TrainSmart as a general practice conducts an assessment before engaging in the design, development of training. It is a best practice that ensures that there is a training need and that it aligns with the goals of the organization.

Training needs assessments are an umbrella term for a variety of efforts aimed at determining what type of training is needed by the employees of a company or group(s) within the company.

Assessments can be large or small, time consuming or short-term, broad or narrow (in terms of audience) and general or specific (in terms of subject matter.)

What’s critical in conducting any assessment is that it is properly focused and conducted with the correct audience. In other words, asking the right questions of the right people. While experts have role to play in identifying training needs, the most critical group are the learners themselves. Without their input, the value of any assessment drops significantly.

Benefits of a training needs assessment

• Accurately identifying who needs to learn what
• Minimizing waste of training resources by developing specific training materials/teaching only what needs to be learned
• Builds support/credibility for the training function