Needs Assessment on a Shoestring

Determine Organizational Needs Despite Limited Resources

Needs Assessment on a Shoestring offers talent development professionals a process for addressing organizational needs and determining whether training is the solution. Needs assessment pros Kelly L. Jones and Jody N. Lumsden apply the Build-Borrow-Buy approach to provide guidance, quick tips, and shortcuts for investigating and uncovering everything you can about the organizational problem you need to solve.

With this book, you will learn to build a needs assessment strategy, gather insight through data analysis, and put forward effective solution recommendations. You’ll also pick up strategies for borrowing existing information, talent, and resources, and for making resource management decisions. Regardless of the scope of the project, the constraints of the business problem, or how you get the job done, the steps associated with needs assessments are flexible enough to scale up or down.

To conduct high-quality needs assessments, think like a detective. The detectives Sherlock Holmes, Velma Dinkley, and Hercule Poirot didn’t have large teams, unlimited budgets, or a bottomless well of resources to work with, but they succeeded by identifying who, where, and how to solve mysteries that no one else could. With this book, talent development professionals can too. This is a perfect resource for small companies—and departments of one or few—who need to get started right away.

The Association for Talent Development’s On a Shoestring series helps professionals successfully execute core topics in training and talent development when facing limitations of time, money, staff, and other resources. Using the Build-Borrow-Buy approach to problem solving, this series is designed for practitioners who work as a department of one; for new or “accidental” trainers, instructional designers, and learning managers who need fast, inexpensive access to practical strategies that work; and for those who work for small organizations or in industries that have limited training and development resources.

About the Author

Kelly L. Jones, PhD, is the Director of Learning & Development at EquipmentShare. Kelly has 20 years of professional experience in talent development and instructional design, and in building collaborative teams, holistic curriculum models, and leadership programs. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication & Information Technology from Middle Georgia State University, a master’s degree in Educational Technology from Georgia College, a PhD in Curriculum & Instruction from Mercer University. She lives in Columbia, Missouri.

Jody N. Lumsden, EdD, is a senior consultant, supporting large-scale organizational change management and workforce upskilling efforts, with 17 years of professional experience as a talent development and graphic design practitioner. She holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology from Southeast Missouri State University, a master’s degree in instructional technology from Southern Illinois University, and a specialist degree and doctorate in curriculum design and instruction from McKendree University. She lives in Jackson, Missouri.