How To Conduct a Simple Training Needs Assessment

1. The facilitator gathers all employees who have the same job in a conference room with a white board or flip charts and markers.
2. Ask each employee to write down their ten most important training needs. Emphasize that the employees should write specific needs. Communication or team building are such broad training needs, as an example, that you would need to do a second training needs assessment on each of these topics. How to give feedback to colleagues or how to resolve a conflict with a co-worker are more specific training needs.
3. Then, ask each person to list their ten training needs. As they list the training needs, the facilitator captures the training needs on the white board or flip chart. Don't write down duplicates but do confirm by questioning that the training need that on the surface appears to be a duplicate, really is an exact duplicate.
4. When all training needs have been listed, use a weighted voting process to prioritize the training needs across the group. In a weighted voting process, you use sticky dots or numbers written in magic marker (not as much fun) to vote on and prioritize the list of training needs.
5. List the training needs in order of importance, with the number of points assigned as votes determining priority, as determined by the sticky dot voting process. Make sure you have notes to maintain a record of the training needs assessment session.
6. Take time, or schedule another session, to brainstorm the needed outcomes or goals from the first 3-5 training sessions identified in the needs assessment process. This will help as you seek and schedule training to meet the employees' needs.
7. Note the number one or two needs of each employee, which may not have become the priorities for the group. Try to build that training opportunity into the employee's Performance Development Plan

The Performance Development Planning (PDP) process enables you and the people who report to you to identify their personal and business goals that are most significant to your organization's success.
The process enables each staff person to understand their true value-added to the organization. They do so when they understand how their job and the requested outcomes from their contribution "fit" inside your department or work unit's overall goals

Personal Developmental Goals
In the process, staff members also set personal developmental goals that will increase their ability to contribute to the success of your organization. The accomplishment of these goals also provides a foundation for their career success whether in your organization or elsewhere, so they ought to be motivated and excited about achieving these goals.

Training - A Return On Investment - Part-4

Investment for a Trainee
In a Trainees’ life, it’s all about acceptance and learning. With the right attitude and the proper outlook, a training room can turn out to be some of the best places of their life. In the end, as long as you stay on top of things, there's no reason you can't be both social and do well in your work place, because when you are an employee, you'll need both skill and charisma to be able to succeed. A trainee should invest in the following
P Procrastination
A Avoid Ego
S Socializing
T Trainee Skills
E Evaluate
Procrastination - For some people, procrastination actually helps them get stuff done because they have the pressure of a deadline to meet. But procrastination only works well for short essays or math homework. If you have something that actually takes a lot of time to research or put together (like a whitepaper and grant), then you'll want to make sure you have plenty of time to do it.

Avoid Ego - The ego is that part that feeds off praise, compliments and success. Inside a training room, when you live in ego, you are inevitably subject to feelings of superiority / inferiority, success and failure. If you want to avoid these negative emotions, you need to transcend the ego. When you let go off ego, you start learning all what is expressed by the trainer. It makes your learning complete.

Socializing - No matter which road you take in life, you'll always need to interact with others. Don't put off taking that public speaking class you need for stepping out of the fear of talking, especially if you're shy. Once you’re able to talk easily to others, you’ll feel less lost in the sea of people on campus. Practice on people in your training batch. Try to introduce yourself and say you don't know very many people. Or if you want a better excuse, ask if they have notes you can borrow or photocopy. In between classes, make eye contact with others on the quad and smile at them. If someone smiles back, that might be an opening for a conversation.

Trainee Skills - Before the beginning of the year, head down to the local office supply store and buy a weekly scheduler. When you go for training, make sure you write down every problem you confront, with the subject or in the project with relevance to the training. Take the time to copy over all the information from each session too. That way, even if you end up not going to class, you’ll know what you missed and you won’t feel like you’re falling too far behind.
The application of time management skills has tended, in the past, to be thought of as something that is for business life only. In reality, though, time management is something from which we can all benefit in our personal lives as well, and in the art of marrying our working lives with our home and social lives.
Those benefits show in a number of ways, including the training you participate. Manage your time well, and you can feel in control of your life, rather than letting events control you.

Evaluate - Since the definition and perception of value varies from person to person, you have to evaluate some thing is to determine its value, to find its strength or its worth. To evaluate yourself is to determine your value, your strength. In training, what is of great value to one person is of little or no value to another. When you evaluate yourself, you are honest and also not guilty that someone else evaluated you. You understand your stand point and you can start from there

Investment By The Management
An effective training program starts with management support. Management should understand that there will be an up-front cost that has to be paid to put a program in place, but that the cost will usually be paid back quickly through numerous mechanisms, including decreased downtime because maintenance personnel have better skills to prevent equipment failures as well as less turnover in personnel who see the investment management is making in them.

If employees do not know how to make proper use of their time, management would be suffering the consequences. If employees do not perform, then again management suffers. The key to good management is providing the right training, in the right format, to the right people, at the right time. Management should plan what is needed, by whom, and when, and organize and execute the training.

D Dealing With Day-To-Day Activities:
T Time
H Hands-on instruction

Dealing With Day–To–Day Activities - The first thing to understand is that, come what may, daily activities can’t be ignored. Even if there are bigger and better plans, what make the wheel run are daily activities. Cultivate habits like following routines.

Time - As I have mentioned earlier, with a little time management, the employee can be really productive and so is the management. Its takes a little effort and determination to incorporate time sense in their daily schedule, and I truly believe the management will find an increased level of productivity.

Hands – On Instruction - when a trainee understands the theory behind how a tool works, the next step must be taken should be on-the-job training. OJT reinforces what trainees learn in the training room with a hands-on, learn-by-doing approach. OJT can be incorporated into the work scheduling process and controls could be in place to ensure that it is effective.

Conclusion
It is clear, that training is beneficial for the employee and the management and when there is no proper planning and execution in training with a significant change when required, it results in vain.
Almost everyone who works in their job at any level would agree that, today most people work on a very tight schedule and some even work 24/7 routine basis. Stress can be high and life/work balance can be minimal. Training must be linked to both individual and organizational needs, and barriers to application of learning must be removed.

Recent and past studies have shown that stress and life/work balance are directly related to productivity, turn-over and the bottom line. People who are in very stressful job really benefit from a good planned and organized training.

When a company wants to be successful, the overall management has to be successful. For a management to be successful, every employee should be successful. For every employee to be successful appropriate investments in training have to be made. When proper investment is done, you definitely get your desired result, success.

Training - A Return On Investment - Part-3

Why Invest on Training?
One common thing most successful companies throughout the world have is their wholehearted commitment to regular and on-going training and development of people in every area and at every level of the organization. For companies with similar products or services, often the only differentiating factor is people. Their development, via skills and training, is one of the most effective investments a company can make.
The development of people benefits both them and the organization. It enhances the knowledge and skills of your personnel as well as increasing their motivation. Potential that may have gone unrecognized is uncovered and developed.
Training makes the employees and the management mutually beneficial. When the management invests on training for the mutual, they can

• expand their productivity
• increase efficiency
• grow profits
• motivate staff
• improve staff retention
• reduce absenteeism
• enhance customer service

If they do not have their own training resources, using an external organization can provide the employees with the skills and tools to do their job more effectively and ultimately increase a company's sales, profits and productivity.
If they already have their own training facilities, external input can complement and enrich their own training program through the introduction of new ideas and approaches. It can also challenge existing thinking and mindsets.
When you expect a result and good result, you also need to make sure that the entities requesting the results should also contribute on the investment. When a trainer and trainee involved in training expect a good result, then they should have invested something on their part. It’s not only them but also the management, responsible for the trainer and trainee to invest in their part to expect a result from the trainer or trainee or both.

However, it is a continuing part of successful companies who understand that training does not cost, it pays. It pays through training by troubleshooting costly problems, as well as decrease turnover, as employees understand the investment the company is making in them. This endeavor, if done well, will keep the focus on smooth operations that, in the end, contribute to the success of the company

What To Invest
The trainees have an attempt “attending” the training without fail. A trainer has to “deliver” the subject matter to end users then ensure that they can focus the training on that particular aspect. Additionally, the trainer will offer constructive feedback without de-motivating the individuals concerned. Once the training course has been completed, the trainer will ensure that certificates of “attendance/qualification” have been produced for the individuals.

The trainee invests in attendance where as the trainer invest on delivery. So they both get a result qualification. In this way, none of them will be overwhelmed and but everyone will have successfully completed the training session with a sense of personal pride and achievement.

Investment For A Trainer
The successful trainer must play many roles, possess specific qualities, and deal with the preconceptions of the learner when presenting a training session. The trainer must be professional, and not let personal problems or issues hinder the training process. Each element of a training session must be successfully navigated in order for a trainer to be a great trainer. A trainer should invest in the following

S Subject Knowledge
P Patience
O Organized
T Training Skills
E Empathy
R Results Focused

Subject Knowledge - Obviously a trainer must know the subject well but also ensure that the training provided is completely relevant to the needs as well as the trainees. To do justice, the trainer must have direct, first hand, experience in the subject and not just rely on theories or secondary knowledge gained over a period of time.

A trainer should have great enthusiasm for the subject and should be capable of putting it across in such an interesting way that it becomes 'transferable'.
It is not possible for a trainer to know everything there is about a particular topic and there will be certain gaps in their knowledge. However, the trainer must have the integrity to let the trainees know about any limitations or gaps in their knowledge rather than bluff their way through things.

Also the trainer should ensure that any outstanding questions from trainees would be replied promptly and the solutions delivered to them earliest opportunity. The integrity of the trainer is not shaken when he or she is true to their job. I always like the trainers when they admit what they don't know. It is better to be frank about your shortcoming.

Patience - The very fact that someone is undergoing training means that they do not know the subject or certain components of it. Trainees will have varying degrees of aptitude for the intended training too.

“An important part of training and learning is having the opportunity to make mistakes, learn from them, and correct them the next time you try. A trainer needs a great deal of patience. When the trainee makes a mistake, the trainer can immediately jump and correct the mistake. Rather, if the trainer allows time and space for the trainee to understand and learn then it makes the trainee learn the best.

Therefore your trainer should have plenty of patience to ensure that all individuals complete the course satisfactorily. They will have the flexibility to respond to trainees' different learning styles and be skilled enough to differentiate the training sessions so that the slower ones reach their goals whilst the more advanced trainees will be given more challenging exercises to get to master.

Organized - A trainer must be well organized to the extent where the training session has been planned in advance. There is nothing much worse than having a training session which is run 'off the cuff'. Also a good trainer will have the session organized so that all of the intended topics have been covered within the time schedule.

“The successful trainer is well organized, and has clear scripts and well-defined aims and objectives which enable individuals and groups to bring to the surface abilities and skills that they may not have recognized in themselves.”

During the session a trainer will have put together assessments so that the individuals can track their own progress throughout the training session.
Also a trainer should be able to produce good quality training material which reinforces the elements of the session(s) so that the trainees can review the content long after the training and still be able to recall the main concepts.

Training Skills - A trainer should have good communicational skills, by which I mean a good standard of written and verbal skills that would help their subject matter to be demonstrated and explained in a clear, accurate manner. Communication is not an exact science. A person who can communicate well with certain groups may not be so successful when dealing with others. A trainer should be able to adapt quite easily and differentiate the training to suite the needs and aspiration of the trainees.

The trainer should also be able to convey the subject matter to beginners without the need for unnecessary jargon and also be able to adjust the level of training to suite the more advanced trainees too. Therefore your trainer will be able to 'speak the same language' as the intended audience.

There is a well known quotation by Benjamin Franklin in which all good trainers will be acquainted with “Tell me and I will forget, Show me and I might remember, Involve me and I will understand!” It is important that trainees leave the training session with an understanding on how the facts and theories relate to real life issues and can be put to immediate effect.

A good trainer will be confident but not overconfident. Over confident trainer will rarely be able to communicate at the same level as the trainees and normally display a patronizing manner. A trainer should also be good performers and make the training sessions interesting or even entertaining. In this way it becomes evident that the trainer is genuinely interested in learning and teaching their subject.

Above all, a good trainer should have a keen sense of humor which will help provide a warm and friendly atmosphere during the training session. This is particularly important when the unexpected happens and the training session does not go according to the original plan

Empathy - A good trainer should have a genuine interest in people and easily relate to their needs, aspirations and frustrations. Having such an interest the trainer will be able to get on well with them regardless of status, age, abilities or backgrounds. “Effective training requires the trainer to put himself or herself in the position of the learner. Those who cannot demonstrate empathy and care do not make good trainers.”

The trainer will have an aptitude for noticing whenever a trainee has a problem or difficulty but are too shy or afraid to ask for assistance. The trainer should be warm and approachable, which would make the trainees feel completely at ease.

Result Focused - The trainer, though focused on the needs of the trainees also should understand the needs of the organization and management. For training and development to have its value, a trainer must make sure that it is directed towards the business objectives of the organization.”

One of the key factors of good training events is the motivation of trainees. A good trainer will ensure that this is achieved regardless of the individuals' self-esteem or confidence. The trainer will actively encourage collaboration and team work between them to the extent where they are actively involved in idea generation and problem solving.

Training - A Return On Investment - Part-2

Training - A Tool

The best way of thinking about training is to think of it as a management tool, much like a carpenter's tool. Just like a carpenter picks the hammer and not a screwdriver to pound a nail, the manager should be choosing training because it is the RIGHT tool for the job.
Also, to continue the analogy, if the supporting structure (the wood) is rotted, only the foolish carpenter would attempt to pound the nail into the wood, and expect it to help. It is the same with the manager. If a manager expects things to improve as a result of training, he or she needs to ensure that the supports are there for the use of the tool, and that there are no other non-training related problems hanging about.

Training can be a valuable tool for the organization and the manager, provided it is the right tool to solve the problem or address the identified issues. Even then, there must be supports in the organization so the training can be effective. Other articles in this edition discuss some of these supports.

Even Movies Can Train

What Gets You The ROI?

Being a trainer or a trainee does make no difference. But the image that you portrait with the role you play definitely make a difference. You should believe in the role you play and when you believe it you start living it. When you live it, you obviously be evidence for it.

Envisage this happening in a family you know. Every morning the father and mother when they have to cry aloud “I’m the father of this house” and “I’m the mother of this house” would you believe them. I anticipate not. You would deem them a bunch of weird animals or monsters. The one reason being a Father or a Mother does not have to remind the role they play rather they have to exhibit it.

In the similar way, if you are a part of training, either as a trainer or a trainee, you have to show yourself rather showing off yourself. All you have to do is commit yourself, organize your way of training or learning and acquire the values to show that you are not just a sample, but an example to be observed. It is difficult to find organizations that would say, "We find that training has little impact on our bottom line year on year". Is this because organizations know exactly what return they get from training? The answer to that question is a clear no.
It’s always the commitment towards the work in executing the assignment that makes the training effective and gets you the return on the investment you have made. When I browsed in the internet I read an article which says, The American Society for Training and Development reported that only 3% of organizations measure what happens to their bottom line as a result of training. Or is it that it is politically incorrect to say in an organization that has a high investment in training, "We waste our money on training". Sometimes, this is somewhere near the truth.
The trainer and the trainee have to contribute something on their part to get the returns, the result of the training. The reason I insist on the contribution is because we always have the tendency to do the same thing each time and every time, which obviously quite easy and involves no effort. But you do not get better results when you keep on doing the same thing.
Given the numbers 2 and 3, you’ll get the result 5 if you add the numbers at any instant. There will be no improvement in the result, because it is done the usual way and obviously the result. If this 2 and 3 are your KRA’s, then what appraisal would you expect? You guessed it right, 5. The same job done in the same way, yield the same result. What’s the big miracle in it? Instead, if you are asked to arrive at the highest possible score with these numbers, then I might get a 6 or 8 or 9 based on your creativity and capability.
This scenario explains two things clearly. People do not change their routine unless they are asked (given a chance) to or forced (designing) to and when people do not contribute (transference), they do not get better result. Designing training that allows adults to learn is no simple feat in itself. A designer, once the objectives of the training are understood, has to design training with four major elements in mind.
Participants must recognize the need for information and rapport with the trainer must be established early, otherwise the trainer's efforts will be in vain. The opening of any training effort must provide a believable and appropriately challenging answer to the question, "Why am I here?" and must lead to an early engagement between the participants and the trainer.
The design must also be able to reinforce positive behavior. In doing so, the design must not ignore negative or undesirable behavior. The design needs to include negative reinforcements to eliminate the undesired behavior as much as it includes positive reinforcement for desired behavior.
Retention is a key aspect of training design that is often ignored, in that very few entities undertaking a training program test for retention. Participants must also have adequate opportunities to practice what they learn to increase levels of retention.
The fourth critical element of training design is transference. Participants must be able to transfer what they have learnt in to a new setting away from the classroom. For example, the workplace!
Participants are more likely to transfer their learning to the workplace when the learning is critical to them doing their job or the learning revisited familiar patterns of work or knowledge. Conversely, they have a high probability of learning transfer when the learning was very new and fresh.
Transference is stopped cold if participants return to a workplace which has policies, processes and measures of processes which promote behaviors opposite to those reinforced in the training. If negative policies, processes and measures are well known and expected to remain after the training then motivation for attending training will be severely hampered as well. Most training is completed over a period of a day or two. In many industries it is difficult to allow participants the time off to attend even a day's training hence the training may only be a half day or two hours.

Training – A Return On Investment (ROI)

Introduction
Everyone in this world would like to be a successful person in his or her life. The very concept of being successful makes anybody happy and even would make them feel on top of the world. Having this estimation in mind is not harmful. You have to understand that only the thought, would not conceive opportunities for success. Success is always ahead of you at a very closer range to grab. But many a time you loose, because you trip on the hurdle on the way. They are invisible because we are blindfolded by the over confidence in ourselves. The only thing that stands in the way of our own success is we.

This acquisition of knowledge we humans receive from experiencing different events and encounters within our lives are often referred to as learning and have been the focused on studying to learn and acquire new knowledge about new things. Over centuries we have also seen the development different learning methods, while some work and others have not. However, many of these learning methodologies have been either redefined to suit the needs and wants of the target audience. Yes, it’s true, training methodologies change because when it is the same for all training, then it will not get the desired result.

As a famous saying goes “Change is the only constant thing in the World”, you cannot let things happen the same way they always were. If you do so, you may not yield better results and in the worst case there will be no result. When you want success, you obviously have to change the usual way without which, you cannot see success.

When I say change, you may wonder would change in the usual way always bring victory. My answer is very simple. When you don’t have change in your life, you feel bored. You might have a to-do list to for each day. But, you may change the schedule or even might think of having a change to suit some need. It’s obvious that whenever there is a change, you feel happy or comfortable for it.

An Important Qualification To Be Successful
The management of a company invests for the success of the company. After all the investment of hard work, money and efforts, it’s obvious that it expects the result, the return on the investment they made.

Once a man gave his two sons a mango seed each and taught them to plant. They both did what their father said. The elder son approached a pesticide shop and bought good pesticide that would protect his tree from harmful insects during the budding season. But the younger just did what his father said. At the end of the season the elder son had much better quality mangoes than the younger and more in number too.

The two sons did what their father said and they both did what is good for the plant to grow. When they did what it takes usually for a plant to grow, it grew as usual. The tree started bearing fruits, naturally. The elder son thought a little out of the box, to protect the tree from danger and applied pesticide, which made the tree hold much more and better fruits than the other.

Management success is gained through accomplishment of mission and objectives. However, accomplishing mission and objectives is not sufficient. Success requires both effectiveness and efficiency. Efficiency describes the relationship between the amount of resources used (input/investment) and the extent to which objectives were accomplished (output/returns). If the cost of accomplishing an objective is prohibitive, then the objective is not realistic in the context of the firm's resources.

Training – To Get ROI (Return on Investment)
The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of professional or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It’s a planned and organized event, every company executes involving money spent on resources to ensure that they are trained to be shaped or conditioned or disciplined. Training is mutually beneficial for the employer as well as the employee.

Nobody can afford to send people for training just for the fun of it. We all expect that training will somehow impact upon a person's present or future ability to contribute to the employing organization. How do we "make it so"? Training plants significant values within the individual. Every individual is accepted by the organization, not by a mere qualification, rather the person as a whole. All these individuals have the responsibility to give the best and nothing but the best. Getting value from training isn't magical. There are some general principles that you can adapt to ensure that training for imparts potential values in you.

What’s Training Good For Anyway
There are good reasons to mandate training and development in your organization, and there are bad reasons for mandating training. There are also good reasons for not training, in some circumstances, and bad reasons to refuse. Knowing what training can and cannot accomplish enables you to make the right decisions at the right time, ensuring that your limited training dollars are used effectively.
If our work worlds were stable, and un-changing, we might not need to worry too much about training. We might still do it to provide employee development but it would be less critical to our organization's success.
All you need to do is look around at your own organization, and what significant changes that have occurred during the last year. You have to set focus yourself in line with your organization. You may have lived through down-sizing, re-structuring, changed mandates, increased workloads, flattening of management structure, and a host of other changes. It is not likely that these changes will cease in the future, and we may be looking at changed political imperatives making government more entrepreneurial, but our work worlds change, new skills, knowledge and concepts are needed to achieve our corporate goals and our personal goals. Just to stay even, and just to keep our sanity

What Training Can Do
Training can accomplish many things. It can help people learn the new skills that are required to meet new expectations, both formal and informal. For example, a support staff person may have been hired originally for his/her ability to type, to answer the phone and file. But now, with increased workloads, we want that person to be able to do much more...perhaps to solve client problems, to use desktop publishing processes, to handle more of the day-to-day issues, so we can use our time more effectively. Training can help people accept the challenge of their evolving jobs.

Training can also help to:
· Build a common understanding of the organization's purpose.
· Show management's commitment and loyalty to employees
· Develop people so they can increase their responsibilities and contribute to the organization in new ways.

What Training Cannot Do
There are few things that training can't do. Training, on its own, cannot change ineffective employees into effective ones. It is unlikely to address all the causes of poor performance. Limited training also will not turn a poor supervisor or manager into an effective one, unless it is coupled with ongoing coaching from above.
Training can’t help
· Poor structuring of work
· Mismatching of work with the person
· Unclear authorities and responsibilities