The most important way organizations can ensure that they remain competitive is through robust training and development programs. However, to use training budgets effectively, training programs need to target the real-world needs of the company. It’s the human resource manager’s job to identify where employees need the most development and improvement. There are several ways to accomplish this, the first being a traditional performance appraisal, in which a supervisor meets with direct reports once or twice annually to discuss overall job performance. Another, more flexible way to identify needs is through evaluations performed by people managers. Middle management should observe their direct reports on a day-to-day basis and assess their strengths and weaknesses. Customer feedback is another important tool organizations can use to identify where certain employees need improvement. This feedback should be analyzed to identify not only employee shortcomings, but also where employees are going above and beyond in their work. Another, less common way to identify workforce issues is to refer to external experts. If the workforce seems to be in a rut and management is having a difficult time changing it, it might be prudent to get a fresh set of eyes on the problem.