The law and an executive order require agencies
to review annually organizational, occupational, and individual needs for training. A
systematic and continuing review of current and foreseeable organizational training needs
provides a realistic basis upon which to plan, budget, direct, and evaluate an effective
training program. The training needs of individual employees should be assessed within the
context of the organizations strategic goals to ensure employees performance
competency and development. Many of our Bureaus use Individual Development Plans (IDPs) to
document this assessment and to plan for individual employee training and development. The
IDP is a helpful tool for assessing individual training. It is cooperatively developed
between you and your employee, usually annually, to forecast, identify, and schedule
individual training and development opportunities to meet mission, organizational, and
individual requirements. Training needs assessment also should be tied to the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. GPRA underscores the importance of strategic planning in the Federal Government. The Department has established a strategic plan which includes specific goals and objectives designed to move us toward desired outcomes. GPRA thus links strategic planning to a systematic approach for the assessment of organizational needs and to a periodic evaluation of programs, including human resource development, to meet those identified needs. Training is appropriate when the Government can be expected to gain more benefit from the training than it invested in its cost. Determining the value to the Department of any particular training investment, however, must rely on the vision and judgment of line supervisors and managers. You may authorize training to build skills and knowledge levels which help employees better contribute to your organizational mission(s). In some cases, the need is immediate and the training remedial; in other cases, the aim is to update and maintain professional knowledge; and in still others, the goal is to prepare for requirements anticipated by higher level officials. Identifying training needs for your employees requires careful scrutiny of mission objectives, personnel, production, resources, costs, and other factors. The training requirements you identify factor into the total training budget forecasted for your organization, and have impact on the amount of funds that get allocated by your Bureau. In January 1994 the Office of Personnel Management issued the Training Needs Assessment Handbook: A Guide for Conducting a Multi-Level Needs Assessment. This comprehensive resource is available from your Human Resources Consultant. It outlines a step-by-step process for training needs assessments at the organizational, occupational, and individual levels. As a supervisor, you need to plan on two levels: organizational/occupational and individual. The steps outlined in the OPM handbook include:
The following factors might indicate training or development needs of your employees:
|
||
|
RELATED TOPICS: Approval and Funding of Training Requests; Sources of Training; Self Development Training; On-the-Job Training; Interagency Training; Distance Learning Courses; New Employee Orientation Program; Supervisory and Managerial Training; Departmental Manager and Executive Programs; Formal Government-wide Training Programs | |
Revised: 11/09/98 |