To improve human performance, ignore the performance (as busyness).
Focus on the results you want to produce.
Use these systematic steps in human performance technology:
Analysis, design/development, implementation, evaluation, and revision.
Use these initial steps for improving human performance: Analyze the problem, identify causes, and select suitable intervention.
First step in improving human performance: Define the ideal situation. Discover the actual situation. Find the gap between the two.
Define desired results in terms such as speed, accuracy, products, efficiency, profit, quality, customer satisfaction, and value.
Analysis is the essential first step in performance improvement. However, don’t equate it with paralysis.
Interventions are planned activities for improving human performance. Choose among hundreds of effective interventions.
Remember that in a given context, some other human performance intervention may work more effectively than the one you specialize in.
Key to performance technology: Select an intervention that is targeted to eliminate the root cause of a problem.
If a performance problem is caused by lack of skills and knowledge, use training, education, or coaching as the appropriate intervention.
Don’t use training as an intervention if the problem is not caused by lack of skills and knowledge. It will backfire.
Replace training with the use of job aids and performance support. These interventions could be more cost-effective.
Use job redesign, process re-engineering, and job crafting as interventions if an inefficient work process causes a problem.
Use human factors interventions (like facilities design or ergonomics) if inefficient facilities and tools cause a problem.
Use feedback, coaching, or performance review as interventions if a lack of professional and personal development caused a problem.
Use staff selection, task assignment, or retention as interventions if you are faced with personnel problems.
Adjust compensation, benefits, and other financial incentives if inefficient or unfair salaries cause a problem.
If interpersonal clashes create performance problems, use team-building activities as suitable interventions.
Is the lack of engagement causing problems? Use job crafting as an intervention: Find employee's strengths and redesign the job to utilize them.
Problems caused by discrimination and harassment? Use diversity and inclusion interventions.
Problems caused by suspicion, fear, betrayal, excessive caution, duplication, and micromanagement? Use trust building interventions.
Problems caused by general unhappiness? Use positive psychology interventions.
Before selecting a performance intervention, conduct gap and cause analyses. After selecting the intervention, conduct other analyses.
Avoid arrogance. Understand the client’s perceptions. Listen mindfully to the client’s analysis of the performance problem.
Persuade the client to delay starting the project until gap analysis and cause analysis are completed.
Ask tactful questions to tease out political reasons for a particular intervention or focus on a particular aspect of the problem.
Don’t collect too much data. Use as much of the available data as possible to rapidly identify the gap and the root cause.
Performance analysis, gap analysis, needs analysis, front-end analysis—all of these mean approximately the same thing.
You can—and you should—conduct gap analysis and cause analysis at the individual, team, and organizational levels.
Make analysis a participatory activity. Use cross-sectional focus groups for conducting analyses.
Use various techniques, types, and sources for collecting and processing performance analysis data.
Always remember that the ultimate goal of collecting performance analysis data is to select the most appropriate intervention.
Use interviews, observation, surveys, tests, critical incidents, mapping, brainstorming, and other techniques to collect analysis data.
During the initial performance analysis phase, collect and review the vision, mission, goals, and policies of an organization.
Analysis is addictive and paralyzing. Discipline yourself to just-enough and just-in-time analyses.
After you have selected an intervention through basic analysis, you are ready to conduct targeted analyses associated with the chosen intervention.
Conduct an environmental analysis of external factors such as government, politics, economy, social trends, and markets.
Remember—and apply—the four Ws in conducing analysis: worker, work, workplace, and world. Analyze at all four levels.
Problem: Gap between what should be and what is. Opportunity: Gap between what could be and what is. Look from both perspectives.
Conduct an organizational analysis to review the vision, mission, values, goals, and strategies. Also discover the links among these elements.
Conduct an organizational analysis to audit the climate, standard practices, interpersonal relationships, and cultural norms.
Conduct a workflow analysis to identify the inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and feedback loops.
Conduct a communication analysis to review the clarity of job specifications, expectations, policies, procedures, and marketing materials.
Conduct an incentives analysis to review salaries, benefits, bonuses, promotions, rewards, and recognition.
Conduct a cultural audit to identify the organizational values, norms, diversity, and inclusion.
Conduct a diversity audit to determine how employees differ in gender, age, nationality, culture, language, personality, and other factors.
Conduct a learner analysis to identify the participants’ entry knowledge, learning preference, language level, and aptitudes.
Different interventions use different design procedures. But some universal design strategies apply to all interventions.
During design/development, make sure that objectives, procedures, tools, content, and evaluation are aligned to each other.
Periodically align different elements of your intervention package to each other—and the desired business results.
Contextualize the intervention. Design the intervention for use by a specific target user in a specific work setting.
Design the intervention package in a modular fashion. This speeds up the design and permits flexible usage during implementation.