Skill Demonstration Worksheet
Work Product Submission: Assessing
Performance Needs
Candidate Contact Information
Name:
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Address: Click here to enter text.
City:
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Province:
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Phone:
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Email:
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Date of Work Product Submission:
Postal: Click here to enter text.
Click here to enter a date.
Special Note: All work product submissions are shredded upon completion of the assessment.
References
Two written completed reference forms must accompany your work product assessment.
Declaration
A digitally signed worksheet or signed scanned copy of your worksheet must accompany your work
product submission.
I certify that I am authorized to submit the enclosed materials for the purpose of the skill demonstration
portion of the CSTD certification assessment process.
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Signature of candidate
I certify that this submission is a product of my original work.
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Signature of candidate
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assessing performance needs
Instructions
Preparing for your work product submission is a lot of work, and we want you to be successful. Before
starting this worksheet, you should read Competencies for Training and Development
Professionals© CSTD, pages 19-29 on Assessing Performance Needs.
We have designed this worksheet to help you:
● Select content that meets all the requirements for the skill demonstration
● Include all the relevant documentation with your submission
● Show how you addressed all the quality criteria
Selecting a project that meets the criteria
Your work product submission must be an original and current design project undertaken in the past two
years.
Showing how you addressed the quality criteria
From your written
answers in your
worksheet
Go through the worksheet page by page and answer all the questions. On
some pages, you will be asked to provide a reference to your material, in
others you will be asked to provide a clear description of how you met the
quality criteria.
Include all the relevant documentation via a Drop Box
For the Work Product Submission for Assessing Performance Needs via a Drop Box account, I have
included:
● My chronological resume, with titles and dates
● Two reference forms fully completed
● A digitally signed or scanned copy of my worksheet
● A completed copy of my worksheet, saved as Assessing Performance Needs WPS MY
NAME.doc
● My worksheet includes clear references to the location of specific information, as requested on
the pages of this form (The assessment team must be able to skip through your materials and
quickly locate the specific information you are referencing)
● All supporting documents are clearly labelled and attached to the following areas labelled as
folders:
o
Prepare to Assess
o
Identify Performance Gaps
o
Determine Causes of Performance Gaps
o
Identify Requirements for Closing Gaps
o
Validate Next Steps and Measures
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assessing performance needs
Please note: Paper files or email of files will not be accepted for your work product submission.
Provide Drop Box Link for Submission
Email [email protected] with the access link to your Drop Box account. Please
note the submission dates that apply.
Cancellation Policy
Scheduled work product submission dates that are cancelled with less than 30 days’ notice will be
subject to a cancellation fee.
Selecting a project that meets all the requirements
You must provide evidence of, or comment on, each of the Key Outputs identified in the Assessing
Performance Needs section of the Competencies for Training and Development Professionals, so it’s
essential to select a project that gives you an opportunity to do that. For example, your submission must
include a job, competency or goal analysis, performance gaps and causes, and so on.
The following pages of this form outline exactly what’s required. We have shaded the Key Outputs that
are mandatory and must be met for a successful submission.
Including all the relevant documentation
For the Work Product Submission for Assessing Performance Needs, you must submit all materials
indicated in the previous page, along with a completed electronic and signed paper copy of this form.
You must provide clear references to the location of specific information, as requested on the following
pages of this form. The assessment team must be able to skip through your materials and quickly locate
the specific information you are referencing.
Showing how you addressed all the quality criteria
On the following pages of this form, you are asked to provide specific references to your materials where
certain quality criteria should be observable by the assessors. You are also asked to provide a clear
concise description of how your demonstration meets certain quality criteria. In some cases, you may
also be asked to describe how you validated the output, or ensured it was correct and relevant.
You’ll find an example of a completed section of the form on the next page.
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assessing performance needs
Example of completed section of the form:
In this example, assessors should be able to observe successful compliance with quality criteria a and b
of the Needs assessment report, and you must describe a specific example of a situation.
Key Output
Needs
assessment
report
Quality Criteria
a. Report includes executive summary, purpose, process, key findings, potential
performance outcomes and recommended business measures, implications of
not addressing performance gaps, rationale for recommended training and nontraining solutions, target audience for training and whether training is mandatory
b. Report updated to include modifications based on feedback from the client and
key stakeholders
a. Presentation begins with an agenda
Presentation of
needs
assessment
report
b. Presentation highlights recommended training and non-training solutions based
on key findings
c. Presentation provides an opportunity for client and stakeholders to ask questions
d. Presentation addressed questions asked or concerns raised by client and
stakeholders
Indicate the specific location(s) of the needs assessment report:
Tab 5: Validate next steps and measures, pages 1-12
Briefly describe a specific example of how you addressed a question or concerned raised by the
client or a stakeholder (whether during a formal presentation or another informal mechanism):
a. What was the question or concern?
b. How did you respond?
c. What impact did it have on the report and recommendations?
The VP Operations expressed a concern that line managers were too busy to be able to provide
coaching time to support learners, and they didn’t feel comfortable in a coaching role. Luckily, the
President and head of production were involved in the assessment process, so I had their support in this
area.
I explained that it was critical that the process change had visible support from all levels of management
in order to be successful, and that it was vital that first line supervisors played a role in this. I also
reiterated that one component of the recommendation was to provide a coaching workshop for first line
supervisors which should help increase their skill and comfort levels around coaching.
The VP Ops said that was a good idea, but that still didn’t mean they had time to coach. The President
then suggested that he would like to explore the idea of making coaching a part of the reward and
recognition program, so that they were actually rewarded for making time to coach.
We included this idea in the final report as an area for further exploration.
copyright © The Institute for Performance and Learning 2015
assessing performance needs
YOUR WORK PRODUCT SUBMISSION
Context for Selected Project
Organization: Click here to enter text.
Please provide a brief description of the background for the Assessment
Click here to enter text.
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assessing performance needs | 1
1
Prepare to Assess
Key Output
Quality Criteria
a. Plan includes rationale for assessing performance needs, resources required,
budget, target audience to be studied, data required, rationale for data collection
method(s), who should provide data, sample size and distribution of data
Plan for
assessing
performance
needs
b. Plan includes comprehensive list of activities and timing, with clear roles and
responsibilities
c. Plan describes proposed content of the needs assessment report
d. Plan addresses needs and concerns of client and other stakeholders
e. Plan is approved by client
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where the plan for assessing performance
needs is documented:
Click here to enter text.
Describe specifically how you validated the plan with the client:
Click here to enter text.
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2
Identify Performance Gaps
Key Output
Quality Criteria
a. Appropriate method of analysis is used
For job analysis:
● Job analysis identifies functions and tasks for specific roles
● Job analysis identifies performance standards for tasks
● Tasks are clearly stated using active and appropriate verbs
Job,
competency or
goal analysis
For competency analysis:
● Competency analysis identifies competencies and sub-competencies within a
structure or framework
● Competencies are clearly stated using active and appropriate verbs
For goal (topic) analysis:
● Goal analysis identifies specific tasks related to a goal or topic
● Goal analysis identifies performance standards for tasks
● Tasks are clearly stated using active and appropriate verbs
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where the job, competency or goal analysis is
documented:
Click here to enter text.
Describe specifically how you determined what type of analysis was required:
Click here to enter text.
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2
Identify Performance Gaps
Key Output
Quality Criteria
a. Analysis identifies gap(s) between current and desired performance outcomes
Analysis of
performance
gaps and
opportunities to
improve
performance
b. Analysis stated in terms of specific performance outcomes
c. Performance outcomes state observable outcome desired and conditions under
which the outcome may be achieved
d. Business measures and targets identified that will indicate whether performance
outcomes have been achieved
e. Analysis based on accurate and reliable data
f.
Analysis determines cause-effect relationships among performance gaps
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where the analysis is documented:
Click here to enter text.
Describe specifically how you identified the performance gaps and any cause-effect relationships
among them:
Click here to enter text.
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3
Determine Causes of
Performance Gaps
Key Output
List of causes
of performance
gaps
Quality Criteria
a. Causes based on accurate and reliable data and sound analysis
b. List of causes considers all likely causes at a job, process and organization level
c. List of causes identifies cause-effect relationships among the various causes
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where the causes of the performance gaps are
documented:
Click here to enter text.
Describe specifically how you identified the causes of performance gaps and any cause-effect
relationships among them:
Click here to enter text.
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4
Identify Solutions for
Closing Gaps
Key Output
List of nontraining
solutions in
order of priority
Quality Criteria
a. List identifies how each solution will address causes of specific performance gaps
to achieve desired performance outcomes
b. List identifies dependencies on other solutions recommended
c. Solutions include descriptions of actions required to implement each solution
d. Solutions include estimate of resources and technology required
a. List identifies how each solution will address causes of specific performance gaps
to achieve desired performance outcomes
List of training
b. List identifies dependencies on other solutions recommended
c. Solutions include descriptions of actions required to implement each solution
d. Solutions include an estimate of the resources and technology required
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where the non-training and training solutions
are identified:
Click here to enter text.
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where you prioritize the solutions. If not
documented, briefly describe how you prioritized the solutions:
Click here to enter text.
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4
Identify Solutions for
Closing Gaps
Key Output
Plan for
supporting
transfer of
learning
Quality Criteria
a. Plan includes realistic solutions for transfer of learning to the workplace (such as
communication of expectations, feedback mechanisms, coaching/mentoring
support and incentives), based on desired performance outcomes
b. Plan identifies resources and time required to implement support for transfer of
learning to the workplace
c. Plan identifies technology to support transfer of learning 
a. Plan identifies what data will be gathered and analyzed
Plan for
evaluation
of training
b. Plan identifies when evaluation will be conducted
c. Plan includes benchmarks of pre-training performance and business results
d. Plan includes estimate of resources required to implement evaluation plan
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where the plan for supporting transfer of
learning is documented:
Click here to enter text.
Indicate the specific location(s) in your materials where the plan for evaluation of training is
documented:
Click here to enter text.
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4
Validate Next Steps and
Measures
Key Output
Needs
assessment
report
Quality Criteria
a. Report includes executive summary, purpose, process, key findings, potential
performance outcomes and recommended business measures, implications of
not addressing performance gaps, rationale for recommended training and nontraining solutions, target audience for training and whether training is mandatory
b. Report updated to include modifications based on feedback from the client and
key stakeholders
a. Presentation begins with an agenda
Presentation of
needs
assessment
report
b. Presentation highlights recommended training and non-training solutions based
on key findings
c. Presentation provides an opportunity for client and stakeholders to ask questions
d. Presentation addressed questions asked or concerns raised by client and
stakeholders
Indicate the specific location(s) of the needs assessment report:
Click here to enter text.
Briefly describe a specific example of how you addressed a question or concerned raised by the
client or a stakeholder (whether during a formal presentation or another informal mechanism):
● What was the question or concern?
● How did you respond?
● What impact did it have on the report and recommendations?
Click here to enter text.
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