Determination of staff training needs questionnaire. Methodology for determining training needs. Interviewing managers and employees

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In modern companies you can find several approaches to training personnel at different levels. For example, an outstanding employee is sent to training as a reward. Some managers prefer a different way of selecting a training program - they attend “fashionable” business trainings, where the learning process itself, and not its results, is of interest. Typically, such training is a lot of fun, and everyone who attends the classes is satisfied with them. Completely delighted, the manager or HR manager orders the same wonderful training for his company. Employees, as a rule, also like it, but then the question arises: how and where to apply the acquired knowledge?All of the above approaches indicate a spontaneous, and therefore not very effective, choice of training programs for company personnel.In contrast to the spontaneous choice of educational programs and trainings, there is such a thing as “systemic training”. The purpose of building a training system is to ensure that the professional and qualification levels of employees correspond to the real business objectives of the company. One of the most important stages in building such a system is analyzing and identifying the training needs of the organization’s employees. Let's look at it in detail.

Training needs analysis
To determine the basic level of knowledge and skills of the target group, it is best to put personnel through an assessment procedure. The certification results are compared with the planned learning outcomes, and thus the gap between the actual and desired situations is determined. However, if the company has not yet built a certification system, then it is not necessary to wait until this happens to start training.There are other methods for diagnosing training needs. For example, you can conduct an interview. At the same time, direct participants in the training are offered written questionnaires (unless they are top managers); for line managers and specialists, questionnaires are used in combination with structured interviews, and for top managers - only interviews. Of course, for each of the named categories of employees, questions will be formulated depending on their tasks and level of competence.What questions can we ask people to understand what to teach them? Let's take as an example a completely different area, where, however, it is also necessary to analyze the request. This is any sale. Imagine that we came to the store to buy something about which we have little idea, for example a camera. And the seller starts asking us: “What kind of camera do you want? How many pixels should there be? What permission do you need? What happens to a person who is not familiar with electronic technology after these questions? He gets lost or begins to think: “I understand, I don’t have enough knowledge.” He leaves to formulate what he needs. Then he comes prepared and tries to clearly formulate his request. There is another approach when the seller understands that his client is not required to know the product. Then he asks completely different questions: “What will you shoot? For what purpose? What characteristics are more important to you?How are these two approaches different? The first asked about the product, finding out how much knowledge the person had about the characteristics of the product. The second asked questions about what a person wants to get from a product, i.e. he asked about needs, and then selected a product based on these needs, making an offer.The same thing happens when we analyze training needs. The company is our client, training (knowledge) is our product, and our task is to understand the request (needs) and make an appropriate offer (i.e., training program).What might a training needs analysis look like in a product questions paradigm? We take training programs that are on the market and structure them. Then we send them to employees with questions: “Which of these topics would you like to study? Which ones are useful for your employees? What is most relevant at the moment? We get answers and systematize them. What do you think, if you send such a list to people, what will they mark there? Beautiful names, familiar words, things that interest them or that they have heard somewhere. This way we will receive not a request for training, but the results of a sociological survey on the topic “The most popular training topics in our company.” (Sometimes you can hear the following dialogue: “We need to train managers.” - “On what topic?” - “On management”).Our task is to learn about the needs of the company, and not to examine personnel on their knowledge of corporate training opportunities. Therefore, we exclude phrases like: “What kind of training do you need?”, and ask: “What should change, what suits or does not suit the staff in the work, what should be the result, what problems currently exist, where difficulties arise, what indicators are of concern? » These are called questions about needs.The addressees of our questions are top managers, executives and participants. We ask top managers questions mainly about strategy in order to understand the direction of the company's development. We interview managers about problems. Interview questions should be provided to managers in advance so they can prepare. This will give you more thoughtful information, reduce conversation time, and position you as someone who is professional and respectful of other people's time.

Examples of questions when conducting a training needs analysis
Sales department employees:In what situations of interaction with a client do you not know what is the right thing to do?At what stage do you most often lose a client?What are the most common topics for complaints?
For managers (for management training): toWhich employee would you consider to be the most problematic?In what work situations do you most often experience difficulties?How long does it take you to hold meetings?How many issues do you resolve in a meeting?
For specialists (for a marketing seminar): gWhere do you get the data for analysis?What do you need to get reliable information?What prevents you from analyzing the success of an advertising campaign?
When conducting a training needs analysis, it is important to understand the difference between a request, a need and a problem. A request is a topic or direction of training formulated by training leaders or participants. Need is what real changes (results) in the company’s activities the training customer wants to receive. Request and need may coincide or differ. The task of the HR manager is to “get to the bottom” of the real need and help the customer himself understand it. A problem is something that prevents you from getting what you want, an obstacle (difficulties, deficits) on the way to achieving the desired result. To understand what to teach, you need to find a problem and think about what new knowledge or skills can solve it. This will be the subject of training.The next task of the HR manager is to correctly position the problem, i.e., highlighting those tasks that we can solve (change) with the help of training.

Positioning the problem
After we've written the questionnaires, done the research, and collected all the information, we have a lot of data to put together. We offer you a tool for analyzing the information received, which will help you quickly qualify (position) the company’s problems and choose the appropriate solution. Data can be generated by levels as follows:
1. System. The raison d'être of the company: mission, strategy, goals, objectives. Building business processes through business consulting.
2. Structure. Job descriptions, areas of responsibility, functionality Building an organizational structure through organizational consulting.
3. Information (power). Real distribution of power in the organization, channels for transmitting information. Building real channels of interaction, procedures for transmitting information through business games.
4. Culture. Values, opinions, attitudes, rituals, accepted forms of interaction between peopleWorking with attitudes, relationships, interaction of people through team-building activities (games, joint recreation, internal PR).
5. Staff. Specific people with their knowledge, abilities, skillsTeaching knowledge and skills through trainings and seminars

Let's imagine any organization as a kind of organism that exists on five levels.The first level is “System”: this is the meaning of the company’s existence, mission, strategy, objectives.The second level is “Structure”: how responsibilities, powers, and areas of responsibility are distributed. The functionality that people perform in a given company and that is built into the system. Procedures and regulations.The third level is “Information”: one thing is a structure drawn on paper or a written job description, another thing is how the company actually lives and how information flows in the organization actually occur. Who says what to whom, who sends what to whom, where information accumulates, where it is missing. Information determines the distribution of power in the company, who the company focuses on.The fourth level is “Culture”: what happens in a company between people, how people live, how they interact with each other, rituals, principles, values.The fifth level is “Personnel”: specific people with their specific knowledge, abilities, skills, and individual personal characteristics.
Each level may have its own difficulties, inconsistencies, and problems. Naturally, the higher the problem is, the more levels underneath it affects. Accordingly, all problems of the organization manifest themselves at the personnel level. However, the problem can only be solved at the level where its source is, using the appropriate method of influence.What level of problem can be solved through staff training? Training changes specific knowledge, skills and abilities of specific people. It has, of course, consequences for the entire company as a whole. But, in principle, training is intended to influence the organization through the personnel and their psychology, i.e. at the fifth level. It has much less influence on other levels than is commonly believed.At the level of interaction between people (the fourth level - culture), other methods are used that build interaction, change relationships and attitudes. Conventionally, we call the entire set of methods team building. Please pay special attention that these are different things: team building and training. What's the difference?Training (education) necessarily includes the assimilation of new material: knowledge, algorithms, theories, techniques, etc. This is called didactics, the responsibility for which lies entirely on the shoulders of the trainer. Didactics (new information for participants) is selected and arranged by the trainer to suit the needs of the company, but at the same time it exists separately from this particular company. Team building events can take place without a didactic part, since the goals are not “educational” in the literal sense of the word: to introduce employees from different departments and divisions to each other, give them the opportunity to communicate, get to know each other at least by sight, move beyond simple acquaintance and communication to the practice of team interaction, change or develop a common understanding of the goals and values ​​of the company. Corporate culture cannot be “taught” like a specific skill: people are not inclined to change their views and attitudes towards employees and the company just because they learned something new.
At the third level (information), our task is to build the flow of information and interaction between departments and divisions. If a problem is discovered in interaction not at the level of people, but at the level of the positions they occupy, then a form of work such as a business game is more suitable for correcting the situation. This is a special procedure during which the departments themselves agree on how they will now live, build information flows: who should transmit information to whom, according to what principles. The game is built around a specific problem situation. To eliminate the problem, the game participants organize a comprehensive study of it, write a solution algorithm, and check whether the planned result is achieved. At the same time, responsibility for the result of this process lies with the participants - active creators, players (and not with its organizer). As a result of the business game, some changes are introduced and consolidated in the life of the company. The business process is promptly adjusted using an example that is relevant to its participants.Participants develop procedures for themselves, and then come up with specific proposals to management (if they themselves are not management). This is not learning, since people do not receive new knowledge, but create it themselves. We just need to help these people agree on how they will continue to work.

Example 1. Request: a rolled metal trading company decided to conduct marketing training for sales managers.sellers do not engage in market research;there is a marketing department consisting of two professional marketers;marketers research the market and make recommendations;there are projects that require the participation of marketers;recommendations from marketers are not accepted and they are not involved in projects;marketers (young girls after college) new to the company;sales managers are men with extensive experience in this market.
Problem: positioning the new marketing department in the company, interaction and exchange of information with the sales department.Problem positioning: level 3 (information, internal communications).
Solution: a business game with the participation of the marketing and sales departments, during which the company’s marketers act as experts and help other participants solve marketing cases. Based on the results of the game, departments agree on further interaction, which is enshrined in the relevant procedures.
The complexities of the next level (structure) are not solved by either training or games. To solve these problems, you need to invite an organizational consultant or conduct organizational consulting yourself. Then you can invite a trainer and conduct training, during which it will be easier for employees to accept organizational changes and their new functions. At the same time, training is combined with procedures for adopting innovations, which requires additional time by reducing the curriculum.

Example 2. Request: a chip manufacturer company decided to conduct training on delegation for the heads of the financial department.Additional information obtained from the training needs analysis:accounting employees do not clearly follow management’s orders;the company has two accounting departments - in Moscow and in the Moscow region, where a second plant recently opened;management is located both in Moscow and in the Moscow region;The accounting department in the Moscow region reports directly to both its management and the Moscow one.
Problem: double submission.
Problem positioning: level 2 (structure).
Solution: building the company structure through organizational consulting. Until the completion of consulting, training is not provided in this department.
The very last level (in our discussion, but not least) is the system. Here we are talking about building a business as a whole, positioning the company in the market, etc. For example, how well thought out is the combination of just such areas (products) in one company, how is the price structured, in what niche is it positioned, etc. at the level of the system and structure, training can act as an auxiliary tool, as a filler for missing knowledge and management skills.

Of course, not all methods for solving company problems are available to an HR manager. Therefore, it can be useful to bring the information that we received during the diagnosis of training needs to the attention of higher structures that are able to take some action at their level. An HR manager can only be responsible for two or three lower levels - from training to organizing a business game.If we do not separate the objectives of training from other problems, the effectiveness of the funds invested in training will be greatly reduced. However, there are no companies in which everything is perfectly adjusted, there are no management problems and all that’s left to do is develop the knowledge and skills of the staff. Much more often there are situations when the company's management is not ready to begin serious changes, but at the same time understands the need to improve the qualifications of staff. In this case, you can start training, even if this is not the most correct way out of the current situation. At the same time, it is necessary to clearly record what we can change and what we cannot. Specify the area of ​​responsibility for the result and factors that reduce the effectiveness of training.In this case, you can set a special task for those people (trainers, teachers) who will come to train the staff: observe, record all the problems that appear in the training. If there are problems in the company, they will definitely come up during the training. After the training event, you receive a report with which you can go to management. Then the first step of change in the company can begin with training, and the training will at the same time be an event that will allow you to further argue ideas for changing other levels.

It was not possible to find a sample questionnaire to determine staff training needs.

Answer

1. 1. What are the goals of the organization?
2. 2. What tasks must be completed to achieve these goals?
3. 3. How should an employee behave in order to complete the tasks assigned to him?
4. 4. What gaps do employees have in skills, knowledge, attitude to perform current and future tasks?
5. 5. What exactly is the difference between the current and desired situation?

What areas (topics) of training are necessary and relevant for employees of your department?

4. Indicate the desired ways to gain knowledge in areas of interest to you(mark “+”)

5. What support/information from experts/trainers would you like to receive?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Information about the person who filled out the form

FULL NAME. __________________________________________________________

Job title __________________________________________________

Personal signature ___________________________________________________

Professional training of employees is necessary in every company, regardless of its field of activity and form of ownership. Moreover, effective professional development of employees cannot be ensured formally by introducing standard, mandatory measures by order “from above.” Determining training needs, constant targeted training of employees, organizing interaction with HR and internal trainers are the responsibilities of each line manager.

Professional education- this is a process of purposeful formation of special knowledge among employees, the development of the required skills and abilities that allow increasing labor productivity, performing functional duties with the highest possible quality, and mastering new types of activities. The chosen areas of personnel training must first of all correspond to the strategic and operational goals of the company. Training programs should be drawn up on the basis of studying the quality of personnel and taking into account the tasks of both the long-term development of the company as a whole and its individual structural divisions.

Professional training of personnel is necessary in various situations:

when transferring employees to other positions;

when enrolling employees in the personnel reserve;

when introducing new equipment and new technologies into the company;

in order to increase the competitiveness of the company;

to increase worker productivity;

for employees to master new areas of activity.

When organizing effective professional training of personnel, it is necessary to consistently implement a number of tasks:

identify training needs;

select appropriate methods;

to train;

evaluate its effectiveness.

Identifying training needs

It is very important to understand what kind of training your employees need at the moment. To determine training needs and plan it correctly, technologies such as task analysis (tsk nlysis) And performance analysis (performnce nlysis).

It is necessary to analyze the tasks facing an employee in order to determine the required level of development of professional competencies and quality of performance, that is, to understand how it “should be.” When analyzing tasks, the job profile, job descriptions and work planning documents in the department are studied.

Performance analysis helps determine the real state of affairs, including identifying shortcomings, that is, understanding how “this actually happens.” When analyzing activities, the following methods can be used: observation, conversation with an employee, professional and psychological testing, questioning (Annex 1); conducting focus groups*; professional performance assessment or certification(cm. ).

When analyzing execution, it is necessary to obtain answers to the following questions:

Does the employee encounter problems performing their job?

What indicates that problems exist?

What causes the problems, and how does the employee react to them?

What should an employee (group of employees) do to solve problems?

What alternatives exist for solving problems?

How effective are the existing methods of solving problems, and can they be optimized?

Will the employee be able to do this?

Will employee training help solve the problem?

The analysis of tasks and analysis of execution allow us to see the difference between the required and existing levels of development of professional competencies. This makes it possible to “target” determine the need for training. The line manager of this department can most accurately identify the need for training of employees of a structural unit. At the same time, he must work closely with the HR manager, who directly organizes training for employees of the entire company and provides consulting and methodological assistance to line managers.

Selection of teaching methods

Once training needs have been identified, it is necessary to clearly formulate vocational training goals: what exactly do we want to train our employees. Next, you need to choose the most effective methods of professional training. Let's look at the most common of them.

Training- group form of training (12–16 people). Mainly aimed at developing skills and mastering new work technologies. The average training duration is two to three days. The main methods used in its implementation: exercises, role-playing games, mini-lectures, work in small groups, brainstorming, case analysis (situational analysis), exchange of experience, etc.

Seminar- group training (up to 100 people participate). Mainly aimed at transferring new knowledge. Duration on average is from half a day to three. The main methods used during seminars: lectures and answers to questions.

Mentoring (coaching)- individual training on the job (directly in the process of performing functional duties). The duration of such training most often coincides with the duration of the probationary period. The mentor is appointed from among experienced and professionally successful employees, and may also be the immediate supervisor. An important nuance: to ensure the effectiveness of this form of training, the mentor must be well prepared and motivated.

Mentoring- individual form of development and training. Can be carried out both in the workplace and outside it. The mentor, as it were, “patronizes” the mentee, gives his “protégé” advice and provides practical assistance. The meaning of the concept of “mentoring” is broader than that of “coaching”. When coaching, they concentrate on the development of skills or competencies, while mentoring is associated with the transfer of not only objective knowledge, but also individual methods of activity, subjective views, and personal attitudes to life (business). The immediate supervisor cannot act as a mentor; it can only be a representative of senior management or an external consultant.

Rotation- movement of employees from one workplace to another within one structural unit or within the entire company. Rotation allows you to solve several important problems simultaneously:

stimulate the activities of employees by providing them with the opportunity for horizontal movement, promoting the growth of professionalism;

ensure the interchangeability of employees in the department;

improve the skills of employees.

When choosing a training method for your employees, you need to consider your goals and objectives, as well as the resources available.

Conducting training

Once training needs have been identified, its goals and objectives have been formulated, and methods have been determined, you can proceed to the next stage - the actual organization and conduct of employee training. Depending on the size of the company, the availability of resources and time constraints, training can be carried out either internally by the company (direct manager, experienced employee, HR manager, internal trainer, etc.), or with the involvement of external contractors - training and consulting companies or freelancers (independent trainers and consultants).

When organizing and conducting professional training, it is very important to be guided by the following basic principles:

The topic of training should be directly related to the professional activities of the participants, be important and relevant to them.

Employees need to actively participate in the learning process, and to do this they must be motivated to acquire new skills and knowledge.

Information that is completely new to participants should be “consolidated” through repetition, practice in exercises, when preparing and conducting presentations, etc.

Participants need to constantly provide feedback, for example, include professional competitions in the learning process, summarize results, make summaries at each individual stage of training, etc.

Research has shown that 60% of the effectiveness of training depends on proper preparation (identifying needs, clearly setting goals, choosing an up-to-date training program, attracting the right trainer or consultant); 20% - from the professionalism of the trainer and 20% - from the “involvement”, motivation and desire of the students themselves. Training cannot be effective if employees view it only as an opportunity to take their mind off work and have fun (especially if the training takes place outside); demonstrate your knowledge of the stated topic; sit in a corner or, on the contrary, attract attention to yourself. With such an attitude towards learning, a person will not only be unable to take advantage of new information, learn the material and practice skills, but will also distract his colleagues. The presence of such “vacationers” in a group can cause a “chain reaction” of shutdowns. In this case, there is no need to talk at all about the effectiveness of the training provided and, even more so, about the improvement of knowledge and skills (and, consequently, about the justification of investments). Therefore, a very important task of the line manager and HR manager is to form a positive attitude of employees towards the planned training, setting them up for productive activities.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the training provided

The final stage of the work is assessing the effectiveness of the professional training provided and analyzing changes in the activities of employees. For assessment, you can use D. Kirkpatrick’s four-level model, which has proven itself in practice ( Donld Kirkptrick).

1st level- participants’ reaction to the training. As a rule, it is assessed immediately after training or the next day. The HR manager distributes questionnaires to participants ( Appendix 2) and asks to express your opinion about the program, the trainer and the organization of the educational process as a whole. The information received is summarized and analyzed.

2nd level- assimilation of information. Incomplete assimilation of the information received is a physiological phenomenon. If information that is completely new to a person is not included in his daily life, then by the end of the first week up to 40% of the information is lost. Accordingly, after a week it makes sense to “measure” the level of how much new knowledge has been assimilated and consolidated in the memory of the training participants. To do this, you can use either interviews with them or tests/questionnaires prepared in advance.

3rd level- behavior change. At this level, it is important to determine the extent to which new knowledge, as well as acquired skills and abilities, have been consolidated in the real professional activities of the participants. Since the period for bringing a skill to automaticity is 21 days, it is better to conduct an assessment at this level a month after completing the training. The most commonly used tool is observation.

4th level- impact on business results. It is advisable to measure the specific results of the training carried out after three to six months. It is precisely this period that a person needs in order to realize the changes and “digest” new knowledge, and finally consolidate new ways of behavior in professional activities. When assessing and analyzing business results, quantitative and qualitative indicators of the work of an individual employee or structural unit are used. This analysis is carried out jointly by the line manager and the HR manager.

Annex 1

Training Needs Questionnaire
(to be filled in by employee)

Appendix 2

QUESTIONNAIRE
to evaluate completed training

_____________________
* Focus group- this is a method of collecting and analyzing information that allows you to study the needs, characteristics of company employees, and their level of preparedness; establish the framework, timing and trends of the organization's learning; clearly define the participation of management, specialists and company employees in the training process.

Article provided to our portal
editorial staff of the magazine

Aksenova O.A.

Organizations of any type cannot do without constant training of employees and their development - this is the call of the times. The industrial economy is being replaced by a knowledge-based economy. In such an economy, a decisive role is played by intellectual assets (not only R&D, trademarks, licenses, patents, etc.), but also human resources, the level of personnel development, management qualifications, corporate culture, corporate ethics.

World experience in economic development shows a close connection between the dynamics of a company’s financial indicators, which characterize its sustainability and success (marginal profit, stock return, revenue per employee) with investments in innovative projects for the transfer and attraction of new knowledge through personnel training.

Looking at a person, an employee of an organization, as a valuable resource, creates a new understanding of the tasks of managing this area. There is a need to take into account new factors, such as the compliance of human resources with the long-term development of the organization, their ability to adapt and flexibly adapt to the changing needs of the market and business environment.

One of the main and constant tasks of HR management is assessing the state and efficiency of using human resources, analyzing the feasibility of investing in human resources and assessing the effectiveness of investments. The sequence of solving these problems, as well as general factors that need to be taken into account, are presented in Fig. 1.

With this approach, the diagnosis of training needs, clear formulation of goals and development of a training plan, selection of programs and sequence of training modules become part of the overall human resource management process of the organization. Of course, this not only increases the status and importance of personnel services, but also significantly complicates the functions of this unit, which requires highly qualified employees.

Diagnosing the needs for training and personnel development allows you to formulate the goals of upcoming training in order to reasonably select both programs and the amount of investment in training, i.e. be able to answer questions - why, who and what to teach. This allows you to create a training plan that works to improve the efficiency of the company as a whole. Of course, collecting information to diagnose the state of human resources and its analysis require time and effort, but without this stage any training will be useless. Unfortunately, to solve this problem, rather general recommendations are most often offered or the most simple and unpresentative method is chosen (for example, self-diagnosis). Sometimes companies transfer diagnostics of the state of labor resources (including assessment of training needs) to specialized personnel assessment centers (Assessment Centers). At the same time, one must be aware that in this case the company transfers such important human resource management tools as a comprehensive assessment of human resources and building a management system for these resources, identifying the causes of existing problems and issuing recommendations for bringing the human resource management system in line with the goals of the centers personnel assessments. As for the latter, their services are quite expensive - the simplest analysis of the results of a standard survey of one employee costs more than 30 thousand rubles.

Next, we propose to consider methods for collecting information to determine training needs, identify the highest priority areas, draw up a plan and, ultimately, justify the budget for upcoming training. The most popular method of collecting information - through questionnaires - is not considered here. The organization and procedures associated with this method are described and analyzed in detail in.

Let us dwell in a little more detail on the description of other, less common, but accessible and at the same time reliable methods of collecting information, which can be carried out by both HR employees and invited consultants.

Observation. An irreplaceable source of information at the general intelligence stage; allows us to identify the features of the structure of the organization, its organizational culture, real (rather than declared) values, the general level of management, adaptation to the surrounding business environment. This is an excellent method for diagnosing the state of labor resources; it allows you to identify groups (divisions) of people, possible areas and areas in need of development.

Table 1

Suggested Observation Contexts

The use of a set of technical techniques makes it possible to make this observation structured. The main techniques are as follows:

1) identification of contexts (contents) of observation, which are determined by the purposes of collecting information. In table 1 provides possible options for observation contexts to determine training and development needs;

2) determining the role in which the person (HR department employee or consultant) collecting information will play. For example, he may participate as a participant in some training programs or meetings held on this topic. Although in these same situations he can choose the role of observer. Both roles can be useful at certain stages of the work, and in some situations the consultant simply has no choice;

3) fixation/registration of observation results. Of course, immediate recording of all observations is preferable. But this most often disrupts the natural course of events: a person who constantly writes something down “gets on the nerves” of those around him. Therefore, most of the results of observations must be reproduced from memory, and during observation, only short notes must be taken, using a pre-prepared “framework” to record important points, which will facilitate the process of recreating the observed picture.

Observation as a method allows you to get a general idea of ​​the organization, the surrounding business environment, organizational culture, shared values, highlight problem areas and the main cause-and-effect relationships in the process of human resource management. In table 2 shows a fragment of recording the results of the observation and comments on them.

Interview. The information collected from observations is used to prepare and conduct subsequent data collection through several interviews. It is advisable to use semi-structured interviews of the so-called focused type.

Interviews with managers. First of all, interviews should be conducted with managers who act as customers of training programs. That is, with those managers who are empowered to make decisions and are responsible (bear responsibility) for problems associated with the overall level of quality of execution. Therefore, initial interviews should not be conducted with “line” managers at lower or middle levels, since they do not have the right to make decisions on the implementation of new training systems.

table 2

Results of structured observation*

* General understanding of the organization, business environment, problem areas related to the organization's human resources.

In this type of interview, only a list of basic questions is provided, and the information obtained is used to clarify information about training needs. The main questions that need to be answered as a result of these interviews, examples of answers and comments are given in Table. 3.

Results of the interview with the customer manager

(HR Director)

Interviews with line managers make it possible to clarify the connection between training and existing problems in the organization, as well as to gain their consent to training and support. These informal interviews make it possible to clarify whether existing problems are truly related to insufficient qualifications of employees and the lack of certain competencies, and are not caused by any other reasons. Therefore, as a result of the interview, the following questions should be clarified:

• How does the manager assess the overall situation in the department?
• Are the implementers provided with sufficient resources?
• Is existing information support sufficient to support high levels of execution?
• How effective is the remuneration and compensation system?
• Is the workload on workers commensurate with their capabilities?
• Are employees motivated enough?
• what can be improved?
• what skills (knowledge, abilities) are missing?
• What training do workers need?
• what form of training is most appropriate?
• If the decision to train is made, is the manager ready to provide support?
• What information about upcoming training would the manager like to receive?

Interviews with ordinary employees. These interviews provide insight into how motivated people are to learn. Here are the main questions that need to be answered:

• Tell us about the nature of your work, what does it consist of?
• your activities, responsibilities, who are your subordinates? If there are no subordinates, then with whom do you work in collaboration?
• What are you working on now?
• is this your regular job?
• How is it common/unusual?
• In the job you are currently doing, how important is the skill?
• How do you feel about the opportunity to take part in the training program...?
• do you support.? If “yes”, then why, if “no”, then why?

Conducting interviews. When conducting interviews, it is necessary to take into account all the rules for conducting interviews and, first of all, the conditions (environment) in which they are conducted.

An unfavorable environment is characterized by the fact that there is no separate room (the interview is conducted at the workplace), the respondent sometimes returns to his duties/occupations, third parties are present, someone interferes with the interview, repeatedly interrupting with extraneous conversations, phone calls, etc. In an unfavorable environment A long interview is generally impossible, but a short, standardized interview (answers to prepared questions) is quite acceptable.

Document analysis method. The method is a set of technical techniques and procedures related to the analysis of text documents. The most accessible documents for analysis are the following:

• on individual performance assessment;
• job descriptions;
• professional standards.

The most effective way from the point of view of diagnosing the state of an organization’s labor resources is the analysis of documents related to the results of individual assessment of employee performance. Of course, if such a procedure exists and is regularly carried out in the organization. Typically, this document is quite large in volume and has several sections, so to simplify and further work with it, it is recommended to transfer data for each employee to an intermediate form (see Table 4).

Table 4

Performance Assessment Summary

Processing this information using modern computer statistical data processing programs (SPSS) allows us to identify existing problem areas:

• departments in which individual performance ratings are the lowest;
• specific performers with the lowest ratings;
• important competencies that received low scores.

If a regular assessment of the individual level of performance in the organization is not carried out, then the source of information about the importance or demand for certain skills can be a content analysis of job descriptions or professional standards; the sequence of procedures for content analysis of documents is as follows:

1. selection of parameters (required competencies) that interest us;
2. selection of text indicators that characterize these parameters;
3. selection of documents (job descriptions, professional standards);
4. selection of a group of people (divisions, certain positions, specialists);
5. Conducting a content analysis for the presence in the texts of a professional standard for these positions or job descriptions of selected text indicators:
   • counting the total number of documents under consideration;
   • determining the frequency of mention of these indicators in the documents under review.

When processing a large number of texts, you can use the special computer program QDA Miner (WordStat application).

In table Figure 5 presents the results of processing job descriptions and professional standards (twenty-seven documents) for mid-level managers of an enterprise that is part of an international concern.

Table 5

Results of content analysis of documents*

* The total number of documents under consideration is 27.

The results of processing the above data showed that the most mentioned indicators related to complex knowledge (competence), defined as “strategic thinking”, are:

• item 10 - ability to anticipate possible problems (22);
• item 1 - ability to collect, structure and analyze information (20);
• item 3 - make thoughtful decisions (19);
• point 5 - set clear goals (17).

Such an analysis allows us to identify the competencies most frequently mentioned in documents, and therefore the most in demand for these positions, which can serve as a basis for diagnosing and determining the needs for the necessary knowledge.

To summarize the above, we can conclude the following:

• conducting structured observation allows you to get a general idea of ​​the organization, the surrounding business environment, highlight problem areas and main cause-and-effect relationships;
• information that is collected during interviews with managers who have the right to make decisions about training, line managers and ordinary employees should clarify the overall picture;
• Observations and interviews are complemented by another method of collecting information - analysis of documents (based on individual performance assessment, job descriptions, professional standards).

Processing this information makes it possible to more clearly identify existing problem areas: departments in which individual performance ratings are the lowest; specific performers who received the lowest ratings; competencies that received low scores. The use of content analysis makes it possible to identify the competencies most frequently mentioned in documents, and therefore the most relevant for given positions, which can serve as a basis for identifying the needs for new knowledge.

The provided templates for the above methods greatly facilitate their use by HR department employees, even without the involvement of external consultants.

In the future, the information collected using the above methods can be combined into a “Report on the diagnosis of human resources of the organization” with the main sections:

1. Results of structured observation (general understanding of the organization, business environment, problem areas related to the organization's human resources);
2. Results of the analysis of documents “Individual performance assessment” (departments/divisions with a large percentage of employees who received “unsatisfactory” ratings according to the list of competencies are indicated);
3. Recommendations for the use and development of human resources;
4. Training and development plan

Thus, the work of diagnosing the state of labor resources and identifying training needs ends with the drawing up of a preliminary plan, including a brief description of the necessary programs, their sequence and the time period during which they should be implemented, as well as their brief content, the number of people, indicating the departments and recommendations for forming groups. Subsequently, this plan and its implementation must be supplemented by monitoring procedures.

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