at appraisal interview time is valuable since it is timely information. Training needs differ from worker to worker, and appraisal sessions allow the employee and supervisor / manager to uncover the cause of weaknesses in performance. These deficiencies represent areas for training.

8.  Drive Pattern Identity

The extent of an employee’s development depends on his motivations. Identifying the forces that cause an employee to behave in a certain way may be useful in determining his individual training needs and how to stimulate his desire to fulfill that need. An analysis of this kind, for example, may determine that the employee has an urgent need for self-confidence. His individual program should be made to stress the importance of attitude, skills etc., and any other assets that would give him this self- confidence.

9.  Analysis of Organizational Policy

Organization policy will affect the amount of training offered. An explanation of various policies should be covered in the training program. Of particular concern are those policies that involve change, alteration and major revamping of training programs. In organizations undergoing merger activity, product diversification and new penetration, a great deal of sensitivity must be placed on policies today and expected changes in the future.

Whatever the method used to identify training needs, at least the following three points must be kept in view :

1. These methods should be used in combination; that is, there should never be reliance on only one method

2. They may be used to identify training needs of each of the various groups
of employees

3. They should be applied to individual employees since training needs will vary with the individual employee.