
Training needs analysis
Ready to evolve your workforce? It all starts with understanding your employees’ learning and development needs.
To help determine your organisation’s training needs, Swinburne Edge uses a seven-stage process.
This involves applying mechanisms that are:
- well-researched
- practical
- tested.
70-20-10 professional development model
At the core of this approach is the 70-20-10 professional development model, conceived by Lombardo and Eichinger from the Centre for Creative Leadership (CCL).
This method of learning and development program design maximises:
- participant concentration
- retention
- enjoyment
- impact
- application of learning principles.

The 70-20-10 model.
The 70-20-10 Professional Development Model is a Venn diagram that includes:
- 70% learning via experience: how people need to BE in their work environment in order to be at their best 'behaviours'
- 20% learning via others: what people need to be able to DO in order to be at their best 'skills'
- 10% formal learning: what people need to KNOW in order to be at their best 'knowledge'.
The seven-stage process
Swinburne Edge works closely with you during every phase of your training needs analysis to ensure the deepest understanding of your workforce and maximise your return on investment.
- identify and articulate the organisational outcomes you expect from your training and development
- ensure that the training and development goals correspond to your overall business objectives
- address the key question: how will you know that the training has worked?
- consult with relevant stakeholders, if appropriate.
- identify your desired critical competencies: behaviours and associated knowledge, skills, abilities and personal characteristics
- link these competencies to your desired organisational outcomes.
- evaluate each critical competency
- determine if each one is something you expect employees to possess prior to job entry, or if it is something your workforce needs to develop
- create a list of competencies to target.
- determine the extent to which your organisations’ employees possess the targeted competences
- assess using competency evaluations, tests, assessments, or review of performance appraisals.
- combine individual employee results to assess how many employees need improvement and development with respect to competencies
- establish what constitutes a performance gap, and what constitutes acceptable standards of competency demonstration
- understand how many employees fall above or below that standard and create a clearer picture of the size and scope of the training and development programs.
- identify how many, or what percentage, of the organisation or team needs the training and development
- consider the importance of each competency
- develop a list of training priorities.
- discover how to best train and develop your workforce to overcome performance gaps and achieve the required competency standards.
The exact form, outcomes, content and duration of the learning and development programs depend on the findings and results of the first six phases.
That said, it is likely that the programs will provide for a mix of delivery methods, timeframes, and options for formal recognition (i.e. qualifications).
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Meet our consultants
Get to know our team of consultants providing learning and education solutions for organisations.
Looking for more information?
Feel free to contact us on 1800 633 560 or via edge@swinburne.edu.au. We can answer questions and talk further about your training needs.