What Is a Training Needs Analysis?
A training needs analysis looks at three things: what your organisation needs people to be able to do, what they can do now, and the gap between the two. It then asks which gaps matter most and what will close them. The CIPD calls the same process a learning needs analysis, and stresses that it should be clear, systematic and ongoing rather than a one-off form.
Done well, a TNA stops the most common training problem in growing businesses: booking courses because someone asked, because a supplier rang, or because it’s what you did last year. The free template below takes you through every stage. The rest of this guide explains how to fill it in.
Free template
Training Needs Analysis Template
A complete training needs analysis (TNA) template for small and mid-sized UK organisations: business goals, role and individual gap tables, a priority matrix and a training plan.
Preview
TNA details
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Organisation name | |
| Department or team covered | |
| TNA carried out by | |
| Period covered (e.g. April 2027 to March 2028) |
+ 3 more rows in the full template
How to use this template
- Work top down: business goals first, then roles, then individuals. Every training need should trace back to a goal or a legal requirement.
- Fill in the role gap table with each team's manager. Rate current and required levels from 1 to 5: 1 = can't do it yet, 2 = needs close support, 3 = competent, 4 = highly skilled, 5 = could teach others.
- Gap = required level minus current level. Record the evidence for every rating (appraisals, KPIs, incident records, observation, survey results) so the decision can be checked later.
- Set the priority using the priority matrix. Anything required by law, or where a gap could lead to someone being hurt, is always High.
- Before choosing a solution, ask whether training is the right fix. Write down non-training fixes too (process, tools, job aids, coaching, workload).
- Copy the High priority items into the training plan, give each line an owner and decide how you will measure success. Review the whole TNA at least once a year.
Also in the full template
- 1. Organisation goals
- 2. Role and capability gap table
- 3. Individual needs table
- 4. Priority matrix guidance
- 5. Training plan
- 6. Evaluation and review
Why Do a Training Needs Analysis?
Training budgets are finite, and most organisations have more requests than money. A TNA gives you a defensible way to decide. It links every pound spent to a business goal, a legal requirement or a clearly evidenced performance gap.
It also catches the problems training won’t fix. If a team is missing targets because the process is broken, the CRM is unusable or nobody knows who is responsible for what, a course won’t help. Finding that out before you book saves money and credibility.
And it gives you a baseline. When you know where capability stood before training, you can show what changed afterwards. That is what turns training from a cost into an investment the board will keep funding.
The Three Levels of Training Needs Analysis
The table above sets out the three levels. Work through them in order, top down.
Organisational level. Start with what the business is trying to achieve over the next 12 to 24 months: growth, a new market, a new system, better retention, fewer incidents. Then ask what capability that requires. This level also captures anything the law requires of your organisation, such as health and safety training.
Team or role level. For each role or team, define what good looks like: the skills, knowledge and behaviours someone needs to do the job well. Then compare that with how the people in those roles are performing now. This is where most of the useful gaps appear, and where line managers’ input matters most.
Individual level. Finally, look at each person: their current gaps, their strengths and where they want to go next. Individual needs should mostly be picked up in one-to-ones and appraisals, then rolled up into the TNA so you can spot patterns. If six people each mention the same gap, that’s a team need, not six individual ones.
How to Do a Training Needs Analysis in Nine Steps
This is the method the template follows. For a small business, the whole process can take a few weeks. For a larger organisation, allow longer for interviews and data gathering.
- Start with business goals. Get the leadership team to agree the three to five priorities for the next year or two. Write them down in plain language. Every training need you identify should trace back to one of these, or to a legal requirement.
- Define the capabilities you need. For each goal, ask what people will need to be able to do. “Grow key accounts by a fifth” might need account planning, negotiation and better discovery conversations. “Promote from within” might need a management development pathway.
- Assess current capability. For each role, rate how well people can do each thing now. A simple 1 to 5 scale works (1 = can’t do it yet, 3 = competent, 5 = could teach others). Use evidence, not gut feel: see the data sources below.
- Identify the gap. Subtract current from required. A gap of one point may be fine; a gap of three points in a business-critical role is a priority. Record the evidence so the decision can be checked later.
- Prioritise. Use the priority matrix below to sort the gaps. Legal and safety-critical needs go to the top whatever their size.
- Decide the solution. For each priority gap, ask whether training is actually the answer. Sometimes the fix is a clearer process, better tools, a job aid, coaching from a manager, a change in workload or a recruitment decision. Where training is right, decide the format: live sessions, e-learning, on-the-job coaching, mentoring or a mix.
- Set the budget. Cost each solution, including people’s time away from work. If the total is more than you have, the priority order tells you what to cut.
- Build the plan. Turn the decisions into a training plan: what, who, format, provider, cost, dates and how you will measure success. Give every line an owner.
- Evaluate and review. Check whether the training changed what people do and whether the business result moved. Feed what you learn into next year’s TNA.
Photo: Content Pixie on Unsplash
Where to Find the Evidence
The quality of a TNA depends on the quality of the evidence. Most organisations already hold more than they think. Use several sources, because each one on its own can mislead.
| Source | What it tells you | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Appraisals and one-to-ones | Individual gaps, ambitions and patterns across teams | Quality varies by manager; some gaps are never raised |
| KPIs and performance data | Where results are falling short (sales, quality, complaints, productivity) | Shows the symptom, not the cause |
| Incident, accident and near-miss records | Where safety capability is weak | Under-reporting hides the real picture |
| Customer feedback and complaints | Gaps that customers feel first | Tends to over-represent the unhappy |
| Staff surveys | What people say they need and how confident they feel | People often rate themselves higher (or lower) than reality |
| Interviews and focus groups | The why behind the numbers | Takes time; needs a neutral interviewer for honest answers |
| Observation | How work is actually done, not how it’s described | People behave differently when watched |
| Compliance requirements | Training the law or your sector requires for each role | Easy to miss when roles or equipment change |
| Exit interviews and turnover data | Where poor management or onboarding is losing people | Leavers may not be candid |
Compliance needs deserve a specific check. In Great Britain, regulation 13 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers to take employees’ capabilities into account when giving them tasks, and to provide adequate health and safety training when they are recruited and when they are exposed to new or increased risks, for example through a change of role, new equipment, new technology or a new system of work. Northern Ireland has equivalent regulations. HSE’s short guide, Health and safety training (INDG345), sets out how to decide training priorities, starting with what the law requires. If you need a refresher on how risk assessment feeds those decisions, see our guide to the five steps to risk assessment.
Requests from staff are evidence too. GOV.UK explains that employees with at least 26 weeks’ service in organisations with 250 or more people have the right to request time off for training, and the employer must consider the request properly. See Training and study at work: your rights for the details.
How to Prioritise Training Needs
Once you have a list of gaps, you will almost certainly have more than you can afford. A simple two-by-two matrix helps. Score each gap on two questions:
- Impact: how much does closing this gap matter to a business goal, to safety or to customers?
- Urgency: how soon does it need closing? Is there a deadline, a legal requirement, a launch date or a growing risk?
| Low urgency | High urgency | |
|---|---|---|
| High impact | Plan it. Schedule it in the next six to twelve months and budget for it. | Do it now. Top of the plan, this quarter. |
| Low impact | Park it. Revisit at the next review, or meet it with free or low-cost resources. | Quick fix. Short, cheap solutions: a job aid, a briefing or an e-learning module. |
Two rules override the matrix. Anything the law requires, or anything where a gap could lead to someone being hurt, goes straight into “Do it now”. And a gap that affects many people in a critical role usually beats one that affects a single person, unless that person’s role is unique.
Turning Your TNA Into a Training Plan
The TNA tells you what is needed; the training plan says what will happen. For each priority need, the template’s training plan table asks for:
- What: the capability being developed, not just a course title.
- Who: the named people or roles.
- Format: live classroom, live virtual, e-learning, coaching, mentoring or on-the-job.
- Provider: in-house, an external trainer or an online platform.
- Cost: including time away from work.
- Dates: when it starts and when it should be finished.
- How you will measure it: the behaviour or result you expect to change.
Match the format to the need. Knowledge-based and compliance topics, where everyone needs the same core content and a certificate, often suit CPD-accredited e-learning that people can complete at their own pace. Skills that depend on practice and feedback, such as handling difficult conversations, coaching or leading a team, need live sessions with time to rehearse. Our management training is an example of the second kind. Many plans mix both: e-learning for the knowledge, a live session to practise, and a manager following up on the job.
Then share the plan. Managers need to know what their people are doing and why, and to protect the time for it. Employees should see how the training connects to their role and development. If you are developing new managers in particular, our guide to management vs leadership is a useful starting point for what they need to learn.
Photo: Isaac Smith on Unsplash
How to Evaluate the Results
Evaluation closes the loop, and it is the step most often skipped. The best-known framework is the four-level model developed by Donald Kirkpatrick, first set out in a series of journal articles in 1959 and later in his book Evaluating Training Programs. The four levels are:
- Reaction: did people find the training relevant and engaging?
- Learning: did they gain the knowledge or skills?
- Behaviour: are they doing things differently back at work?
- Results: has the business measure moved?
Most organisations stop at level 1, the feedback form at the end of the day. The levels that matter are 3 and 4, and the TNA makes them possible, because you already wrote down the evidence behind each gap and the result you expected. Check behaviour with the person’s manager a few months after the training. Check results against the same KPIs you used to find the gap.
If a gap hasn’t closed, find out why before booking more training. The usual culprits are no chance to practise, a manager who doesn’t reinforce it, or a problem that was never about training in the first place.
Common Training Needs Analysis Mistakes
- Starting with a list of courses. A TNA starts with business goals and gaps. Course titles come at the end.
- Relying on a single source. A staff survey on its own tells you what people want, which isn’t always what the business needs.
- Assuming training is always the answer. Check for process, tools, workload and management problems first.
- Leaving managers out. They know the work, and they decide whether new skills get used.
- Forgetting compliance. Legal training needs change when roles, equipment or regulations change.
- Never evaluating. Without a baseline and a follow-up, you can’t show what the budget achieved.
- Doing it once. Needs shift as the business changes. Review the TNA at least once a year.
What to Do Next
This week, download the template and fill in just the first section: your organisation’s three to five goals for the next year. Then pick one team and complete the role gap table with its manager, using real evidence for each rating. That single exercise will tell you more about where your training budget should go than any course catalogue.
If you would rather have an experienced hand run the whole process, from interviews and data to a prioritised, costed plan, that is exactly how every one of our bespoke programmes starts: we run the TNA with you, then design the training around the gaps you choose.