Needs Assesment
The Needs Assessment is a collective assessment that provides information on what programs should be offered and how they can be offered in accessible ways. It is a systematic way of getting a “big picture” understanding of the needs in an organization especially with respect to foundational skills.
The clients understanding of the needs of the organization does half of the job behavioural modification. This helps us to look into an organization from the client’s perspective helping us to see what corporate behaviourial changes should be made and to what intensity.
The Needs Assessment process involves consulting with people across the workplace through interviews, meetings and surveys to see what should be done to improve performance. We use the Needs Assessment as a planning tool to document the overall needs and goals of both management and workers, and make recommendations on the basis of the findings. It also help to identify both the opportunities for Behaviourial Modification programme work successfully and barriers that will need to be overcome within the workplace culture.
Think of the Needs Assessment in the same way you might think about planning a road trip with a group of people who want to do different things on the trip. Imagine that you have generally decided on your destination, but that is all. You and the other members of your group would then have to negotiate and do research on a route, places to stay, activities to do that are within the budgets, time frame and interests of each group member and meet their goals for the trip. Behavioural Modification, just like a trip, involves upfront planning that provides a foundation for success. The Needs Assessment provides a road map that helps get to the desired corporate destination.
Why do a Needs Assessment
There are many important reasons for conducting a Needs Assessment. The major reason is that as an inclusive process, the Needs Assessment gains the perspectives of all corners of the workplace with respect to corporate goals, needs and motivations to meet corporate visions. The results of the Needs Assessment provide a comprehensive picture on which to base all other decisions related to behaviour modification.
Other important reasons for conducting a Needs Assessment include:
- Gaining support for the corporate goals from across the workforce by consulting with people in a respectful way.
- Building people’s confidence by focusing on collective needs, goals and assets and not singling people out.
- Finding out what skills and talents people have that they might be willing to share through mentoring arrangements or peer training.
- Identifying points of agreement with respect to labour and management’s Perspectives on the program and program policy.
- Understanding the lay of the land and the organizational climate and culture in which decisions about the workplace education initiative will take place.
- Identifying barriers to getting programs off the ground and possible solutions for overcoming the barriers
- Ensuring that realistic expectations are set for what a workplace education program can and cannot address
- Identifying additional strategies other than programs to address issues of print and oral communication
What the principles that support a Needs Assessment
The Needs Assessment process is meant to build support from the ground up through union/management collaboration as opposed to an approach where the decisions are made from the top down. The leadership for the Needs Assessment should come from the stakeholder committee process. The consultation should be with both management and workers from various parts of the workplace.
The Needs Assessment process assumes that everyone in the workplace has something to learn and that everyone has something to teach someone else. It builds on people’s strengths rather than focusing on deficits. It pays attention to people’s ideas, their goals and the realities of their every day work life. On the other hand, it also recognizes that in many cases workers have had fewer opportunities for development and that the workplace corporate goals should provide those opportunities.