Learning Needs Assessment Survey

The Learning Needs Assessment Survey is a ready-to-launch questionnaire that helps you find out where your people feel confident and where they feel underprepared. Its 22 questions ask employees to rate their proficiency in the core technical skills their role requires, their confidence in interpersonal and communication skills, and whether they feel up to date with the latest tools, technologies, and methodologies in their field. Run it before you plan a training calendar, at the start of a development cycle, or whenever you want a clear, self-reported picture of skills gaps across a team rather than a guess. The result is a grounded starting point for building learning that people actually need.

Training budgets are easy to spend and hard to justify without evidence of what people need. This survey gives you that evidence. Because employees rate their own readiness (for example, whether they feel equipped to handle challenges likely in the next 12 months and whether they are aware of the skills gaps holding back their progression), you can prioritise programmes by demand rather than assumption. It also surfaces preferences, so you can invest in formats and session lengths people will complete. The output helps you decide which topics to fund first, which teams need the most support, and how to sequence learning so it maps to real career and role requirements.

The 22 questions move through several themes. First comes current capability: rating proficiency in core technical skills and confidence in the interpersonal and communication skills the role demands. Next is readiness and awareness, with statements such as being up to date with the latest tools and methodologies, feeling fully equipped for challenges in the coming year, and being aware of the skills gaps to address for career progression. The final theme is preference and logistics, including which area of development matters most for the current role, which learning format employees prefer, and their preferred session length for training. Together these give you both the what and the how of a learning plan.

Copy or download the full set of 22 questions and paste them straight into your survey tool of choice, whether that is Google Forms, Typeform, or another platform. No signup is required to use the template. Keep responses anonymous so people rate their gaps honestly rather than managing perceptions, and set a clear closing date. Once responses are in, group them by theme (capability, readiness, preferences) and by team, then turn the highest-demand areas into your next round of learning.