How Do You Identify Training Needs for Employees with New Career Goals?

Hi, just finished the PMS activities in the company. We are involved in the manufacturing and export of diamond-studded jewelry. This year, we have set goals and planned the career paths of each individual employee for the next year. Now, the next step is identifying the training needs to achieve their goals. Everyone has something new to do outside of their routine work based on their strengths and interests.

Can anybody suggest how to identify the needs for training in such a case?

If you have PMS and goals are identified, then what is the problem now? Now you need to identify the competencies of the employees so that they can attain their goals. Talk to all the HODs and make a list of the competencies. Based on this, you can make a training calendar. Do not go ahead with the training unless you are clear about the goal statement of the training. To know what the goal statement is, you can click here and read my comments on the previous post.

All the best!

Regards,
Dinesh V Divekar

Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.

Thank you, Divakar. The link has really helped me. Now, to begin with, all the goal sheets are with me. Should I design a form to better understand their competencies?

I really like your question. You've invested your time, energy, and efforts in a process, and now, you're seeking some guidance regarding the next steps. I admire that! Well done!

I want to add to my good friend Dinesh's comments:

Consider Conducting a SWOT Analysis

Along with the Goal Statement, also consider whether it would be worth conducting a SWOT Analysis for your people. Given that any SWOT analysis is a fairly involved process, I highly recommend doing it for your senior people, as well as the next line of command that's already been identified.

A SWOT analysis and Goal Statement (remember - one goal each for personal and professional topics!) together make a heady cocktail with significant potential to identify not only current strengths, weaknesses, future ambitions, etc., but also go a long way in identifying today's minor issues which have the potential to become tomorrow's explosive threats.

Just a thought. That's all! And, once again, it's always a pleasure to spend time replying to a post from someone like you who first does their bit and then seeks further inputs!

All the best!!!

From my experience, what I can suggest is the following:

Core Competency Areas

Think of three core competency areas: Functional, Leadership, and Cultural/Soft skills. Then, you may sit with the Heads of Departments (HODs) or other senior managers to figure out what activities each role in their function needs to perform. Once you have that list, try to identify if some roles have common activities, especially in the leadership area. Then, use your judgment to align an activity with an expected competency (give the competency a name) and place it under one of the above three headings. This way, you will have your competency mapped to the role.

This matrix should help you define the training programs you need to deliver to your staff/team. Defining the training calendar depends on the budget and the availability of staff for the training, which you can plan later.

Hope the above helps you.

I think a simple whiteboarding exercise with your senior management would suffice. A 2-hour session on the budget and the optimum use of the budget will help you more than doing a detailed assessment yourself.

To facilitate the process, you can come up with a list of training programs and their approximate costs and benefits (what increase in ratings do you expect from them).

Hi Gaurav, Thanks for the appreciation! I would need your help moving ahead as I am heading towards implementing the next step of the Appraisal. At this point in time, what I think is required is research and only research because shaping someone's career is a significant responsibility.

Regards,

Hey, thanks so much! I will surely ring you the moment I feel I need your help. Well, today started with the first activity of mapping the core competencies of each individual falling under the PMS category.

Regards