How to Conduct a Training Needs Analysis in 5 Steps

Training works best when it targets real gaps. A training needs analysis gives you a practical way to find them before you spend your budget.

What a Training Needs Analysis Is

A training needs analysis (TNA) is a structured way of working out the difference between the skills your people have and the skills they need, and deciding which of those gaps training can close.

Without one, training plans tend to be built from requests, habit or whatever programmes happen to be available. Some of that training will help; much of it will not, and nobody will be able to tell which. A TNA makes sure the budget goes where it will make a difference.

Step 1: Start with the Organisation’s Goals

Begin with what the organisation is trying to achieve over the next year or two, not with a list of courses. Are you entering a new market, introducing a new system, improving customer service, preparing managers for growth, or tightening compliance?

For each goal, ask: what will our people need to do differently, or better, for this to succeed? This keeps the analysis focused on what matters to the business and makes it easier to justify the investment later.

Step 2: Define the Skills Each Role Needs

For the roles that matter most to those goals, describe what good performance looks like. Be specific: not "good communication", but "writes clear reports for senior management" or "handles customer complaints to resolution on the first call".

Existing job descriptions and competency frameworks are a useful starting point, but check them with managers and high performers. They often describe what the role was, rather than what it needs to be now.

Step 3: Measure the Current Level

Now find out where people are today. Use more than one source, so you are not relying on opinion alone:

• Performance data: results, quality measures, customer feedback and review outcomes.
• Manager input: where do managers see their teams struggling?
• Self-assessment: short surveys asking staff to rate their confidence in each skill.
• Observation and samples: watch the work, or review examples of it.
• Conversations: short interviews or focus groups often reveal what surveys miss.

Keep surveys short and explain why you are asking. People answer more honestly when they understand that the aim is to support them, not to judge them.

Step 4: Identify and Prioritise the Gaps

Compare what each role needs with what you found. The differences are your gaps. Before treating each one as a training need, ask why it exists. Not every performance problem is a skills problem:

• if people know how to do the task but lack the time, tools or clear instructions, training will not help;
• if the process itself is broken, fix the process first;
• if expectations were never made clear, a conversation may be enough.

Then prioritise. Rank the true skills gaps by how much they affect the organisation’s goals and how many people they affect. Focus your budget on the few that matter most.

Step 5: Plan the Right Response

For each priority gap, choose the best way to close it. Formal training is one option among several:

• Classroom or online programmes for skills many people need at once.
• In-house programmes tailored to your organisation, when a whole team shares the same gap.
• Coaching and mentoring for individuals and senior leaders.
• On-the-job learning: stretch assignments, job shadowing and practice with feedback.
• Short resources: guides and checklists for simple, procedural knowledge.

Set out who will be trained, in what, by when, at what cost, and how you will know it worked.

Measuring Whether It Worked

Decide how you will measure success before the training starts. Look beyond attendance and end-of-course feedback, and check whether people are using the new skills at work and whether the gap you identified has narrowed. Ask managers to review progress with their team members a few months later. The results then become the starting point for your next needs analysis.

How Often to Do It

A full TNA once a year, ideally ahead of budget planning, works for most organisations. Add a quick review whenever something significant changes: a new strategy, a new system, a restructure or a sudden drop in performance.

At JoDyn, we help organisations find their real skills gaps and design training that closes them, from open programmes to tailored in-house training. Talk to us about a training needs analysis.