Interview Questions

To help you think about training requirements we ask the type of questions below and ask you to think in terms of team, collaboration, competition, innovation and industry growth.

These are the types of questions that we ask:

Big picture questions:

• What does your Work Package want to achieve this year?
• How do you expect training will relate to these outcomes?
• What external factors need to be considered? Think of competition, innovation, industry growth
• What internal factors need to be considered? Team collaboration, team knowledge skills homogeneity, time constraints?

Understand the Current Performance

• What knowledge and skills do your team members need to be successful?
• Where are the gaps in skills and knowledge?
• What are current problem, bottlenecks or challenges?
• What are the requirements for skills homogeneity?
• What are your needs for non-technical / social skills?

Future needs

• What does the future look like in your environment?
• Are there any new ideas, methods, processes, machines or challenges on the horizon?
• What skills or knowledge needs do you foresee for your Work package in the future?

Training request to submit

• Which training requests do you want to submit?
• Which training are must haves, nice to haves on a scale of 1-10?
• Who should be taking part in the program and why?
•  

Focus on evaluation

• How will you measure the desired outcomes?
• How will we know if the program has been effective?

Q&A  

WHAT IS A LEARNING NEEDS ANALYSIS?

It’s an understanding of what leaders in the GEANT work packages must do to ensure that their team collectively has the skills and the knowledge to deliver on the promise of the work packages.                                                  

Obviously, teams have already been selected based on competencies contributed by NRENS, but with the speed of change today and in the future, it is important that we select and prioritise training activities carefully to make sure we stay ahead of the game.

WHICH ARE THE TRAINING ACTIVITIES PEOPLE CAN ATTEND?

It is our believe that technical innovations are powered by individual curiosity...”. Learning is an entirely voluntary process and we do not ‘send’ people on a course. There are many ways to help people to learn, some of which cost very little money and do not need to wait for the annual training plan.

All training activities are open to all GN4.3 project members on a first come, served basis, provided they have approval for payment ( for cost and payment if applicable) and approval from the Team leader ( for time).

The training activities will be published on the learning.org website

WHAT ARE THE ROLES OF TEAM LEADERS VERSUS THAT OF GEANT GLAD) FOR TRAINING?

As a team leader you will have a detailed picture of your team and their training needs. Although GLAD plays a valuable role in such things of collating collective needs and getting economies of scale and central organising and provide funding and many other things, we rely heavily on team leaders to identify the right needs of your teams that are linked to your project goals.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT TRAINING IS NEEDED?

All starts with good communication and good dialogue with your team members. In your regular contact with your people you are likely to spot things not done properly or that someone is struggling. We believe that technical

Tool: Skills matrix

The skills matrix is a great tool to identify an individual training needs but also on a team level.   It’s a simple table that correlates the skills you need to run your activity against the skills you have available. See an example here 

HOW WILL TRAINING REQUESTS BE PRIORITIZED?

Based on the outcomes of the LNA, GLAD will determine if all of the training requests can be completed. Things we consider include: which training investments will provide the most benefit to the project; take a more strategic look at longer term needs; economies of scale. If time and budget will not permit us to do everything training may be phased over the GN4.3 project years or we refer to often fee online solutions. 

WHICH LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES ARE AVAILABLE?

Many training needs can be met continuously using local resources at little cost. i.e. …..

See GLAD portfolio ( Irina)…..

Talk to GLAD team to explore the possibilities