Kent Sport are 1 of 20 CSPs that have now used the CSP Network Training Needs Analysis (TNA) Tool to facilitate the assessment of competencies in order to support individual and team training and development plans. The bespoke tool allows CSPs to flexibly identify their strengths and areas for improvement and includes a range of modules and competencies that are required to be effective in a CSP.
Kent Sport recognised the benefits of using a TNA tool to identify individual and team development needs and decided to use the TNA to underpin more robust decision making with regards to investment into staff development, and to identify areas of need to focus on as a whole team. They built it into their performance management process for all members of staff and used it as an opportunity to embed key safeguarding and equalities messages, as well as adding mandatory training requirements from Kent County Council (their host organisation).
The TNA was introduced to the whole team at a Business Review and Planning meeting in January 2016. This involved an engaging session on learning, and small groups were asked to produce a ‘Why-Why’ diagram to identify the underlying reason for undertaking professional development, to enhance buy-in. Once staff had undertaken the TNA, individuals and line managers were able to use these in their ‘action planning and setting expectations’ process, which specifically asks staff to identify training and development needs linked to the Business Plan; how and when they will be met, and how they will be funded.
The results from the TNA highlighted that the team has strength in depth in partnership working, networking, and communication. They also found that they had under-utilised strengths around insight and strategy development, whereby staff were showing competence in these areas but not necessarily employed in roles which maximise these skills. The senior management team at Kent Sport are addressing these areas and continuing to build on their strengths. Training has been provided across a range of topics, from outcome focused project scoping to the safe use of social media, with positive outcomes already being evidenced through the performance of staff.
Kevin Day, Kent Sport Director, said:
“Undertaking the CSP Network TNA Tool as a team was a really useful exercise and we were able to adapt it to include other local priorities. It enabled us to identify strengths within the team, as well as both team-wide and individual development needs, which we have been able to feed into our annual action planning processes.
“We will look to repeat the exercise in future, to ensure we are continually assessing our strengths and developmental needs, particularly with the changes signalled within the Government and Sport England Strategies and the CSP Appraisal.”
For more information on the CSP Networks TNA tool please contact gsinnott@cspnetwork.org