Conducting a Needs Analysis SAY: Hello everyone, and thank you for joining Andrew and me for this session on Needs Analysis. We identified needs analysis as one of the professional development topics because it is an area that has the potential to have a great impact on how we design and develop our courses and manage the client relationship.

Objectives By the end of this session, you will be able to: Explain the importance of a needs analysis Describe the methods available to collect needs analysis data Design a needs analysis strategy for a training/procedure request Compile and analyze findings Review objectives.

Needs Analysis A systematic process used to determine where gaps exist between current performance and desired performance. ASK participants to define needs analysis. EXPLAIN that this is the text book definition of a needs analysis. ASK: Why is needs analysis important? (Likely answers include: helps to determine the scope, define objectives, identify audience, identify knowledge and skill gaps) SAY: The needs analysis will help us do all those things, however when we get right down to it, the needs analysis helps us determine where the gaps are between where the client wants to be and where they are now. A needs analysis will also help us determine WHY that gap exists – the cause of the problem. Once we determine the cause of the problem, we can help our clients identify an appropriate solution –which may or may not be training.

Impact of Needs Analysis Business Needs Training Needs Intervention Design Development and Delivery Evaluation Needs Analysis SAY: Beyond that, the information that we acquire during the needs analysis can help us during every phase of design and development. It helps us determine the objectives, confirm the need for training, identify other types of interventions, design effective learning materials and experiences and create evaluation tools that speak to the objectives.

What are the possible causes of a performance gap? Needs Analysis Desired Performance Performance Gap What are the possible causes of a performance gap? Productivity SAY: As we said before, needs analysis is a process that helps identify where and why the current performance is different from the desired performance. If we were to visualize a needs analysis in a graph, it would look like this. As we begin our needs analysis, we need to define what we are looking for. Productivity is the task or area that needs improvement. The performance measures how the staff is currently doing. The red line across the top is the standard, or desired performance as defined by OCSE. It is important that we define these three elements early on because, without this information we don’t know what we are looking for, what we’re measuring, or where there are opportunities to improve the situation. In terms of design and development, this is one of the ways that we can use to start to determine where the course should begin and end and how we will measure efficacy and long-lasting impact. When the current performance is below the desired performance, we have a performance gap. SAY: When OCSE determines that their staff are not reaching their performance standard, they request training and procedures. It’s our job to determine if training and procedures will actually improve performance. ASK: What are the possible causes of a performance gap? Why don’t people perform at the level that OCSE wants them to? FLIPCHART responses (which are summarized on the next slide). Performance

Causes of Performance Gaps Environmental Knowledge Skills Attitude/ Motivation Instructions: Describe an OCSE scenario that can be attributed to your assigned performance gap type. SAY: Most performance gaps fit into one of the following categories. Let’s review what we mean by each one. EXERCISE: Divide participants into groups of 2-3, assign each group a card with one of the performance gap types on it. Ask each group to create a scenario in which the performance gap is the problem. Each group describes the scenario to the group at large and the group has to identify the performance gap type. FOLLOW UP QUESTION: Can this problem be solved with training? What would an ideal solution look like?

What would the impact of training be? Needs Analysis Standard Not due to lack of knowledge or skills. Productivity What would the impact of training be? Performance

What would the impact of training be? Needs Analysis Exceeds Standard Standard What would the impact of training be? Productivity SAY: There are times when we are asked to develop and deliver training for audiences that may potentially already know the content – when we are asked to create a “refresher” or foundations course, we need to keep in mind that this is not going to be a situation where we see big improvements in performance. This means we need to work with the client to define other measures of success. Performance

How would you diagnose the performance gap and select an intervention? DISTRIBUTE Cathy Moore handout. PLAY VIDEO off Youtube: http://youtu.be/zSCiL5CSqug Cathy Moore http://youtu.be/zSCiL5CSqug

Designing your needs analysis What do you want to know about the organization, the users/participants, and the topic? TRANSITION: Let’s talk strategy. The objective of the needs analysis is to determine the cause of the performance gap and if training is the right solution. To do this we need to acquire information about the organization, the workers and topic.

Types of Needs Analysis Organization Learner/ Participant/ User Task Explain: The needs analysis requires information about the three elements we described on the graph earlier. Organizational Analysis Conducting an organization analysis ensures that the organization is supportive and on board with the training initiative. The alignment of training to the business strategy, the support by stakeholders (mostly managers and peers) and the resources available (mostly money) are the main issues sought in an organization analysis. Senior and mid-level managers are usually the focus of this inquiry because they make decisions on strategic planning and training budget allocations. If there is low interest or support for training, then another performance intervention might be better. Training is one of the more costly interventions, so before any work is done on training design, it is essential that the organization agrees to support the training design, development, implementation and evaluation. Person Analysis The purpose is ensure that trainees have the basic skills, motivation, prerequisite skills or confidence. In a person/learner analysis, it is important to understand the context in which the learner performs. Each of these aspects affects performance. For example, if the person is not cognitively or physically able to complete the task (for example, lift a certain weight) then her/his performance will not be acceptable. Performance is also likely to suffer when the person does not understand the expectations of the task or responsibility. Task Analysis A task analysis focuses on the specific responsibilities of the job. Understanding what employees need to accomplish in their job is important to understanding how training can help address a performance problem. As mentioned previously, there is not an implicit order when completing a task or learner analysis. Often, these are completed simultaneously or in the reverse order (person then task analysis). Data is typically gathered from people who have direct knowledge of the work tasks and responsibilities and the expected level of performance. EXERCISE: GALLERY WALK. Ask participants to identify what questions they would ask/ what information they would need for each type of analysis.

Where would you start… We need to document the automated case closure process! We need a class on automated case closure! SAY: Every project we do starts with a request like this and we respond to these requests with a design document or training manual. In groups of 3-4, I would like each of you to design a needs assessment. Once you’re done we will share with the group.

Techniques for Needs Analysis Think/ Pair/Share: When would you use each strategy? What are the pros and cons of each technique? Observation Questionnaire Interviews Focus Group Document Review EXPLAIN: There are lots of ways to get information. Discuss with your partner when you might employ each, and the pros and cons of each technique. Allow participants to discuss for 7 minutes. Reconvene the group and share findings. FOLLOW UP to gallery walk exercise. ASK participants to identify which strategies they would use for each question they asked on the gallery walk.

Compiling and Analyzing Findings Upon completion of your needs analysis, you should know: The goal The source of the performance gap The audience Is training the answer? EXPLAIN that there are several tools that will help you analyze the findings of your needs analysis. DISTRIBUTE ASTD Needs Assessment checklist. ASK group to review. Discussion: How could/should we share our findings with OCSE? (subjective)

Impact of Needs Analysis Business Needs Training Needs Intervention Design Development and Delivery Evaluation Needs Analysis SAY: I mentioned earlier that needs analysis informs the entire design and development process. Once we identify the cause of the performance gap, we can choose appropriate activities and design appropriate documents. DISTRIBUTE ASTD 8-3 A Continuum of Learning Interventions. EXPLAIN this document provides some ideas for different types of learning interventions. When training isn’t the answer, we can offer other solutions. Distribute 8-4,5,6, and 7, which describe non-training interventions.

Next Steps Are there questions and activities we should always do? What strategies will you use during your next project?