Training Needs Assessment

What the framework is

A training needs assessment compares possible learning priorities to decide where development time and budget will do the most good. The template starts with five criteria: Performance Impact, Urgency, Strategic Importance, Number of Staff Affected and Ease of Delivery. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

What the result looks like

When it earns its place

Use it when planning a training budget, after appraisals or a skills audit, or when a new system or role changes what people need to know.

The trap is training what is easy to buy. A course catalogue makes some needs look solved. Start from the performance problem, and ask whether training is the answer at all.

How to run it with a group

1. List the training needs as skills or gaps, not as course titles.
2. Agree the weights. Decide how much the number of staff affected should count against depth of impact.
3. Participants compare the needs two at a time on each criterion. Participants do not need an account to respond. Include managers and the staff concerned. Three to six options keep it manageable: with five options and five criteria, each person makes 50 comparisons.
4. Read the overall ranking, then the ranking per criterion, and plan the top needs first.

More templates like this

• ICE Scoring

  Prioritise options by Impact, Confidence and Ease. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

• Multi-Criteria Analysis

  Prioritise options across five criteria: Impact, Feasibility, Cost-effectiveness, Equity, and Political Acceptability. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

• RICE Prioritisation

  Prioritise options by Reach, Impact, Confidence, and Effort. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

• Value vs Effort

  Prioritise options by Value versus Effort to surface quick wins and avoid time sinks. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

• WSJF

  Prioritise by Cost of Delay (User & Business Value, Time Criticality, Risk Reduction & Opportunity) against Job Size. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.

• Jobs To Be Done

  Prioritise the customer needs, frustrations, and outcomes that matter most. Useful for innovation, product strategy, service improvement, and customer research. The criteria can be changed, added to and weighted.