Needs Assessment Basics, 2nd Edition

Go from order-taker to valued performance consultant.

You may be pressured to give an immediate “yes” to a training request. Resist. Instead, start playing an essential role in driving your organization forward by using needs assessment to target your training programs to support critical business goals.

Organizations need staff to be efficient and effective. That calls for training programs that get to the core of performance issues. A needs assessment ensures that you understand the root of problems like knowledge gaps, performance issues, and product quality and gives you the tools to resolve them. This second edition of Needs Assessment Basics starts with the initial training request and guides you all the way through data collection and making training recommendations. A progressive case study illustrates the seven phases of a needs assessment plan to reinforce each chapter's content.

Part of ATD's Training Basics series, Needs Assessment Basics will help you develop a foundation that will ensure the training programs you design and deliver will help the organization succeed.

About the Authors

Beth D. McGoldrick is an instructional designer for RiverSource Insurance, part of Ameriprise Financial, where she has won awards for training projects she designed and developed. She has more than 18 years of experience in training and development in the insurance industry and academia, including skills in analyzing, designing, developing, and measuring training. Beth has written articles and book chapters on various training topics, including needs analysis, instructional design for mobile learning, and evaluation. She mentors other instructional designers throughout the country. She has a master of science in organizational performance and workplace learning from Boise State University.Beth lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband, John, son, and Shetland sheepdog. Beth may be reached at BethMcGoldrick.ISD@gmail.com.

Deborah D. Tobey has 20 years of experience in the organization development and HRD field. She is currently the director of talent management for the Tennessee State Department of Safety and Homeland Security, and an adjunct senior lecturer at Vanderbilt University. Her areas of specialization include training needs assessment, design, facilitation, and evaluation; consulting skills and systems development; group processes and team building; competency modeling; and leadership development. In her private consulting practice, Deborah's clients have included state and local governments, universities, nonprofit organizations, and Fortune 500 organizations in the manufacturing, finance, import, healthcare, and service sectors. She served in a full-time teaching role at Vanderbilt University, as well as in numerous appointments in adjunct roles, most notably at George Washington University and Vanderbilt University. She is the author or co-author of several ATD publications.Deborah has a bachelor's degree in English and a master's degree in student personnel administration and counseling, both from Virginia Tech. Her doctorate in HRD is from Vanderbilt University. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and may be reached at ddtobey@gmail.com.