How Do You Approach a Needs Analysis?

We often don't do formal needs analyses in my group, but we sort of informally/mentally do them as we are interviewing our SMEs during the kickoff phase of our projects. At its simplest, we're asking "What are we asking learners to do?" Focusing on "doing" rather than "knowing" helps us create situations that give learners a chance to practice the skills they are learning, rather than just passively consume facts about them.

When we do perform a more formal needs analysis, an important guiding framework for us is Carl Binder's "Six Boxes" model. It provides a structured way to identify which aspects of a business problem can be usefully solved by training, and which parts would be better solved with non-training solutions. This allows us to recommend a package of solutions, rather than just a training course, because very often what the institution needs is not just another training course--it may need training, but usually also needs help with setting expectations, ensuring tools and resources are available for people to implement what they've learned, and so on. The Six Boxes model structures and categorizes the nature of these other needs.

I'm a huge believer that needs analysis is crucial to efficient and effective instructional design... but I'm a very process driven person! I work predominantly in projects and have devised a master TNA spreadsheet that is adaptable to the size and requirements of a project. In my organisation we have a collaborative relationship with the Change and Delivery & Implementation teams, and we have run a comprehensive joint instructional design discovery session with key stakeholders from the project and the business to ensure alignment from kickoff. For smaller requests from the business, including digital uplifts, I've adapted this to a 2 page word doc. We have seen it reduce creation time as well as iterative changes required at governance from unclear objectives and requirements. I favour Cathy Moore with her very practical approaches to this issue.

Performance and skills are important to crafting your job, it's what you are rated on an ongoing basis and year end. These two words make a strong impact with the C-suite, than any acronym in our field. 

I also found Cathy Moore's action mapping model to be a practical way to approach projects and SMEs in a way they can easily follow using plain language and getting people to practice what they need to do, in a relatable way.

At Kompetenztraining.de, we always carry out a needs-based qualification programme that is tailored to the customer's individual requirements. However, we usually ask the client the following questions:
- Which area do the employees come from?
- What is the task of the employees?
- What level? (beginner, advanced, expert, manager)
- How many employees are involved?
- Who initiated the e-learning and for what reason? (project idea)
- Is a combination with other training measures planned?
- What should the employees be made fit for, or what should they do differently or better after the e-learning?
- Main topics?
- Have measures already been taken in advance? If so, which ones?
- How would you rate the previous experience?
- How do you envisage safeguarding learning success?
- Which committees/experts should be consulted on the topic?
- Learning objectives?
- Relevance for everyday work?
- Interest, motivation, needs and fears?
- CI of the company?
- Is the e-learning also used on mobile devices?
Is there anything important that you think we have not asked?