3lna - Learning Needs Analysis

Learning needs are identified through three different levels; Organisational, Team (Department) and Individual.

Many organisations operate in an objective led structure; this is where an organisations strategy or vision filters through as team objectives and into an individual’s job description and targets. Our vision is:

‘To grow the business substantially and profitably by providing efficient, high quality and low cost outsourced services to our clients and customers in Life and Pensions and other suitable industries.’

Our strategy to achieve this is to have:

• Engaged and productive people
• Increased profitability and growth
• Improved operational performance
• Improved client service and fair treatment of customers

As you can see three of our strategies are based around the productivity, performance and service of our employees; this means we must continually asses their skills, knowledge and abilities to ensure we are achieving our objective.

Learning Needs Analysis is a means of monitoring an organisations and individuals capability, in terms of having the required skills, knowledge and behaviours to fulfil set objectives. A Learning Needs Analysis will look at the following:

• Determine current capability (current level of performance)
• Determine desired or required capability (the performance level required)
• Identify any gaps between the two (what learning is required, if any)
• Identify how these gaps might be filled (how can we deliver the learning and fill the gap)

“The difference between actual and required human performance at work, forms the basis of the (learning) need”
(Anderson A, 1993)

As you are aware change within our organisation and industry is continuous and to grow as a profitable business we must seek to evolve and challenge ourselves to grow.

These changes effect not just the organisation but also the teams and individuals within it.

A learning needs analysis can be used to:

• identify current capability
• identify future capability
• identify gap between existing and future capability requirements
• identify learning needs
• prioritise learning needs against organisational objectives
• provide appropriate learning opportunities to meet these needs

A learning need may arise due to internal or external factors that require a new strategy for an organisation or learning (training) for an individual.

A recent restructure has led to lots of learning needs arising:

• for employees that have moved to new roles • for teams that have needed to restructure and take on new processes

I have identified three reasons why learning needs might arise for individuals and groups; these could be due to:

Individual:

Promotion – due to the restructure we may be required to promote people to Team Leader positions which may require that individual to learn new skills – for example managing change.
New equipment/IT systems – employees may have to move to new teams and learn new processes; this may then require learning of a new I.T. System.
Changes in financial markets, legislation and our regulators – employees are required to pass an annual test in each of our five regulatory subjects – these subjects and the regulations change annually which requires continuous learning from an individual.

Groups:

Restructure – teams that have needed to restructure may have to take on new processes. This has resulted in a need for teams/groups to be trained and learn new skills that we may have lost due to downsizing. We also have to ensure that the group is compliant; especially those in key areas such as the accounts team.
New Human Resource procedures – we have recently implemented a new competency based performance framework; this created a learning need as employees across the organisation were unsure of what was expected of them under the new framework.
New technology – invested in building an online work stream system (OpEX); this will be used by all groups within the organisation each of which will require training prior to the system go live. Also as part of our ongoing growth we have invested in a new telephone system to enable us to meet customers expectations; this will have a huge impact our Call Centre and all those that will use the telephone system if they have not been trained to the required level.

A variety of methods can be used to identify Learning Needs; I have given three examples below whilst also explaining the advantages and disadvantages of each:

|Method |Advantages |Disadvantages |
|Skills Matrices |Manager can see quickly what specific skills gaps or risk areas|Can be time consuming to collate the information |
| |are within the team; allowing for annual leave, sickness etc |required to compile matrix |
| |within the team. | |
| |Manager can see an individual’s skills gap and areas for | |
| |development. | |
|Development Assessment Centres |A quick way of assessing a group of people over a set period |May not be cost effective as can be expensive |
| |Able to observe a range of behaviours, technical skills and |Requires lots of resources; to design and set up, |
| |competencies during tasks that replicate the working |facilitate and evaluate |
| |environment | |
| |Provides participants with valued feedback | |
| |Enables an individual to have a personal training plan once | |
| |observation has been made | |
|Job Descriptions |Can be a useful tool to help staff focus on their specific job |Job description may not be up to date and relevant |
| |role; especially in areas where job roles have become blurred | |
| |as a result of restructure | |
| |Staff can clearly see what competencies (skills and behaviours)| |
| |are expected of them | |
| |Can be used where members of staff are not carrying out their | |
| |jobs as per what is expected | |
| |Useful when looking at the skills required for a group or | |
| |department | |

In conclusion Learning Needs Analysis is an important process that will help us achieve our strategic goals.