Posted by: Jonena Relth, President and Leadership Evangelist
A needs assessment can positively impact your return on investment (ROI).
As performance improvement professionals, we are naturally aproached with requests for training development and delivery. These are two of TBD’s core competencies, but we would do our clients a huge disservice if we simply sprang into action to write curriculum without stopping to ask some important questions, such as:
© What gives you the impression they do not know how to perform the job or task?
© Have they already received training for this skill?
© Is there anything else that might prevent or discourage them from doing the job?
© How is their lack of performance in this area affecting your customers? Your bottom line?
Once we have answers to a few basic questions, we conduct a needs assessment to determine whether it is the training or some other factor that is impacting performance. When you can effect a positive change in performance, you can increase your ROI.
Why ask an outside firm to conduct the needs assessment?
Although you can conduct a needs assessment yourself, there are several good reasons to engage an outside firm:
© Experience. An outside firm with extensive experience in conducting needs assessments can quickly identify the root cause of a performance issue and clearly define the problem. This allows you to zero in on the right solutions and increase your ROI.
© Objectivity. The outside firm does not have preconceived ideas or a stake in a particular outcome.
© Confidentiality. Employees who participate in the data gathering phase feel “safer” that the information they provide to an outside party will not be linked to their names and impact their careers.
© Efficiency. An outside firm can quickly organize and execute the process with minimal disruption to your business.
How is a needs assessment conducted?
The questions we ask and the process we use will relate directly to the performance issue you have identified.
First, it's importatant to use a variety of methods to collect information from senior leaders, supervisors and front line employees. Most often, we use questionnaires and focus groups, either in person or virtually. We review existing training, reference systems and other resources. Depending on the complexity of the issue, the needs assessment can be completed in just a few days.
Once you've gathered enough information, summarize the findings and your recommendations in a report. The recommendations should outline performance improvement solutions that may include training. Be sure to recommend next steps and estimate costs to implement the solutions.
If it’s not a training issue, what else could be preventing your employees from performing on the job?
© Communication. Your employees know how to do the work. However, they are not clear about which tasks are the most important or where they should be spending the majority of their time. Perhaps they do not have important information at their fingertips.
© Empowerment. Your employees know how to do the job but are discouraged from making important decisions on the spot. One client wanted employees to hold firm in pricing discussions with customers, and even provided repeated training for their employees in this area. However, supervisors were regularly reversing staff decisions if the customer complained. The employees soon figured out that it wasn’t worth debating with customers only to be overruled by their supervisors.
© Incentives are disincentives. Incentives can backfire if the wrong behavior is reinforced. For example, if employees are incented to reduce the amount of time spent on the phone with each customer, they may rush through calls, thereby negatively impacting customer service goals and your ROI.
© Environment. Your employees have been trained to perform a task a certain way, but few people around them follow the “official” procedures. When they ask for guidance, they receive conflicting answers.
Asking the right questions and analyzing the answers is the gateway to the right solutions.
If needs assessment is not a core competency in your organiation, involve outside consultants who have a proven track record of getting to the root causes of issues and who can recommend solid, "easy" to implement solutions. Note: I've seen many pricy solutions recommneded by well-meaning consulting firms that simply add layers of work and no real solution. The bottom line should be that the solution should ultimately save you time, money and energy while you focus on what you do best – running your business.
Mama aways says, "It's better to find the truth now than to solve a non-issue and leave the real issue left unresolved!"
