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The World’s Most Simple Needs
Assessment
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The World’s Most Simple Needs Assessment
A needs assessment is exactly what it sounds like
—
a process by which you determine what training youremployees need. Doing a needs assessment prior to making your plans for training can be helpful in anumber of ways. It can help you to:
Determine what skills and knowledge need to be covered in training.
Prioritize according to which needs are most urgent and which can be addressed down the road.
Recognize which areas represent strengths for your employees (so you’ll know what training
they
don’t
need).
Set a clear training objective.
Determine what needs cannot be met by training and should be addressed through othermeans.There are various versions of needs assessment and any number of ways to go about the process. If you
find that you’re put off by the time, energy, or expense of
a formal, comprehensive needs assessment,
you might want to try the simple one we’ve outlined for you in this article. We’re not suggesting it will
give you results that are as thorough as a deeper, more comprehensive assessment, but this short andsimple activity can stand in if necessity demands. And it can yield plenty of valuable insights into theneeds of your team.
The World’s Most Simple Needs Assessment
Step 1:
Determine what employees should be doing.
(For example:
The Customer Service Agentsshould be answering calls using the correct three-step greeting. Agents should be using
strategic questioning skills to determine the customer’s needs. . . .
)
Step 2:
Determine what employees are doing by gathering information.
This information can beobtained through:
Monitoring forms
Metrics
Interviews and focus groups
Questionnaires
Observations
Customer experience management (CEM) data
Step 3:
Determine where gaps exist between what agents are currently doing and what they shouldbe doing.
(For example:
Agents are not empathizing with customers when they should be. Agents are ending the call before mentioning the special promotion available to customers.
)
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