Undertaking an Analysis of Skills, Knowledge & Behaviours to Define Learning Needs

There will be occasions when the HR or training professional is invited to provide professional guidance on the learning and development needs of professionals or teams.  Often this involves identifying the skills, experience, knowledge and behaviour needed of people in the role. In this article Sarah Cook provides practical tips on how to go about undertaking such a learning needs analysis.

The starting point

The need for a Learning Needs Analysis to be undertaken is often triggered by the performance review cycle. Alternatively more often than not it is prompted by the discovery of underperformance or potential change within the organisation.

Imagine that you are a Training and Development Manager for a medium sized organisation. You have been asked by a line manager to help identify the learning and development needs of two individuals within their team.  One of the two individuals is new to the team, having been there three months. They are new to the organisation and have not worked in this particular function before. The other individual is someone who has been with the team for the past eighteen months. Prior to this they have worked for five years in another part of the organisation. The line manager is keen that they progress and develop.  However, being relatively new to the line manager role themselves, they have never undertaken a learning needs analysis before and have requested your help.

You have offered to work alongside the line manager to undertake the analysis and to offer coaching to them so that they will be able to undertake the LNA (learning needs analysis) themselves with other members of staff. The organisation has bi-annual and annual performance reviews from which each individual creates a Personal Development Plan.

The purpose of the LNA

Before starting the LNA, it is useful to remind yourself and to clarify with the line manager the function of the learning needs analysis. This is to identify the attributes of the individual?s performance that constitute a shortfall between the actual and desired levels.  The resulting shortfalls can then be addressed via a learning and development intervention.

The new starter

In your role as advisor there are potentially different approaches you would take to completing the Learning Needs Analysis for the new starter rather than the individual who has been in the role for eighteen months.

Essentially what you are trying to identify is the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours that are needed for a person to do their job efficiently and effectively both now and in the future.  Next, you will need to ascertain what are the levels of skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours that the individuals currently demonstrate and where are the gaps.  Finally you will make recommendations on how these gaps can be addressed.

DESIRED SKILLS, KNNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, BEHAVIOURS

VERSUS

CURRENT SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCE, BEHAVIOURS

The first part of the investigation that the Training and Development Manager needs to undertake surrounds the desired levels of skills, level of expertise and behaviours.

In the case of the new starter, there are some fundamental building blocks that will help you to define these expected levels.

Before speaking to the individual, ascertain from the line manager a copy of:

• The individual's job description
• The job specification used to advertise the position
• Relevant competency framework

and with permission of the individual :

• Their performance review, if they have had this

Job description

The job description will outline the role and responsibilities of the person in their function. It will also set out who the individual should report to within the organisation. The job description is an important document to help you understand the role of the individual. Once you have a copy of this document, find out from the line manager who are the individual's internal and external customers and who they interface with in their role. This will give you a greater understanding of the function that the individual plays within the organisation.

Job specification

Refer back to the job specification that was developed for the new incumbent. Job specifications set out the requirements of people in the role.  A job specification sets out the essential skills, knowledge and experience needed in the role as well as the desired.

Example of Job Specification

Essential

• Minimum three years' experience in the field of training and development
• Good interpersonal skills
• Effective presentation skills
• Minimum of two years' experience of working with senior and middle managers

Desirable

• Experience of delivering interpersonal skills training to senior and middle managers
• CIPD qualification

Relevant competency framework

Many organisations utilise a competency framework to help identify the competencies or skills needed for someone to fulfil their role. In this case, if the organisation had such a framework, your job will be made far easier. Competency frameworks are usually designed with various families of skills in mind. Each 'family' shows the different levels of competence needed. Here for example is one organisation's competency framework for the competency family of 'customer service'.

Level 1

• Listens actively to customer requests
• Demonstrates willingness and enthusiasm to meet the needs of customers
• Applies knowledge of service standards and processes to meet customers' needs

Level 2

• Provides solutions to a wide range of customer requests
• Deals effectively with customer complaints
• Puts themselves in the customers' shoes and manages win-win outcomes

Level 3

• Achieves customers' goals by proactively working through others
• Deals with complex grievances satisfactorily, maintaining a relationship with customers and gaining trust and respect
• Actively seeks feedback from customers

Level 4

• Shapes customers' attitudes
• Champions customer service excellence and acts as a role model for others
• Continually improves the service offered to customers

When an organisation uses a competency framework it is able to plot the desired level of competency against each job role.   Competency families are usually presented at different levels, so the higher the level the more skill and competence the person needs to demonstrate.   A competency framework is a very useful tool to the person undertaking a learning needs analysis as it allows them to pinpoint the desired level of performance.

Performance review

Another useful tool is a summary of the learning needs identified as part of the individual?s performance review.  If the Training Manager has permission to view or discuss the individual?s Personal Development Plan, they should also be able to identify not only the desired performance but where there are any gaps.

What if some or all of these tools are missing?

On a practical note, you may find that some or all of these documents are missing.  You may wish to supplement this analysis with your own observations, interviews, questionnaires or focus groups. The idea is to consult the individual, their line manager and / or team leader, colleagues and customers to help identify learning and development needs.

Observation

Observing someone at their place of work can provide objective evidence of the skills, knowledge and behaviours that are required in the job.  So for example, you could decide to observe the new individual to find out more about their role.

Be careful of two things however if you decide to do this. Often someone's natural behaviour can be altered just by the mere fact that they are being observed. Also, if you observe just one person, you only see one version of the job role. Particularly if the person is new to the role, it would be helpful to observe other people as well.

Effectively what you are doing is 'shadowing' the person in their work. This will involve sitting apart from what they are doing and watching the normal transactions of their work. It does not mean that you comment or become involved in the person's job. Of course, observation is best carried out with the permission of the individual undertaking the role. It should be preceded with a discussion with the individual so they know:

• The reason for your observation
• What you are looking for
• What you will do with the results

What are you looking for? Establish with the individual their principle job responsibilities.  Find out who are their internal and external customers, who they interface with on a day to day basis.

Ask them what level of experience or expertise they believe they need to do their job well.  Establish what knowledge they need to be competent in their role. Identify what skills they need in their job - these could be both technical skills such as ability to process an application as well as 'soft' skills such as negotiation skills for example.

Probe to see what behaviours are valued in their role.  Be careful to focus on behaviours rather than 'attitude'.  It is easy to say for example 'This role requires someone with a positive attitude'. How do you measure positive attitude? You can see this in the behaviours a person demonstrates. For example, the degree of enthusiasm and energy they bring to their work.  You may also want to make reference to the organisation's values or guiding principles if they have them. So, if a business says that it values Team Work, Openness and Honesty and Innovation for example, you would expect to see these values reflected in the way that the person undertakes their job role.

The following is an example of a summary of the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours observed during a day spent with a sales executive in the financial services industry.  The sales team were expanding and taking on new starters. They did not have a formalised development programme. The purpose of the shadowing days was to identify the development opportunities that could help individuals become high performers in their role. The day consisted of observing the person in their office environment and then shadowing them on several sales calls.  The organisation in question did not have a competency framework. However, it did have a set of values for the organisation.

Example of Summary Result of Observation of Skills, Knowledge, Experience and Behaviours : New team member

Job Role:

Sales executive in a financial services organisation

Knowledge :

Knowledge of organisation's products and services
Knowledge of financial service industry
Knowledge of Financial Services Authority Regulations and their impact

Experience :

Minimum three years' experience within a financial services organisation and two years in a sales environment

Skills :

Presentation skills
Selling and negotiation skills
Meeting skills

Behaviours :

Energy and enthusiasm
Rapport building

The sales executive I observed was new to the role, having transferred from another part of the business. This shadowing was supplemented by comparison with another sales person who had been in their role for over two years and who was a high achiever. The differences in the skills, knowledge, behaviours and levels of expertise are highlighted in italics:

Example of Summary Result of Observation of Skills, Knowledge, Experience and Behaviours : Experienced team member

Job Role:

Sales executive in a financial services organisation

Knowledge :

Knowledge of organisation's products and services
Knowledge of financial service industry
Knowledge of Financial Services Authority Regulations and their impact
Knowledge of customer and prospects industry sectors
Knowledge of organisation's key strategic objectives

Experience :

Minimum three years' experience within a financial services organisation and two years in a sales environment

Skills :

Presentation skills
Selling and negotiation skills
Meeting skills
Time management and organisation skills
Personal impact and influence skills

Behaviours :

Energy and enthusiasm
Rapport building
Self motivation

The comparison highlighted areas of potential development for the new starter.

Interviews and / or questionnaires

In addition to observation, it is important that you also invite feedback from the person in the current role. This can be done face to face (our recommended route) or, less personally, via a questionnaire. It is also helpful to interview superior performers to help identify where there are gaps in skills, knowledge and experience as well as behaviours.

We recommend interviewing the job-holder in person. Using a series of open questions and recording the answers should provide an overview of the individual?s views of their development needs.  It is important to create a good rapport with your interviewee and to set the scene by explaining why you are conducting the interview and what you will do with the results.  Remember to allow time for the person to ask questions of you as well at the end of the interview so they are clear on your role and the purpose of the research.

Examples of the types of questions you can ask are:

• What experience do you need in your role?
• In which areas do you need to be knowledgeable?
• What technical skills do you need to do your job well?
• What other skills do you need in your role?
• What behaviours is it essential to demonstrate?
• Given what you have said, what aspects of your job do you find easy / enjoy the most?
• What aspects of your job do you find difficult?
• Where would you like further support or development?
• Specifically what development areas would be of most use to you?
• What are your immediate development priorities?
• What changes or challenges will you face in the future in your role?
• What further development might you need to meet these challenges?
• What thoughts have you got about the best ways to achieve your development needs?

As you pose your questions, remember to record the answers. After the interview has taken place, provide a summary overview of the results. If you are undertaking a series of interviews you may well need to amalgamate the results so that trends become apparent.

Include the manager in your interview schedule. They are more likely to know the foreseeable changes and challenges that the organisation faces and how this is likely to impact the individual.

Ask their opinion of the gaps in the individual's current and desired performance. Invite their opinion on what is the ideal development solution.

Tests, assessment centres, 360 degree feedback and critical incident logs

Another measure of the gap in performance is the inclusion of or review of outputs from tests, assessment centres, 360 degree feedback rreports and critical incident logs. These can provide historical data on performance. Alternatively you may wish to devise these to establish the individual?s current level of performance against that which is desired.

The established team player

So how do you identify the learning and development needs of the established team player?  The hints and tips above should indicate the route to take. The established team player may be more aware of their own development gaps and may indeed have a Personal Development Plan in place. They may well have held a succession planning discussion with their manager. One would hope therefore that the individual would be more aware of their development needs. Nevertheless many of the techniques described in this article should provide a more impartial and rounded view of the development need.

The outputs

The outputs of the audit should provide a clear picture of the current level of skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours of the individual and given the desired performance the key gaps in development. Through discussion with the individual and line manager you then should be able to put forward recommendations on the best learning and development interventions to meet these needs.

Key Learning Points

Begin the LNA by reviewing the

• The individual's job description
• The job specification used to advertise the position (where appropriate)
• The relevant competency framework
• With the individual?s permission, their last performance review and their Personal Development Plan or succession plan
• The competency framework and the values of the organisation
• Use observation, interviews, tests and other assessments to highlight the gaps in performance
• Solicit the views of the individual and their line manager as well as colleagues and customers to gain a rounded view of the development need

Sarah Cook is Managing Director of the leadership and service excellence consultancy, The Stairway Consultancy. She can be contacted on 01628 526535.

You may publish this article in whole or in part. The only requirement is that if in print the article must state - article by Sarah Cook, Stairway Consultancy Ltd, www.thestairway.co.uk

If you use this article in whole or in part electronically, the requirement is that you inlcude the following code on the page:

The code should look like this:

Article by Sarah Cook of the Stairway Consultancy. Specialists in Leadership, Customer Services, Team Building and Personal Effectiveness.

If you do not do this you will infringe our copyright