Training Needs Analysis and Course Design Fundamentals Training Course

Course overview

Learning teams are frequently asked to produce courses before confirming whether training is the right response, who needs to change what they do, or how performance will be measured. The result can be well-presented learning that fails to improve quality, productivity, compliance, customer service or manager capability. This course equips L&D professionals to diagnose performance requirements before development begins, convert business requests into evidence-based learning needs, and establish a defensible basis for investment decisions.

Participants learn a practical end-to-end process for training needs analysis (TNA) and course design. They will define business and performance gaps; identify stakeholders; collect evidence through interviews, surveys, observation and document review; segment learner populations; write measurable learning objectives; select suitable learning methods; sequence content; and create assessment and evaluation plans. The course introduces performance consulting techniques alongside core instructional design models, including ADDIE, Bloom's taxonomy, Kirkpatrick evaluation levels and the 70-20-10 framework.

Delivery combines instructor-led teaching with worked examples, facilitated critique and design workshops. Participants use TNA templates, stakeholder interview guides, learner-persona tools, objective-writing frameworks and course-design canvases to work on a realistic organisational case or their own approved learning request. By the final day, each participant leaves with a documented TNA plan, a prioritised gap analysis, a course design blueprint, measurable objectives, an assessment approach and a practical implementation plan ready for stakeholder review.

The programme is particularly valuable for L&D practitioners, HR professionals and subject-matter experts who are moving from responding to training requests to designing learning interventions that can be linked clearly to operational results.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Conduct a training needs analysis using business, performance, person and task-level evidence
• Distinguish training needs from process, policy, resource, leadership and motivation barriers
• Map stakeholders using an influence-interest matrix and plan targeted consultation activities
• Create interview guides, pulse surveys and observation checklists to gather learning-needs data
• Write measurable learning objectives using Bloom's taxonomy, condition-performance-criterion statements and action verbs
• Develop learner personas and task analyses that define audience needs, context and prerequisite capability
• Produce a course design blueprint covering modules, methods, practice activities, assessments and learning resources
• Build an evaluation plan using Kirkpatrick levels, performance measures, ownership and post-course data collection points

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Learning and Development Specialists — who need to turn business requests into evidence-based learning solutions
• Training Managers — who prioritise learning investments and need consistent design and evaluation standards
• HR Business Partners — who advise leaders on capability gaps and appropriate people interventions
• Instructional Designers — who need stronger front-end analysis before building courses or digital learning
• Subject-Matter Experts — who are asked to contribute content and need to structure it for workplace learning
• Operational Managers — who sponsor team training and must define the performance improvements required

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have some workplace experience in HR, learning delivery, people management or operational improvement, and should be familiar with the basic idea of a training programme or competency requirement. They should be comfortable discussing business processes and completing structured templates in Microsoft Excel, Word or equivalent office software. No prior instructional design qualification, statistical analysis expertise, e-learning authoring experience or knowledge of a specific learning management system is required. Complete beginners can attend, but should expect an intensive introduction to performance analysis, learning objectives and structured course design rather than a course on presentation or facilitation skills.

Training methodology

The five-day programme uses short instructor-led inputs followed by structured analysis and design work. Participants examine a business request, review sample evidence, conduct simulated stakeholder interviews, classify root causes and make a recommendation on whether training is appropriate. In design workshops, they turn approved needs into learner personas, objectives, module sequences, practice activities and assessments. Peer review is used to test clarity and feasibility. The final session is an application clinic in which participants refine their own TNA and course-design documents into a stakeholder-ready action plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Diagnosing the real performance need

• The role of training needs analysis in L&D governance
• Business need, performance gap and learning need distinctions
• The performance consulting conversation
• The Mager performance analysis model
• Training versus non-training root causes
• Business measures and operational performance indicators
• Scoping a training request with a TNA charter

Workshop: Participants analyse a poorly defined training request and produce a TNA charter that states the business problem, target population, scope, evidence sources and decision criteria.

Day 2: Gathering and interpreting needs data

• Stakeholder mapping with influence-interest analysis
• Semi-structured stakeholder interview design
• Survey question design and response bias controls
• Workplace observation and task documentation
• Document review of procedures, KPIs and quality records
• Learner segmentation and persona development
• Triangulating qualitative and quantitative TNA evidence

Workshop: Working in groups, participants create a stakeholder map, interview guide, Microsoft Forms survey outline and evidence-gathering plan for a service-performance case.

Day 3: From gaps to measurable learning requirements

• Task analysis for knowledge, skill and judgement requirements
• Competency mapping and proficiency levels
• Bloom's taxonomy for cognitive learning objectives
• Condition-performance-criterion objective statements
• Writing behavioural objectives and success criteria
• Prioritising needs using impact-effort and risk matrices
• Defining entry requirements and learner readiness

Workshop: Participants convert case evidence into a prioritised gap analysis, learner personas and a set of measurable objectives reviewed against Bloom's taxonomy.

Day 4: Designing the course architecture

• ADDIE and rapid course design workflows
• Backward design from performance assessment
• Module sequencing and learning journey mapping
• Selecting classroom, virtual and blended learning methods
• Practice design using scenarios, simulations and role plays
• Assessment methods for knowledge, skill and workplace application
• Course design blueprints and facilitator resource specifications

Workshop: Participants build a course design blueprint containing module flow, timings, methods, activities, assessment points, resources and facilitator notes.

Day 5: Evaluating impact and presenting the recommendation

• Kirkpatrick evaluation levels and evidence requirements
• Linking learning measures to business KPIs
• Level 3 transfer measures and manager reinforcement
• Pre-course, post-course and follow-up data collection
• Risk, assumptions and dependency management
• Stakeholder-ready TNA report structure
• Implementation planning and design quality review

Workshop: Participants present their completed TNA recommendation and course design blueprint, receive peer and instructor feedback, and produce a 90-day implementation and evaluation plan.

Tools & standards covered

Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Forms, Miro, Kirkpatrick Model

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions