Jeff Harrison-Turner explores the methods that companies adopt to identify their training needs and questions whether this is the right approach...

What would a company looking for an eLearning solution list amongst its top 10 requirements? The majority will inevitably list "increased efficiency", "improved staff motivation", "good ROI", etc. But then wouldn't any company looking to invest in a new training solution expect these?

I haven't yet come across an individual that would like to implement an eLearning solution that actually demotivates staff. These prerequisites are a given - if your training does not achieve these then it is neither an investment nor a solution.

The selection of an eLearning solution arguably goes as follows; 1) Completion of Training Needs Analysis (TNA), 2) Issuing of an ITT (Invitation to tender), 3) Selection of solution and supplier, 4) Development and implementation, 5) User testing, 6) Evaluation.

It is this tried and tested route that is causing some companies to trip up as it does not always give the whole picture. My advice is to begin one step earlier, before the TNA, (which generally focuses on the solution rather than the problem) and ask the question, is our existing training really working and if not, why not?

It is not always the case that if staff performance is not up to scratch the training is to blame. Many larger companies are beginning to acknowledge that training on it's own is not always the solution.

Changing the job profile or even the employee may be the answer. However, I do believe that in many cases the training itself can be improved to deliver the required results.

Organisations shouldn't be too swift to throw out the old and bring in the new. If existing training is not working, there is almost certainly a reason. This needs to be identified as early as possible so that the same mistakes are not made again and again.

The shortcomings of the existing training, coupled with the TNA findings, can help establish the evaluation criteria for any new solution.

My second piece of advice is to identify the evaluation criteria at the beginning of a project. With software it is not always the case that evaluation must take place at the end of a project.

There is little point completing the evaluation of an eLearning solution only after it has been selected, customised, implemented and tested.

If the short listed solutions don't fulfil the evaluation criteria, how will they benefit the business or employees? By completing the evaluation earlier there is no need to wait until user testing, only to realise that the solution doesn't address employees learning needs or the businesses objectives.

To go back to the opening point that a popular requirement of any training solution is a good ROI, I believe that in essence if the evaluation criteria are fulfilled then an ROI should be guaranteed.

With training solutions, and eLearning in particular, ROI is generated from savings in long term training development and delivery; increased staff motivation and reduced staff turnaround; shorter sales cycles; a higher level of product knowledge leading to customer satisfaction and a greater volume of sales and possibly a whole lot more.

If an ROI is being achieved then it follows that the new training both addresses, and is the solution to, the original problem.

Author Information - Jeff Harrison-Turner

Managing Director

Unlike many in the e-learning industry, Jeff Harrison-Turner did not start out in training.

Having worked successfully in industry for a number of years designing and developing new products, running support centres, providing sales backup and so on, he finally formed his own company, OP&S.

It was during this early period that he came to a crossroad marked ‘Training’.

Always passionate about quality and service, OP&S’ requirements for training simply could not be met by the rather bewildering choice on offer. None of which seemed to deliver anything of real quality.

Choosing to do it himself, Jeff undertook a variety of courses in Instructional design, Train the trainer and so on in as much to learn about how not to do it as to gain insight into the fundamentals. The consequence was he became hooked on training / e-learning and convinced he could offer something better, something substantial and something that delivered.

The rest is history. Now the MD of OP&S and chairman of the AdVantage group, Jeff heads one of the most successful e-learning companies in the UK.

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