PerformanceXpress

International Society of Performance Improvement Newsletter
February 2006

Branding Your Know-How
by Alastair Rylatt

Branding know-how is an enduring challenge for all learning and performance consultants. In recent times, there has been much written and said about building successful brands. However, what is often missing is the link to business know-how. It is amazing how many learning and development professionals and performance improvement consultants are totally unaware of their unique capability and expertise. Why, might you ask? The core reason is that most people are out of touch with what makes them special in the minds of their customers.

A good brand is much more than a list of features. It is full of emotional messages that grab and keep people’s attention and loyalty. Common examples of emotions include fun, excitement, freedom, security, social approval, and self-respect. Think about your favourite restaurant. What is it that compels you to return? What know-how do they have? It is more than just the food? Do you have a feeling of confidence that comes from consistency of past service? Are you getting value for your money? Does the food taste better than the opposition’s food? Do you like their service? Or, do you just love the vibe of the place? Whatever the reason, I suspect that their know-how is a big part of the answers.

So, when it comes to improving brand value, you must connect it to the world of understanding know-how. To apply this in business, you need to have a clear brand focus, communicate how your know-how links to your message, and, finally, go about tracking brand awareness and appeal.

Developing a Clear Brand Focus
To be successful your business must continually explore three simple questions:

1. What makes your business truly outstanding?
2. What capabilities does your business generate that are making it extraordinary and hard to copy?
3. How can you preserve and sustain this advantage?

Through exploring these questions, a business can begin to reposition its strategy in the eyes of the customer. Simple examples could be relabelling its expertise; making service guarantees; or highlighting how it makes business easy, stress free, and transparent.

When these questions are honestly and candidly explored, you will be much better prepared to build and grow a smarter, better business. This is why market leaders dominate their markets. They are much better than the rest at building on and developing their brand equity.

Linking to Know-How
Having developed a clearer understanding of your know-how, you can then develop a brand strategy that inspires interest, engages curiosity, and builds on your reputation. Here are four steps to consider:

1. Create a mantra. Develop a catch phrase or logo that covers the spirit of your brand. Look for a 5- to 10-word phrase that communicates a fresh, fun, innovative, relevant, and inspiring quality.
2. Mark your territory. Break your brand into three to five areas of excellence or activity. Consider the functional benefits of your know-how as well as the symbolic benefits. Ultimately, does your know-how make a person’s life better and provide the stimulation he or she is seeking?
3. Open the communication lines. Develop a plan that builds commitment and mobilizes effort. Depending on your brand, conversations should be established with a wide range of people including employees, customers, suppliers, and experts. Encourage people to share ideas and be part of the implementation. People must feel as if they, as well as the business, are personally benefiting.
4. Maintain the buzz. Word of mouth is everything! The recommendations of others are priceless in brand development. Just think of what you do when you decide to go to a movie or change doctors. You have most likely made a decision based on a recommendation from someone you trust and value. In maintaining the buzz, the goal is to raise awareness from customers being blissfully unaware to being totally infatuated by it. Keep your brand fresh and vital, and make your communication consistent with the brand identity, image, and aspirations.

Tracking Performance
No business can grow or survive unless it constantly reviews its progress and then takes action to improve. When it comes to branding know-how, two review strategies are recommended in improving performance. First, undertake independent and regular review of how your know-how is impacting your brand, and then explore the actual reaction of the customer to your value proposition.

When it comes to measuring the impact of your know-how, no single metric or approach can meet all situations. Specific measures or indicators are heavily influenced by the nature of operations that exist within each business. So expect variations! It is, therefore, recommended that a series of measures be considered in helping to produce a more accurate and informative picture of your business expertise.

From my studies of companies, there appears to be five areas you may wish to communicate within your brand strategy:

1. Customer capital. Show how you listen to your customers. Communicate customer satisfaction rates and growth of customer learning and involvement in decision making.
2. Human capital. Identify the expertise and composition of your people. For example, a high level of enthusiasm, desire, and commitment in the workplace would be an indicator that your people are committed to excellence. Other measures include brain drain and investment in training and development.
3. Intellectual capital. Place a value on trademarks, secrets, patents, and brands.
4. Relationship capital. Detail collaborative relationships, business partnerships, joint ventures, and industry associations that are helping build your reputation and industry standing.
5. Systems performance. Describe how your systems and processes benefit your brand. Measures can include the investment in digital technology, or how practices have been replicated or improved. Here you will also find common measures of productivity, reduced waste, and efficiency savings, to name a few.

Second, you need to measure brand value in the eyes of the customer. For example, what is the extent to which and ease with which the customer recalls and recognizes your brand. What are the strength, favorability, and uniqueness of the brand? What know-how is seen and respected? What are the perceived qualities of the brand and which emotions and attachments are generated? By understanding this feedback, you are then better placed to review your strategy for the next wave of branding your expertise and talent.

Alastair Rylatt from Alastair Rylatt Consulting is one of Australia’s leading contemporary thinkers, speakers, and authors in smarter, better business. His website is www.alastairrylatt.com, and he may be reached at alastair@alastairrylatt.com.

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TrendSpotters: The Anatomy of Performance Framework
by Carol Haig, CPT, and Roger Addison, CPT, EdD

Partnerships to Improve Performance in Complex Systems
by Mary L. Broad, CPT, EdD

Consider this scenario. Reliable office buzz predicts that the organization you serve (as internal or external performance consultant) will soon announce strategic changes in products, processes, marketing, or other areas. The decisions have enormous implications for performance in many parts of the organization itself and in some of the external organizations in its complex system, such as suppliers, clients, or advertising partners.

Your reactions to this news will depend somewhat on where you are on a consulting or partnering continuum anchored at each end by one of the following positions:

• Full consulting partner with key managers. As an experienced performance consultant, you have built up and maintained partnering and consulting relationships with key decision makers in important sectors of the organization’s system. You are often involved in their decision-making processes, helping to assess results gaps and define desired performance. You coach them on essential factors supporting performance that must be provided by managers and other stakeholders. These include clear performance specifications, necessary resources, constructive feedback, and other factors outlined in Geary Rummler’s book Serious Performance Consulting (2004) and other resources.
• Aspiring consulting partner without established high-level partnering relationships. You recently began to focus on performance and use Rummler’s six essential factors in your coaching for managers and in performance analyses of results gaps. You have gathered information on the organization’s products, competitors, market share, technologies, processes, workforce, and other aspects, and want to develop top-level partnerships.

Your Responses
Your reactions to the predicted changes will have some similarities, wherever you are on the consulting or partnering continuum. You will probably pursue the following areas, though at different levels of confidence or complexity:

• The organization’s complex system. You analyze how expected changes will be implemented within the organization and throughout its associated external organizations. Which components will be most affected? How do they relate to each other? Will other components outside the organization’s own system (such as researchers, regulators, industry associations, interest groups of many kinds) play important roles? Who else—in or outside the organization—can help you define how changes may be implemented?
• Major stakeholders in the complex system. You identify key players including:
  • Performers: Employees or others, inside or outside the organization, who must develop new or improved performance to implement the changes
  • The management chain, from top levels down to supervisors of performers, and those who manage highly autonomous performers who choose when and how to change their performance
  • Performance consultants (including organization development specialists, trainers, and other change agents) who help analyze performance requirements and design, present, and evaluate interventions to develop and maintain desired performance throughout the organizational system
  • Other stakeholders who contribute to the change process (such as co-workers of performers, and internal or external customers and suppliers)

Your Challenges
If you are a full consulting partner with key managers involved in the change process, your challenges are manageable. You can initiate or join planning sessions on implementation:

• Root causes of results gaps and desired outcomes of proposed changes
• New or improved performances necessary within or outside the organization
• Types of interventions that may be appropriate
• Other stakeholders who should be involved early to gain their support (or neutralize their opposition)
• Metrics to measure progress and success
• Required resources
• Many other aspects of Human Performance Technology implementation plans

However, if you are not yet a high-level consulting partner, you have the significant added challenge—upfront—of convincing top managers that your contributions are valuable. You have identified managers whose organizations will be most involved. You can develop proposals that include the above aspects of implementation and seek a contact who can recommend your services to a top decision maker. The more networking and lower-level successes you have accomplished, the greater your chances of making a useful connection.

Significant changes in the complex organizational system present big opportunities as well as challenges for performance consultants hoping to get in on the action. With high stakes involved, managers may be receptive to well-thought-out proposals from any credible source. Aspiring consultants should seek recommendations from every client they have helped, to get the ear of a manager who may welcome performance consulting support at this critical time.

Reference
Rummler, G. (2004). Serious performance consulting according to Rummler. Silver Spring, MD: International Society for Performance Improvement.

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Researching the Radical: A Report from the 2006 Conference Committee
by Matthew S. Richter, CPT, 2006 Conference Committee Chair

It’s that time of year again! ISPI’s 44th Annual International Performance Improvement Conference is back and in Dallas, Texas, April 8-11. Our goal for the conference is to enhance professional learning and growth. Nothing new there. What has changed is the theme for the conference: Researching the Radical. This year, the Keynote, Fresh Perspective series, and the Educational Sessions look at innovative, unconventional, and daring approaches to performance improvement. Our goal is to re-live the early, heady days of NSPI, the original name for the International Society for Performance Improvement.

This year’s ISPI conference is about challenging the status quo—not out of disrespect, but out of the obligation to explore all viable alternatives for improving human performance.

ISPI was founded by a group of pioneers who challenged the accepted norms of their times through rigorous and practical research. This year, we return to our roots and examine related approaches that HPT practitioners encounter outside of the standard procedure and validates—or invalidates—them. Toward this end, the Conference Program Committee invited thought leaders from outside ISPI to join us in open dialogue, to excite, educate, and, in some cases, provoke us to higher levels of accomplishment.

These provocative discourses, organized alongside HPT standards are exemplified by the Fresh Perspective series. Two of the presenters in this series are long-time ISPI members with a reputation for unconventional thinking: Mariano L. Bernardez and Richard Pearlstein. The other five presenters are published authors and well-known authorities in their respective fields. The featured speakers include: Richard M. Ryan, professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Education at the University of Rochester and co-author of Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior; Clark Aldrich, author of Simulations and the Future of Learning and Learning by Doing; Stella Ting-Toomey (California State University) and Leeva Chung (University of San Diego), co-authors of Understanding Intercultural Communication; and Patricia Ryan Madson, senior lecturer emerita at Stanford University and author of Improv Wisdom. For a full description of the Fresh Perspective presentations, click here.

As usual, we will offer the hands-on, interactive HPT Institutes that provide principles and procedures immediately applicable in the workplace. Alternatively, you might want to take a two-day workshop on Measuring Return on Investment or Organization Performance Consulting. We have one-day workshops on Building Low-Cost e-Learning Interventions, Using an HPT Model to Become Management’s Strategic Partner, Identifying the Right Tools for the Job, and many more. And, new this year is ISPI’s Certificate Program.

All Educational Sessions (more than 200) coincide with each of the ISPI Professional Communities (ProComms), allowing you to integrate the innovative with the tried and true.

In spite of our emphasis on the radical, we are not ignoring our basic roots. Encore Presentations are back by popular demand based on evaluation data provided by last year’s conference attendees.

All radical approaches are not necessarily effective. To emphasize this fact, we invited the great skeptic and rationalist, the Amazing Randi. Randi’s Keynote presentation, Human Performance Improvement: Separating the Valid from the Humbug, discusses the importance of making informed decisions in today’s business environment. His thought-provoking talk demonstrates how a misconstrued—but seemingly logical—decision can affect your bottom line by many thousands of dollars. Randi explains how unconventional technologies may provide access to more information—and to more misinformation. His provocative presentation will leave you with tools of critical thinking and provide you with the means for making better informed, profitable decisions.

For our second General Session, we decided to bring in the best and the brightest: you and your fellow participants. This special interactive session will feature structured activities to elicit and evaluate best practices in HPT. During this session, you will not be passively listening but actively exchanging powerful ideas and systematically filtering them to identify the best of the best. Facilitated by a group of 30 “game wardens,” this session will provide you with effective and enjoyable tools and techniques.

To truly develop our practice, we must look beyond what we already know. At the same time, we should apply our core criteria to validate innovative interventions. This year’s conference promises to challenge, provoke, excite, stimulate, engage, integrate, educate, evolve, and validate.

As we get closer to ISPI’s Dallas conference date, April 8-11, I get more excited. I feel the history of ISPI, and the ideas of such luminaries as B.F. Skinner, Thomas Gilbert, Robert Gagne, Susan Markle, Robert Mager, Joe Harless, Claude Lineberry, and others, inviting us to open the doors and see what else is out there—and to research the radical alternatives.

Come join the fray! For more information about the conference and to register, click here.

ISPI in Beijing

In the December issue of PerformanceXpress, ISPI highlighted a recent trip to Bulgaria and Korea. In last month’s issue, we talked about our travels to Egypt. This month, we take you to Beijing, China, where ISPI past president Donald T. Tosti, CPT, PhD, was invited to present at the 3rd international conference for the Association for Behavioral Analysis. His presentation on Human Performance Technology (HPT) was one of the few presentations simultaneously translated into Mandarin. The audience of Chinese nationals, South Koreans, Taiwanese, and others mostly from America greeted the topic with much enthusiasm. Tosti related the historical development of the field of HPT and its relation to applied behavioral analysis.

In addition, Tosti described what ISPI has been doing internationally and what performance technology can bring to China. He pointed out how HPT models such as the Performance Framework and Organizational Alignment and organizational improvement technologies such as Process Analysis, Performance-Based Management, and Culture Analysis could provide the base for significant improvement in the working lives of people throughout the world.

There were a number of graduate students from universities around Beijing in attendance. The question session that followed the presentation was lively. Both professionals and students were intrigued by the wide range of innovative applications where HPT has been used. The idea of “scaling up” from individual performance to operational and organizational performance was new to many of them. There was particular interest in ISPI’s seven Professional Communities and how they work together.

Executive Director Dr. Maria Malott of the Association for Behavioral Analysis and Dr. Julie Vargas of the B.F. Skinner Foundation were the American hosts. Dr. Bai Ming of the LiYaun Hospital of the TongJi School of Medicine at Hua Zhong University of Science and Technology was the Chinese host.

From the Board: A Leadership Workout
by Clare Elizabeth Carey, CPT, EdD, ISPI President-elect

My fitness trainer is excited. In an inspired New Year’s resolution moment, I gave her permission to ratchet up my exercise regime. Her eyes took on this glint, her fingers twitched, and she started reaching for the heavier weights. “I’ll remind you of what you said,” she grinned. I grimaced.

So, while sweating on the elliptical machine (who invents these modern torture devices anyway?), I started thinking about ISPI, our Board, and how we might leverage the principles of fitness to our leadership practices. It’s amazing how Human Performance Technology applies across disciplines, organizations, and people. Every solid exercise routine has a warm-up, a workout, and a cool down. Guess what…so does effective Board leadership.

Warm-up = Plan

1. Set goals. There are numerous iterations of our strategic plans, yet the goals have remained relatively consistent: a resilient Society, a vibrant technology, and proficient practitioners. Strategic planning is an evolving process and will continue as such. In April, we will transition Boards. Current Board members will provide their insights, and new members will add their visions. Each Board will continue to proclaim what ISPI is trying to accomplish. “Focus on your goals and you will reach them,” trainer barks. (BoD mantra: Focus on results.)

2. Identify barriers. As a Board, we encounter a range of issues. At times, we re-examine programs and approaches employed in our operational plans. This is important. We need to determine if, and what are, the key barriers to achieving our mission. If we are not getting our desired results, we determine why and then revise. “Input determines output,” trainer advises. (BoD mantra: Be honest. Be bold.)

3. Specify new levels. If we recognize existing hurdles, we can identify countermeasures. Every program has setbacks. As leaders, we need to concentrate on the big picture and to continue to raise the bar for ISPI’s success. “You can do more than you think you can,” trainer challenges. (BoD mantra: Go forward. Think future.)

4. Define strategy. Each Board member brings a different skill set. The key to our success as a Board, and as a global Society, is to harness our individual talents and leverage our collective strengths. With effective teamwork, we can achieve more for our Society. There is no single right way to achieve desired results. “Engage all muscle groups,” trainer outlines. (BoD mantra: Build synergy. Cultivate collaboration.)

Workout = Execute
By now, my muscles are primed for real action. As my trainer pushes me to work harder, she coaches me to breathe, to relax, and to allow the mind-body connection to work as a system. “Let it flow,” trainer counsels.

5. Secure resources. Once goals and measures are determined, we need to get the tools and resources to achieve the designated targets. One thing is clear. There are never enough resources. So our Board relies on the business acumen of our executive director, the proficiency of a great staff, and the generosity of many volunteers in myriad roles. Rarely, do we have the luxury to do all that we want to do. Decisions have to be based on feasible priorities. As a Board, we aim for a positive return on investments. “You have to make time to exercise; shorter sessions are better than none,” trainer admonishes. (BoD mantra: Invest wisely. Seek value.)

6. Monitor progress. Goals are only great ideas until they are put into action. As a Board, we need to execute our plans and evaluate our progress using both measures and members. Numbers tell only part of the story. Our constituents, partners, and customers can provide important details missed by hard data. This year, the Board is working on creating a customized “performance dashboard”. We want to identify measures of performance that will help us make better decisions. Like my exercise monitor, it will help us to know if we are “in the zone” or if we need to increase or recover efforts. “Stay in your target range,” trainer directs. (BoD mantra: Measure for meaning.)

7. Dramatize accomplishments. Our volunteer members are the lifeblood of our Society. Our members, committees, task forces, communities, advocates, and partners invest significantly in ISPI’s success. The Board needs to recognize and appreciate their many contributions. We must ensure that our volunteers feel a sense of value and accomplishment. “Be proud of your efforts, even if you don’t see results immediately,” trainer mentors. (BoD mantra: Celebrate contributions—large and small.)

Cool down = Learn
The exercise session may be over, but the benefits continue long after the workout. The body is energized, the mind is sharper, and stress is reduced. My trainer insists on completing the final phase of the session. “Don’t shortchange your program. Stretching helps your muscle memory,” trainer instructs.

8. Check for distortions. All Board members invest time and energy in service to ISPI. Their actions are intended for the collective good. Yet, it is important to revisit our decisions and strategy as external forces and internal drivers change. With so many competing interests and different dynamics, it is easy to lose balance. Our Board must filter distractions and maintain the Society’s compass. “Get centered,” trainer urges. (BoD mantra: Be attentive.)

9. Analyze indicators. ISPI is a living, breathing, growing Society. As such, we cannot remain static. The Board continues to analyze a range and variety of global factors. Our technology evolves as do the needs of our Society. The Board must adapt to current realities and seize future opportunities. “Adjust your regime as needed to continue results,” trainer coaches. (BoD mantra: Be responsive.)

10. Ratchet up. To improve performance, our Board continues to aspire and perspire (pun intended). We are optimistic. We are motivated. We are dedicated to ISPI. Each Board provides a legacy for the next, cultivating fresh energy and continuing a positive spiral of continuous improvement. “It’s all about form,” trainer summarizes. (BoD mantra: Aim high.)

My trainer’s total performance plan guarantees results, but only with serious dedication. Occasional exercise does not do it. Commitment must be a daily feature of one’s fitness. So it is with leadership...and so it goes with your Board. (Writer’s note: Invest in your Society’s leadership…be sure to vote in this year’s Board Election! Ballots were sent via email to current ISPI members on Monday, January 16, and a reminder email will be sent soon.)

Making Performance Improvement Happen
by Harold D. Stolovitch, CPT, PhD, and Erica J. Keeps, CPT

Making performance improvement happen depends on your competencies, characteristics, and consulting capabilities. Nevertheless, clients also have an important role to play. You can help them fulfill it. There are times when you are an extra pair of hands, just helping out your client by doing what she or he asks for. There may be other times when the client disappears, and you seem to have taken over, doing everything without him or her. While these happen from time to time, they mustn’t occur too often. The ideal state of partnership for performance success is a collaborative one with shared responsibilities and duties.

The table below outlines client responsibilities for ensuring a performance improvement project’s success and what you can do to make sure your client engages in each of these. As you examine the table, imagine you are involved in a large-scale performance improvement project that includes not only you as the key performance consultant player, but also a team of internal and external resources.

Smaller-scale projects are not quite as demanding. Nevertheless, the principles embedded in the table apply. Clients must, at a minimum, still approve, provide resources, monitor progress and results, and reward/reinforce. Your job remains one of being there to assist and facilitate as appropriate.

Client Responsibilities and Ways You Can Assist

Your mission is business success through people performance. Your role is that of the partner consultant. Your job is to:

• Inform clients and stakeholders of what performance consulting is and is not (e.g., just training). To be successful, you must explain the roles and services they should expect from you. To do this, you will have to provide concrete examples.
• Show samples of what you and your learning and performance support team have done for other internal clients. Create and foster appropriate expectations as you transform from order-taker to the new, expanded, and organizationally vital performance improvement role.
• Explain what you mean by working in partnership with clients. Define the responsibilities clients retain during each phase of the performance improvement process. These generally include:
  • Reviewing all performance analysis materials and reports.
  • Reviewing identified interventions and their rationales and providing input on economics, feasibility, and organizational acceptability.
  • Approving the final selection of performance interventions.
  • Participating in resource selection or approving selected resources.
  • Providing information and content expertise (personally or through appropriate specialists); facilitating access to required content information/subject-matter experts.
  • Facilitating access to targeted performers for tryouts.
  • Participating in budget and timeline reviews.
  • Ensuring timely review of payment requests and payment to vendors.
  • Participating in planning, decision making, and, as appropriate, troubleshooting.
  • Providing feedback and reinforcement for successes.
• Guide clients to protect the performance improvement initiatives and team so that they may focus on critical tasks.
• Help clients to produce communications, activities, and showcases for accomplishments concerning their performance improvement efforts. Use these to inform senior management, other parts of the organization, and even the larger external communities.

Remember to make your clients shine. Their success is your success.

Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps are the principals of HSA LEARNING & PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS LLC, an international consulting firm that specializes in the application of instructional technology and human performance technology to business, industry, government, and the military. Stolovitch and Keeps are co-authors of the best-selling, award-winning books Telling Ain’t Training and Training Ain’t Performance. They are also co-authors of the Wiley/Pfeiffer Learning & Performance Toolkit Series as well as co-editors of the award-winning Handbook of Human Performance Technology. Their most recent book, Beyond Telling Ain’t Training Fieldbook, was released in May 2005. Stolovitch and Keeps may be reached at info@hsa-lps.com. For more information, visit www.hsa-lps.com.

Note: Excerpt from Harold and Erica’s book, Training Ain’t Performance. This article is a reprint of the original published in HSA e-Xpress, July 2005. Reprinted with permission from Harold D. Stolovitch & Associates Learning & Performance Solutions.

A New Edition of the Key Reference for the Field of Performance Improvement!

In April 2006, the Handbook of Human Performance Technology, 3^rd Edition co-published by Pfeiffer and the International Society for Performance Improvement will be released. This latest edition of the Handbook, edited by Dr. James A. Pershing, CPT, picks up where the previous editions left off, taking a fresh look at the principles, practices, and potential of HPT in the workplace, with thorough and expert coverage of:

• Foundations of Human Performance Technology
• The Performance Technology Process
• Interventions at the Worker and Work Team Levels
• Interventions at the Workplace and Organizational Levels
• Performance Measurement and Assessment
• Performance Technology in Action
• Looking Forward in Human Performance Technology

With 53 new chapters and 83 contributors, this comprehensive sourcebook offers both “what about” and “how to” information, supported by key theoretical and research findings, and provides a vast array of models and techniques that have proven effective in enhancing individual and organizational performance.

If you are a consultant, instructional designer, or manager engaged in improving workplace performance—or a student studying workplace learning and performance improvement—this book is an indispensable resource. 

Pre-order your copy of the third edition today and save 20% off the list price. For your savings, click here to visit the Pfeiffer website, and enter the following Promotional Code when you checkout: W66YE. Offer good through March 2006. Reserve your copy today!

The Future Belongs to Human Performance Technology
by Donald T. Tosti, CPT, PhD

Organizations are created by people, run by people, for the purpose of delivering value to the people who are the stakeholders. Every organization is, therefore, a human performance system and every aspect of it is open to Human Performance Technology (HPT).

In recent years, information technology has become a highly visible, growing force in organizations. Yet information technology focuses primarily on only one performance lever: information. HPT’s potential for impact is far broader.

We performance technologists have been limited in part by the perceptions of organizational clients who tend to see us as providing relatively low-value, low-cost services. We have been seen primarily as focusing on improving individual competencies or reducing costs.

Cost savings are excellent, but no organization can save its way to success. And individual competencies tend to be way below the CEO’s radar.

Our greatest value to an organization lies in what we can do at a more strategic level. We can help streamline governance procedures; we can maximize leader effectiveness; we can enhance the delivery of customer value; we can align organizations to produce far better results for all their stakeholders; and we can create more agile cultures allowing businesses to change as fast as their marketplace and faster than their competition.

In the early days, we thought we could change the world—improve education, rehabilitate people, reform business, and build a better society in general. But, we did not understand the power of the political and cultural forces that stood in our way.

Today, we understand those things far better, and we have a strong technological base to stand on. In 1960, we thought we could change the world. In 2006, we know we can. HPT is the way forward.

Donald T. Tosti, CPT, PhD, is a consistent contributor to PerformanceXpress. He is the managing partner of Vanguard Consulting, which specializes in the alignment of organizational processes and people with the stated strategy of the organization. Don is an expert in organizational systems. His pioneering work on contingency management began in the 1960s. As the principle investigator for the multimedia leadership/management course conducted at the U.S. Naval Academy, he adapted the methods of performance analysis to the study of leadership and management behavior. His subsequent work on modifying behavioral norms and leadership has demonstrated the power of HPT in organizations such as British Airways and General Motors. Don may be reached at Change111@aol.com.

Tidbits of Behavior Science
“Research-based”—Inductive or Hypothetical-deductive Research?
by Carl Binder, CPT, PhD

I have written about the importance of our field returning to its “natural science roots”—the science of behavior on which much of our field was founded and from which many of our thought leaders emerged (Binder, 1995). But what is that science, and how does it relate to practice?

Two Approaches to Science
Scientists make a distinction between inductive and hypothetical-deductive research that can help us understand how practice can be grounded in research while providing input to more systematic or controlled studies than are possible in “the field.”

Dictionary.com defines inductive as proceeding from particular facts to a general conclusion; and deductive as involving inferences from general principles. In science, inductive research arrives at “empirical generalizations” based on seeing the same pattern in an accumulation of specific examples to the point where they seem to justify general conclusions.

An example of induction in behavior science was the study of “schedules of reinforcement” by Charles Ferster and B.F. Skinner (Ferster & Skinner, 1957). Their book contained more than 800 individual graphs, selected from many thousands of laboratory cases, illustrating general patterns of behavior found under different arrangements of reinforcing consequences. This research has informed further basic research and application in the half century since its publication. Its inductive methodology formed the foundation of Skinner’s science and that of the many researchers who followed him, including the late Ogden Lindsley. Induction is a powerful method for discovery of patterns in nature. Its core is a kind of sorting process in which researchers create “piles” of findings characterized by different general patterns. When the piles get big enough, and there are relatively few counter-examples, researchers achieve sufficient confidence in their findings to assert general laws or principles.

Hypothetical-deductive science proceeds from general to specific. Used for “testing” hypotheses with experiments, its results can either confirm or fail to confirm hypotheses posed by experimenters. Scientists use hypothetical-deductive experiments to “prove” conclusions, often originally derived from inductive research. Hypothesis-testing is a way to “shore up” known findings and ensure that they cannot be explained other than by the variables identified and “controlled” in experiments.

Science and Practice
Inductive research is often an extension of practice, as for example in Precision Teaching and fluency-based instruction where practitioners apply different types of procedures with their students, measure learning and performance as part of the instructional decision-making process, and look for general patterns across cases. Discovery flows directly from practice, and in turn strengthens practice through feedback in application of the general principles that emerge. From the general findings suggested in “piles” of classroom examples come hypotheses about causal relationships that can then be subjected to more controlled laboratory research of the hypothetical-deductive kind. While practice and inductive discovery move forward rapidly, hypothetical-deductive studies follow in a sort of “clean up” operation to confirm and clarify general discoveries.

Hypothetical-deductive research often does not mix well with practice because the experimental control of variables to prevent alternative explanations can prevent practitioners from using procedures in an otherwise normal flow of application. This can slow down practice and create artificial conditions to dampen the motivation of practitioners and their clients or students. For this reason, deductive research is more often conducted by academic researchers and their graduate students. Ideally, the interface between practice and research involves a mutual flow of ideas and data, as those destined to become practitioners conduct controlled research during graduate study under professional scholars.

Practitioners Must Measure Anyway
As practitioners, we know that situations and applications vary so that even “validated” procedures might not work as well in practice as in the validating research. We must continue to measure, making decisions as we go about what is working and what needs to be changed. By using measurement for practical decision making, we ensure optimal effectiveness of what we do in practice, and potentially contribute information that can feed back into more formal inductive or hypothetical-deductive research.

References
Binder, C. (1995). Promoting HPT innovation: A return to our natural science roots. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 8(2), 95-113.

Ferster, C.B., & Skinner, B.F. (1957). Schedules of reinforcement. Cambridge, MA: B.F. Skinner Foundation (re-published in 1997).

Dr. Carl Binder is Senior Partner at Binder Riha Associates, a consulting firm that teaches clients to apply the FluencyBuilding™ training and coaching methodology, the Six Boxes™ Performance Management model, and practical performance measurement for evaluation and decision making. His easy-to-remember email address is CarlBinder@aol.com, and you can read other articles by him at www.Binder-Riha.com/publications.htm access his work in performance management at www.SixBoxes.com, and read Measurement Counts!, his previous PerformanceXpress series, on the ISPI website.

Optimize Performance: Attend an ISPI Institute

Are you trying to improve performance within your organization? Do you have all the tools to accomplish your performance improvement goals? Optimize your organization’s investment in human capital by attending one of ISPI’s HPT Institutes, guided by Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) instructors and practitioners. ISPI offers two Institute programs that deliver knowledge immediately applicable in the workplace and produce the highest return on investment for participating organizations. ISPI’s Institutes are offered in three formats: a three-day public program; an in-house program at your organization; and a three-week, online program.

Principles and Practices of Performance Improvement provides the foundations of systematic, measurable, and reproducible performance improvement. You will learn how to analyze performance problems and present possible solutions.

“The Principles and Practices workshop ranks among the best learning experiences in my career. The faculty combined well-researched content, practical tools, and engaging facilitation into an experience that not only conveyed the material but had us demonstrate that we could apply it. Real change will occur in your organization if you apply the principles and practices in this workshop.”

—Scott Collins, Performance Consultant,
American United Life Insurance Company

Upcoming Dates
•  Public: April 6-8, 2006, in conjunction with ISPI Annual Conference
•  Online: February 13-March 3, June 12-30, and October 9-27, 2006

Making the Transition to Performance Improvement identifies what a performance improvement department looks like in action and how “traditional” human resources, organizational development, or training can make the transition to a performance improvement function.

Upcoming Date
•  Public: April 6-8, 2006, in conjunction with ISPI Annual Conference

To register to attend one of the Institute programs, visit the ISPI website.

Bring an Institute to You
One of the most frequently asked questions is “Can ISPI conduct an Institute at my organization?” Yes! ISPI can bring an Institute program to your organization.

How are performance business issues relevant to your organization? Allow ISPI to demonstrate. An In-House Institute is the premier on-site learning event. For more information on developing an In-House Institute for your organization, contact ISPI at 301.587.8570 or institute@ispi.org.

I-Spy-ku: Build Your Better Future
by Todd Packer

Build Your Better Future
Your home, your castle,
Learn, build, take pride, sit back, rest.
Let kids eat cake. Not.

Home sweet home. For some, our homes are refuges from work; for others, they give a chance to improve performance. At ISPI, we can learn to honor the hard work that comes with learning a trade and a profession as we join the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to celebrate February 2006 as National Designation Month—NAHB offers professional designations in many areas, from home building to home sales. From Housemark (“the leading performance improvement service for the social housing sector”) to the Harvard University Golf Course Design and Development Institute, improving design involves designation. You can certify a home as sweet and accessible—check out the handicapped accessible gingerbread house, featured by Concrete Change, who certifies houses for “visitability” of all people. But watch the sweets for your home’s designated heirs, as February 3 is the American Dental Association’s “Give Kids A Smile Day.”

Any listing is for informational purposes only and does not indicate an endorsement either by ISPI or myself. I hope you find these resources useful, and your feedback is greatly appreciated.

When he is not Internet trawling for ISPI, Todd Packer can be found improving business, non-profit, government, and individual performance through research, training, and innovation coaching as principal consultant of Todd Packer and Associates, LLC, based in Shaker Heights, Ohio. For sample articles on performance innovation and additional information, visit www.toddpacker.com. Todd may be reached at tp@toddpacker.com.

Newsletter Submission Guidelines

ISPI is looking for Human Performance Technology (HPT) articles (approximately 500 words and not previously published) for PerformanceXpress that bridge the gap from research to practice (please, no product or service promotion is permitted). Below are a few examples of the article formats that can be used:

In addition to the article, please include a short bio (2-3 lines) and a contact e-mail address. All submissions should be sent to april@ispi.org. Each article will be reviewed by one of ISPI’s on-staff HPT experts, and the author will be contacted if it is accepted for publication. If you have any further questions, please contact april@ispi.org.

PerformanceXpress is an ISPI member benefit designed to build community, stimulate discussion, and keep you informed of the Society’s activities and events. This newsletter is published monthly and will be emailed to you at the beginning of each month.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact April Davis, ISPI’s Senior Director of Publications, at april@ispi.org.

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