The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. signed an agreement to publish a co-branded series of major reference works under Wiley’s Pfeiffer imprint. In addition, ISPI will transfer its existing book-selling program to Wiley, and Wiley will revise and republish some of ISPI’s best-selling books. ISPI also signed an agreement with Wiley’s journals group to publish Performance Improvement, a respected membership and subscription-based journal serving the performance improvement community for nearly 45 years.

“With this partnership, ISPI will continue to provide high-quality content to its members and the field of workplace performance improvement, as well as cast a wider net for membership recruitment, especially in colleges and internationally,” said ISPI Executive Director and CEO Richard D. Battaglia. “We’re especially excited to offer our members, at special member discounts, access to significantly expanded content.”

“By combining ISPI’s preeminent expertise in the field of workplace learning and performance with Wiley’s recognized brand and knowledge of the market, we can ensure that must-have content is reaching ISPI’s members and other communities eager for systematic approaches to improving workplace performance,” said Cedric Crocker, vice president & publisher, Jossey-Bass and Pfeiffer Imprints, John Wiley & Sons.

Book Publishing Program
A significant component of the partnership is creating major reference works that represent best-in-field thought, research, and practice. These contributed volumes will feature the best and brightest authors and will provide ISPI members and Wiley customers with quality content and advanced thinking to enhance their educational and professional development. Potential topics for authoritative coverage include instructional design, adult learning theory, motivation in the workplace, and assessment and evaluation. Wiley will oversee the publishing services for these books including production, marketing, and distribution worldwide. ISPI will retain editorial control of the titles.

Also effective with this agreement, Wiley will republish several titles published by ISPI, including the seminal Human Competence, by Tom Gilbert. Revisions of popular titles such as Ruth Clark’s Developing Technical Training and Building Expertise are also planned.

In addition, Wiley has worked with ISPI to select books for a Wiley Affiliate site that replaces ISPI’s existing book program. You can start shopping at the new online bookstore, which carries ISPI-Wiley co-published, revised, and republished titles, as well as a special selection of member-discounted Wiley titles on a variety of topics, including organization development, instructional design, consulting, and technology-based learning. The partnership comes on the heels of the recently released the third edition of The Handbook of Human Performance Technology, co-published with ISPI.

Performance Improvement Journal
In a separate agreement, Wiley will publish the Society’s esteemed Performance Improvement journal, both in print and online, beginning with this month’s issue, August 2006. The original editorial team, including current editor Holly Burkett, CPT, MA, SPHR, will continue to work with Wiley to ensure the quality and relevance of the journal’s content.

Published 10 times a year, the journal is geared toward practitioners of workplace performance improvement. The publication strives to provide specific guidelines on applications of performance technology to help readers expand and understand their scope of Human Performance Technology. It regularly features “how to” articles, procedural models, ready-to-use job aids, guidelines for research, updates on trends, reviews, and field viewpoints.

For the first time, the journal will be available online to institutions around the world; all issues of Performance Improvement—from 1962 on—will be offered electronically through Wiley InterScience, Wiley’s global online publishing platform. Active ISPI members will receive complimentary electronic access through ISPI’s online members-only section while continuing to receive print copies.

Advertisement  Would you like to advertise in this space? Contact marketing@ispi.org

by Carol Haig, CPT, and Roger Addison, CPT, EdD

With us this month is Thom Haller, information architect and principal of Info.Design, Inc., an information architecture consultancy and think tank in Washington, D.C. As user advocates, Thom and colleagues help organizations learn the fundamentals of information structure and assist them in developing electronic and print documents that communicate clearly to support different audiences. His contribution to the TrendSpotters Open Toolkit is the GECKO framework, a versatile model that performance consultants can use to develop user-focused products that improve performance. Thom may be reached at tehaller@infodn.com.

Genesis of This Tool
The GECKO framework has its origins in the traditional instructional systems design (ISD) model. Initially developed as a framework for organizations to use to craft websites with users in mind, it enables the creation of a performance-enhancing structure. The framework provides “containers” into which a product developer can place user-focused design and architecture activities. It is particularly suited to process-related projects, making GECKO a valuable tool for HPTers because processes are centrally tied to the results organizations want to achieve.

Tool Description
The GECKO framework is a matrix in which the mnemonic (Gather, Evaluate, Chunk, Know, Optimize) provides the steps to follow to structure user-focused products. Each step consists of numerous activities and possible deliverables, leading to a tidy project management guide for a broad range of performance improvement projects.

Given the framework’s origins, those of us familiar with the basic ISD model can easily make the jump to a clear understanding of this model. For example, the Gathering step is much like analysis in the ADDIE model. This step is enhanced with success measures that help us focus on results at project inception, and enables us to produce a project-planning document. The Evaluation step focuses on the audience, users, or target population, and on how they will perceive the end product, be it a website or other final deliverable.

Chunking content is a familiar concept in ISD. In web development, the ways in which content elements relate to each other affect navigation online. Knowing content refers to understanding how users think and involves producing prototypes and drafts to test and refine. Optimizing loops back to the success measures identified upfront and checks to determine if those have been met, refining and fine-tuning as needed.

How to Use This Tool
Thom assures us that the GECKO framework is flexible enough for use with almost any performance improvement project. Perhaps beginning a new project and using the GECKO framework planning document from the Gathering phase is a good first use. Go to www.infodn.com/download/student. Select Tools and then link to Sample Planning Document. You will download a template that, when complete, can serve as your basic project plan. Thom suggests that you then continue following the GECKO framework and select the activities and deliverables that lend themselves to your project.

Success Stories
Currently, Info.Design is facilitating the process of enhancing an existing website for the U.S. government’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Thom’s team applied the GECKO framework to a 10-week learning project to reshape the structure of the FAA’s intranet, a site that serves 17,000 employees. The planning document produced at the conclusion of this project phase includes more than 25 wireframes (maps of links and site navigation), showing how developers can link to content that identified users want to access. The project is on track to meet its success measures.

The GECKO framework also supported the federal government’s plain language community in the redevelopment of their website, www.plainlanguage.gov. Thom, who teaches Information Architecture classes, volunteered the GECKO framework and his students, who were exploring strategies for clarity in online information, to redevelop the site. You can see before and after examples and the completed planning document at www.infodn.com/structure/geckoPL.html.

Advice to GECKO Framework Users
Thom has used this model for both large and small projects. Should you find yourself in an all-too-typical situation—no time, limited budget, critical project—you can choose just one activity from each GECKO category and leverage the model’s capabilities to very acceptable project results. Practitioners can envision how their expertise fits into the different categories of the model, and then use it to appeal to decision makers.

Link to the Performance Technology Landscape
The GECKO framework supports these principles of performance technology:

Application Exercise
Use the GECKO framework to do one or more of these:

• Evaluate your organization’s website or your personal website
• Design a performance improvement solution with a client
• Explain a completed project

Attendees at ISPI’s 2006 conference heard Dan Pink, our keynote speaker, present design as one of the six essential aptitudes for professional success and personal fulfillment in the coming Conceptual Age. The GECKO framework provides a doorway to good design.

To review past contributions to the TrendSpotters Open Toolkit, click here.

If you have an HPT model or tool that supports you in your performance improvement activities, contact Carol Haig, CPT, at carolhaig@earthlink.net or http://home.mindspring.com/%7Ecarolhaig, or Roger Addison, CPT, EdD, at roger@ispi.org.

by Tina Teodorescu, CPT, MA

In our work with sales organizations, we see top and lower performing reps every day. Most of the time, organizations attribute top sales performance to nature. “They are a natural,” or sales is “an art,” is often the explanation. These statements imply that salespeople either have it or they do not and their performance cannot be improved. Although I do not deny that there are people who are naturally better salespeople than others, I do believe there is a great PIP (potential for improvement (Gilbert, 1996, p. 30) among average performers that organizations are not tapping into as effectively as they could.

In fact, even if organizations believe that sales performance is “an art” and cannot be improved, they simply cannot afford to rely on the naturals. According to Bosworth and Holland (2004), only 10% of salespeople are exceptional, 70% are average, and 20% are marginal. A 2003 study called “Shifting the Performance Curve” by the Sales Executive Council Corporate Executive Board, found that a 5% performance gain from the middle 60% of average sales forces would yield 70% more revenue than a 5% percent shift from the top 10% of the sales force (Godar, 2006).

Example
Consider a sales force of 1,000 salespeople. Six hundred are average performers, closing an average of $1 million per half year of selling; 100 are exemplary performers, closing an average of $1.5 million per half.

If the company improved the performance of the 600 average reps by 5%, this would translate into an additional $30, 000,000 in revenue per half for the average performers, compared to a potential increase of only $15,000,000 for the top performers.

The bottom line, due to the sheer number of average performers in a typical sales force, is that small incremental improvements in the performance of the average sales reps can yield huge improvements in the organization’s bottom line.

So, what is causing this gap and how can organizations close the gap between the top and average performing sales reps?

Winging It: A Pervasive Problem Among the Majority of Sales Reps
According to Bosworth and Holland (2004), one major problem preventing consistent top performance among all sales reps is the fact that “most salespeople are winging it.” They further state that so many salespeople “wing it” because “in most cases there is no clearly defined structure within which salespeople can operate successfully.” In other words, salespeople are not being given a roadmap to success, so they are just doing the best they know how—winging it. For those top 10%, winging it works, but for everyone else, winging it translates into variability, unrealized potentials in sales performance, and huge opportunities for organizations to increase their revenues by harnessing that potential.

Codifying Top Performance: Define the What and the How of Top Performers
We believe that by “codifying” top performance into a roadmap to success with measurable milestones and clearly defined guideposts describing exactly how to be successful and how to measure and track progress, organizations can stop winging it, close the gap, and enable their average performers to reach their full potential to consistently produce at higher and more predictable levels.

Case Study and Results Produced
To illustrate the value and results of this approach to defining and replicating top performance: One of our clients had the following situation—10% of their sales force was producing 30% of their revenue, 30% of the sales force was not even making their quota, and 60% were somewhere in the middle but not where the company needed them to be. The managers were frustrated, but continued to manage by the old sales manager standby: forecasting and hopeful predictions and then pressure and more pressure to close. This technique had very little impact on the long-term success of their average performers.

We were brought into the organization to help define the roadmap to success for top performance in various sales roles and then develop tools to assess people, identify gaps, and build supports to enable better performance, including training, coaching, and performance tracking and development plans.

The result of our work with this client is that they saw their gaps begin to close and witnessed average performers improve by as much as 10% and turn into salespeople that produced at higher and more predictable levels in 90 days.

Investing in the Middle
Your top performers are incredibly valuable and should be developed and retained; but just by their sheer number, average performers represent the greatest potential for improving the bottom line of organizations. There will always be the naturals, but the gap between those people and everyone else can be narrowed considerably, enabling higher level, consistent sales performance from all levels of a sales organization. The sales organizations that take the time to define, coach, and develop their salespeople and maintain a roadmap to success that guides and focuses everyone on repeatable success will be rewarded many times over by the positive impact a little investment in the middle can have on their bottom line.

References
Bosworth, M. & Holland, J. (2004). Customer centric selling. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Gilbert, T. (1996). Human competence: Tribute edition. Silver Spring, MD: International Society for Performance Improvement.

Godar, P. (2006, March). Moving the middle, moving the bottom Line. Workforce Performance Solutions. WPSmag.com.

Tina Teodorescu, CPT, MA, is President of Competence Systems, a sales performance consulting firm delivering systematic, measurable, and sustainable sales performance improvement systems. She has a master’s degree in organizational behavior analysis, is a Certified Performance Technologist, and is registered as an Empire Who’s Who of Executives and Professionals. Tina may be reached at Tina@competencesystems.com.

Advertisement  Would you like to advertise in this space? Contact marketing@ispi.org

Join the International Society for Performance Improvement in Florida, September 13-16, 2006, as we spotlight the latest solutions to effectively improve workplace performance. Interact with industry experts and thought leaders as they share current trends and applications in the field to help you and your organization achieve maximum success.

The Instructional Systems for Results Fall Symposium and the Results-Focused Organization: Pathways to Excellence Fall Symposium will run concurrently at the Buena Vista Palace Hotel (on the Walt Disney Resort) in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

Important Deadlines

• Early Discount Registration: August 11
  
• Hotel Registration: August 18 (for Special ISPI Rate)

Instructional Systems for Results Fall Symposium
This event focuses on determining when learning should occur and the best way to achieve it. You can discover for yourself, in a hands-on environment, the latest thinking and application of ISD presented by experts in the field.

The keynote presentation, Next Generation e-Learning: Making Sense of What's New, What's Hot, What Works, and Why, will be given by Lance Dublin, Founder and Principal of Dublin Consulting.

Educational Sessions by Experts in the Field
In addition to the insightful keynote presentation, fast-paced Bagel Barrel roundtable discussions, and vibrant networking lunches (included in the registration fee), ISPI offers a variety of Symposia and Clinics to complete your three-day experience. Presentations include:

• Designing Instructional Strategies: A Cognitive Perspective
  Kenneth H. Silber, CPT, PhD
• Engaging All Four Generations Through Targeted Communication Techniques
  Giselle Kovary, MA
• Establishing, Managing, and Maintaining Client-Consultant and Client-Vendor Relationships
  Ken McClung, CPT, EdD
• Five Steps to Blended Bliss: A Decision-Making Process for Designing Blended Learning Solutions
  Kate Wartchow, PhD, and Rebecca Britt, MS
• ISD Toolkit: Sticking to the Essentials with Exemplars
  Richard Pearlstein, PhD
• Modeling Mastery Performance and Systematically Deriving the Enablers
  Guy W. Wallace, CPT
• Outsourcing: An ISD Management Strategy?
  Judith Hale, CPT, PhD
• Using Mobile Technologies for Rapid Instructional Design, Development, and Delivery
  Diane Gayeski, PhD, and Michael Petrillose, PhD

Results-Focused Organization: Pathways to Excellence Fall Symposium
In a global economy, performance counts, rapid change is inevitable, and in the long run only those organizations that are agile will survive. This program focuses on the latest thinking and applications for organizational management and culture change. Enhance your skills under the guidance of the best in the business.

The keynote presentation, Linking Individual Performance to Organization Results, will be given by Geary Rummler, CPT, PhD, Partner, Performance Design Lab.

Educational Sessions by Experts in the Field
In addition to the insightful keynote presentation, fast-paced Bagel Barrel roundtable discussions, and vibrant networking lunches (included in the registration fee), ISPI offers a variety of Symposia and Clinics to complete your three-day experience. Presentations include:

• Blueprints for Organizational Transformation: Creating MEGA Change When You Can't Call for a “Time Out”
  Mary Norris Thomas, CPT, PhD
• Designing the Process-Centered Organization
  Alan Ramias and Ray A. Svenson, CPT
• How to Make a Performance Improvement Based HRD and Training Department Come True
  Klaus D. Wittkuhn, CPT, and Geary A. Rummler, CPT, PhD
• Leveraging Human Capital through Strategic Human Performance Systems
  Brian Desautels, CPT, and Jane Brenneman, SPHR
• Organizational Alignment: A Nine-Step Method for Maximizing Organizational Performance
  J. Robert (Bob) Carleton and Alan Stevens
• Organizational Performance
  Donald T. Tosti, CPT, PhD
• Organizational Rot and Social Stagnation: Let’s Stop Nibbling at Human Performance Improvement
  Bill Daniels, Timm Esque, CPT, and Kevin Gazzara, DM
• Task Quotient: Breaking the Performance Barrier
  Kevin Gazzara, DM, and Hollie Martin, DDS, PhD

In addition to this excellent line-up of speakers, ISPI also offers pre-symposium programming: One-Day Workshops, Two-Day Certification Workshop, and Three-Day HPT Institute. For more information, visit www.ispi.org.

As a reminder, register before August 11 and SAVE!

The ISPI Professional Communities (ProComms) are one of the most significant transformational efforts ISPI has undertaken in the past couple of decades, but…What exactly are the ProComms? Why are they so important? And, what are they currently doing?

The ProComms (see table below) were established in 2004 as a result of a multiyear Presidential Initiative Task Force that was chartered to “Clarify Human Performance Technology” (HPT). This task forced a Society-wide dialogue on the maturity and growing complexity of the HPT discipline by defining and assessing the current state of HPT and ISPI. This resulted in the design of the ProComms to help market both ISPI and the HPT practice by providing services and learning opportunities to enhance the multidisciplinary competence of all ISPI members.

The inaugural ProComm Chairs faced the most challenging task associated with any major organizational change—that of designing and prototyping the initial processes, services, and products that would enable the desired vision. Their goal was to develop something akin to “Communities of Practice” (CoP) that HPT practitioners could leverage to share best practices, review lessons learned, and stay abreast with current and emerging research to improve their multidisciplinary proficiency. These CoPs benefit all ISPI members, and other HPT practitioners, by providing ready sources of information and expertise to solve current business problems. The initial ProComm objectives were to:

• Serve as catalysts for sharing and gaining knowledge
• Foster an appreciation and capability for “inter-HPT discipline collaboration”
• Provide a new way for ISPI members to network with others who have similar interests
• Develop a rich database of information, stories, and best practices
• Make HPT literature more visible to practitioners and management at all levels
• Accelerate HPT applications in the workplace
• Educate consumers of HPT services
• Improve the quality and validity of publications, papers, and presentations

Over the past two years, the ProComm Chairs have recruited Deputies, Thought Leaders, and Community Activists as they explored opportunities and piloted new approaches. They developed web chat rooms and knowledge repositories, produced quarterly newsletters, and sponsored conferences. The results of their efforts have already materialized throughout ISPI’s regular portfolio of offerings, for example:

• 2005 Las Vegas Fall Conferences were organized around the IS and MOP ProComms.
• 2005 ISPI-Europe Conference in Berlin premiered a Research Track, with Science and Research Thought Leader Jim Pershing serving as the keynote speaker.
• 2006 Instructional Systems for Results Fall Symposium, September 13-16, in Lake Buena Vista, FL.
• 2006 Results-Focused Organization: Pathways to Excellence Fall Symposium, September 13-16, in Lake Buena Vista, FL, organized around the OA and MOP ProComms.

The Society and Board of Directors applauds the efforts of Char Wells, Miki Lane, Mary Norris Thomas, Bob Carleton, Alan Ramias, Lori Gillespie, and Dawn Snyder/Ken Silber for their tremendous contributions in launching this effort. Ray Svenson’s and Dale Brethower’s efforts as the ProComm Steering Committee Chairs have been outstanding; and Guy Wallace’s continued patronage and willingness to provide historical insights and alignment recommendations were crucial to successfully launching this project.

The “second generation” of ProComm Chairs (see below) and Steering Committee representatives (led by John Swinney) assumed their roles after the Dallas Conference. Their focus this year is to capitalize on the initial lessons learned, to benchmark best practices, to partner with other associations and universities, and to produce “value” to their customers. We anticipate a continued increase in multidisciplinary interventions in the workplace, a broader mix of specialties represented in our educational programs and CPT applications, and more robust relationships with sister associations. One of the key issues still to be resolved is determining exactly what level of awareness, proficiency, and expertise is appropriate in each of the contributing disciplines. For example, should just a rudimentary knowledge of Six Sigma be required for HPT, or do we desire a Six Sigma Black Belt?

This is an exciting and dynamic effort with many opportunities to participate. The ProComms have enjoyed the direct support and sponsorship of the past five ISPI Boards, including the presidencies of Judy Hale, Jim Hill, Guy Wallace, Don Tosti, and Thiagi. The current board, led by President Clare Elizabeth Carey, remains just as enthusiastic as the original advocates, and expects the ProComms to continue to shape our professional practices and influence our conferences, publications, awards, certification, and institutes over the next several years. The ProComms epitomize this year’s theme of “Inclusion, Innovation, and Integrity” as we challenge existing paradigms and practices to grow and enhance our discipline.

These are your professional communities—and you need to help define what products and services are required. Participation does not require ISPI membership as various ProComm services and volunteer positions are open to International members, Chapter affiliates, and other interested professionals. Click here to learn more about these initiatives and collaborate with the colleagues in each community.

The Human Resources Certification Institute recently approved ISPI as an approved provider of HR-related continuing education events for their three certifications:

• PHR^® (Professional in Human Resources)
• SPHR^® (Senior Professional in Human Resources)
• GPHR^TM (Global Professional in Human Resources)

Details to come!

ISPI is pleased to announce protection against identity theft, the fastest-growing crime in America, through our partnership with insurance plan administrator Forrest T. Jones & Company (FTJ). ID Theft Assist Protection provides real-time, online access to TransUnion credit reports. It also flags suspicious transactions and alerts credit card holders of unusual activity. The coverage is available to ISPI members at $99 per year for individuals, $119 for families. Members can apply online at www.ftj.com/tie/idtheft or call 800.265.9366 for more information.

Additionally, ISPI members are eligible to purchase an array of affordable group insurance products made possible through FTJ and the Trust for Insuring Educators. The various coverage includes:

• Conventional Term Life
• 10-Year Level-Premium Term Life
• Disability Income Protection—Professional Liability
• Private Practice Professional Liability
• Comprehensive Health Insurance
• Personal Auto

To learn more about these valuable plans, contact FTJ at 800.821.7303, ext. 123, or visit www.ftj.com/tie for complete plan information and downloadable applications.

by LCDR(Sel) Fred Stewart, CPT

If you look past the preparation, the submission process, and the resources necessary to make a successful run at presenting at an ISPI Annual Conference, you will find great benefits to becoming a presenter.

Getting started may take a little initiative. Rarely will someone come to you and ask you to present. In some cases, would-be presenters think that their role or job title is not significant enough to gain attention. Most often though, a fantastic presentation is lost only because the person with the idea does not let his or her colleagues and professional peers know that he or she has something to say.

It is important to remember that almost all major presenters and speakers start out from humble beginnings. It is also valuable to understand that even the most prestigious organizations are open to being approached by people who can offer their members useful or interesting information. The next time you hear a lackluster speaker, do not just gripe—take his or her place!

“Making presentations at an ISPI conference will make you a better communicator and a better professional,” said Jim Hill, CPT, CEO of Proofpoint Systems and a past ISPI President. “Putting together a presentation improves my speaking skills and thought processes—it makes me organize things in ways I may have not thought of before.”

ISPI presenters also gain benefit via access; more than 1,000 people from all over the country from diverse backgrounds including government, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and local volunteer centers attend each year. If you are a consultant, you may find that the conference is a marketing tool and an opportunity to build on your professional reputation. By serving as a presenter, you will also gain exposure to ISPI leadership and you are likely to gain a new advocate or mentor.

Professional development activities are essential for a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) to remain current in the field. To retain the CPT designation, a Certified Performance Technologist must accumulate 40 points of continuing education or professional development during the three-year certification period. Activities can include participation in conferences, workshops, and chapter events sponsored by ISPI or other related professional organizations, commercially provided workshops, and degree-granting institutions when the subject relates to one or more of the Standards of Performance Technology. But, by presenting at a conference, there is a double benefit. Others have the opportunity to gain from your knowledge and experience, and you earn three points every time you present; however, a topic can only be counted once.

How to get started?

1. Find out when your proposal is due. For the 2007 ISPI Annual Conference in San Francisco, the session deadline is August 31, 2006.
2. Select a topic and conference track.
3. Define the audience.
4. Research the proposal evaluation criteria.
5. Prepare your proposal using the framework below. If you are a first timer, you should build in time to have a trusted colleague review your proposal.
   • Title and Session Information
   • Session Description
   • Objectives or Benefits
   • Link to the Standards of Performance Technology
   • Presentation Design and Format
   • Sample Handout
   • Research/Bibliography
   • Presenter Experience/Biography
6. Review your proposal one final time before submission by August 31, 2006.
7. Submit your proposal to conference@ispi.org.

If your proposal is accepted, ISPI will:

1. Ask you to sign a Speaker Commitment Form.
2. Request your audiovisual requirements.
3. Explain how to publish your materials on the conference CD.
4. Require you to register for the conference.

So it is that easy—and you have many, many peers waiting to hear what you have to say. By sharing your expertise at an ISPI conference, you will not only earn points for your recertification (if you are a CPT) but you will enhance your skills, bring recognition to yourself, improve your effectiveness, support your professional society, further the discipline of HPT, and network with likeminded professionals. Click here to get started!

by Richard F. Gerson, CPT, PhD

ISPI’s Marketing Communications Committee is with a charter of articulating the value proposition of ISPI and Human Performance Technology. We are pleased to present a series of articles through the end of the year by Richard F. Gerson, CPT, PhD. Richard has authored numerous books and articles on the subject of sales and marketing. He will be presenting his workshop, How to Make it Big as a Performance Consultant, at ISPI upcoming Fall Symposium. The committee is excited to partner with Richard to bring this important topic to PerformanceXpress. The current article is about “elevator speeches.” You may have seen us start this at the Annual Conference in Dallas and in an article in the June issue of PerformanceXpress. From September through December, articles will address:

• The Power of Public Relations
• How to Brand HPT
• Little Known Marketing Techniques
• Marketing to the “C” Suite

These topics are important to internal and external practitioners alike. If you would like more information about the Marketing Communications Committee, please contact Ken Steinman at ksteinman@laborready.com. Enjoy our first article, Marketing HPT in 30 Seconds or Less!

What if you had a magic pill that could “save the world”? And what if that magic pill was available to almost everyone at little or no cost? How would you tell the world you had the pill? How would you get the word out so people (customers and clients) would “beat a path to your door”? The answer is simple, but not easy. The answer is MARKETING.

Marketing Human Performance Technology (HPT) is a unique entity unto itself. It is different from, yet possesses similar characteristics and requirements to, marketing any other product or service. It is different because many people do not understand what HPT is and how it provides benefits. So, you must be able to communicate how and why those differences are beneficial. It is similar because, in effect, marketing is marketing.

Here are some things you must do to effectively market HPT:

• Define HPT so people outside the field will understand what you are talking about.
• Talk in terms of results and accomplishments, not process or programs. Marketing is about achieving results, not how you went about creating the marketing campaign.
• Communicate what you do for people and organizations in everything you do or say, and then discuss how you do what you do. People want to know “what’s in it for me” before they want to know how they will get whatever it is they want.

Taking the Express Elevator
We have all heard about the importance of creating a great “elevator speech.” This is the introductory speech we give to someone when we are asked what we do for a living. It is one of your most powerful marketing tools when you do it right. It can also be a disaster if you create an elevator speech that makes you just like everyone else. It is called an elevator speech because it uses the analogy that you get on an elevator and the CEO of a large corporation is on the elevator also. The CEO asks you what you do, and you have only the amount of time (usually 30 seconds or less) between when you got on and when the CEO gets off to convince him or her that there should be further conversations between the two of you.

So, the CEO asks you what you do, and if you are like most people in the HPT field, you say “I am a performance consultant.” To that I say, “big deal.” No one cares that you are a performance consultant, and they probably do not know what a performance consultant is or does, anyway. Plus, everyone else in the field is probably saying the same thing. It is like saying “I am a lawyer” or “I am a banker.” It is true that people understand those professions more than they understand HPT or performance consulting, but even those terms do not explain who you are and what you do, nor do they separate you from the crowd. Plus, when you are asked “What do you do?” and you say “I am…,” you are answering the wrong question. You are answering “Who are you?” not “What do you do?”

So, to properly answer the question and market HPT simultaneously, you have to use an action verb, such as “I help clients….” Your next goal is to get that person to say either “Tell me more” or “How do you do that?” This gives you permission to start talking in more depth about what you do as a HPT professional. Now, here are the parameters of a good unique selling proposition (USP) statement or elevator speech:

• Start with a benefit to the other person.
• Make sure the person understands the ROI your benefit provides.
• Make the benefit and the ROI believable.

There you have it: the three elements of a good USP statement or elevator speech. One other thing you should know about marketing HPT through your elevator speech. You can change the contents of this speech based on the audience you are talking to, or the industry the person is in when he or she asks you what you do for a living. For example, if I am talking with someone in sales and he or she asks me what I do, I can say, “I am a sales coach” or “I am a sales trainer.” However, neither statement differentiates me from the thousands of people doing the same thing. So I say, “I help clients sell more in less time with less stress, and achieve sales increases from 10% to 70%.” (I have client proof of those numbers.) If I’m asked by that CEO in the elevator, I would say, “I help executives just like you align your people, performances, and results so that your organization achieves higher productivity, increased customer loyalty, and more satisfied employees.” Although these “accomplishments” do not have a measurement associated with them, they are conceptual enough that the CEO will start thinking about his or her own company in relation to those areas. Then, the CEO will ask me, “How do you do that?” Once he or she does that, the door is open for more conversation where I can continue to market myself, my company, and the field of HPT.

Richard Gerson is the President of Gerson Goodson, Inc., a consulting firm that helps clients achieve measurable and sustainable results by aligning people and performances with business strategy. The company uses both systemic and systematic HPT approaches to help clients achieve their results. He is also the president of the Tampa Bay ISPI Chapter. Richard may be reached at getrich@richgerson.com.

It is time once again for you, the ISPI membership, to determine the future direction of ISPI by nominating those members who you feel have the qualifications, experiences, and vision to lead our Society. Up for nominations this year are the President-elect (3-year term, President-elect, President, and Immediate Past President) and two Directors (2-year terms). They will join the President, three continuing Board members, and the non-voting Immediate Past President and Executive Director who make up the nine-member Board.

The duties of the Board are to manage the affairs of ISPI and determine the strategic direction and policy of the Society.

Brief Job Descriptions
President-elect
The President-elect assumes the presidency of ISPI for a one-year term at the conclusion of his or her one-year term as President-elect. The President-elect’s efforts are directed to assuming the Presidency, and assignments are designed to prepare for that transition. The President-elect serves to provide continuity of programs, goals, objectives, and strategic direction in keeping with policy established by the Board of Directors. Presidents serve on the Board for one year after their term as the Immediate Past President.

Director
Each Director on the Board serves a two-year term and is a leader in motivating support for established policy. He or she serves to develop new policy and serves to obtain support for ISPI’s programs. A Director should provide an objective point of view in open discussion on issues affecting the membership and profession. He or she should thoroughly analyze each problem considered, vote responsibly, and then support those actions adopted by majority vote.

Individually, each member of the Board is considered a spokesperson for ISPI and represents the integrity, dedication, and loyalty to established policy.

The deadline for nominations is August 30, 2006.  If you would like to nominate a member, please send the following information to nomination@ispi.org:

• The candidate’s name and contact information.
• The position for which the candidate is being nominated.
• Your name and contact information.
• A 250-word statement on the candidate’s qualifications.

If you are interested in additional information on the nominations process, or the complete job descriptions and qualifications required, click here.

Robert M. Evans is not officially “one of us,” which is to say that he is not a human resource, training, or performance improvement executive or consultant. Bob is, in fact, a very senior information technology (IT) executive with more than 20 years at the C-level within large organizations, primarily within the financial services sector, telecommunications, and high tech consulting. So, how did this American executive manage to achieve business results in an old, established European company, while also going from hostility to a positive working relationship with the company’s union leadership?

Bob has a consistent track record of turning around the performance results and customer satisfaction of each IT organization for which he has been responsible, while simultaneously saving tens of millions of euros (or dollars). But that is not all. And, here is the important part regarding being “one of us.” I think that we can agree that Bob is a standout IT professional by anyone’s standards, but he has also proven that those bottom-line and customer satisfaction results that drive the for-profit world do not preclude important people goals. In fact, people goals are a critical part of success, particularly for the medium and long term. That is, Bob is a developer of people and pays specific attention to providing a supportive, performance-oriented work environment as well as real career opportunities for his entire staff or organization. His most recent position in Europe is not just a “one off.” He has taken this approach at every company for which he has worked.

Now, let’s talk a little about the large cultural challenges he faced. Bob joined Orange in 2003 and was recruited in 2004 to the executive staff of its parent, France Telecom, to run their data center operations and to spearhead the crucial IT Standardization and Transformation Projects running across FT Group. As mentioned above, he was an experienced and successful American IT professional. But, he was an outsider working for an important, formerly French government owned company and, in addition, he could not speak French. In the early weeks of taking over his new responsibility with FT, Bob met with the leaders of eight major unions whose membership worked within IT. (It must be noted that unions are extremely strong and powerful in France.) Being an outsider was enough to make union leaders apprehensive, but his focus on results and customer satisfaction were red flags that signaled the potential for future requirements to work harder. When you add the fact that he needed to communicate via an interpreter, the resulting reaction was hostile.

Not a great or encouraging way to start working with a large new responsibility. Right? Let’s look at what happened. Despite a verbal attack by the unions, Bob began to systematically implement the processes, tools, and measures required to achieve results. He also designed and implemented a dual career ladder within IT, allowing people for the first time to progress along a technical ladder as well as a managerial one, thus creating an incentive for developing technical skills and bench strength. Performers were also supported by learning and training and other developmental resources and tools, which were made available to everyone. Finally, on the people side, Bob worked with the HR leadership to begin to build into both the promotional opportunity and the related compensation system a performance foundation. That is, where previously one’s alma mater and references and colleagues were the strongest components in determining promotion and compensation, Bob was intent on identifying the right people for open positions based on experience and commitment to the job. He was also committed to getting compensation to meet the reality of what people were assigned to do and how well they achieved expected results.

By the end of the first year, the union leadership that was so vehemently against this Yankee IT executive became adamant about dealing only with Bob, who had both stated and demonstrated that it was not only possible, but also essential, that there be direct and constant attention paid to business results and also a professional, supportive work environment (and related rewards) for the workforce. As of mid-2006, great strides in results have been made and the people—who are the part of the IT organization that reports to Bob Evans—have a very consistent reaction. They say things like, “Thank you for all we have learned.” “It’s a privilege to work with and for you.” “It has been one of my greatest experiences in FT.”

If you want to hear more about Bob’s experience in taking on a senior IT role as “an American in Paris” and across Europe, we invite you to attend the ISPI Europe Conference in Prague this coming October 12-14. He has also generously agreed to allow time for participants to ask questions of him as a senior executive and from the client’s point of view. Do not miss this opportunity! Join us in Prague.

I enjoy PerformanceXpress. I know I will find items of interest and things that are thought provoking. Last month’s issue was no exception. Lance Dublin’s article, What We Have Is...Failure to Communicate was a great read. I have struggled with this issue as a vendor and now as a performance improvement practitioner in a large corporation.

We have been working on several initiatives to enhance our sales force support tools, marketing programs, local autonomy, coaching and mentoring programs, and, of course, training. Throughout these efforts, we have been adamant that these be viewed as sales management-driven versus training department-driven.

A tangible sign of success was when the national sales leadership created an Adoption Manager position in the Sales Strategies group. That function is charged with driving adoption of the programs...or in Dublin’s terms, the changes we are installing, implementing, and integrating. We are working closely with this individual to do this, but the adoption role is in the line organization, not training.

How are we driving adoption? Again, to reinforce Dublin’s message, through communication. Communication that is early, often, and consistent.

I have started to push a new spelling for our familiar ADDIE model. The new spelling is ADDAE. Yes, the second A is for Adoption. Instead of Implementation, I refer to Adoption. The solution is not effective is if is not adopted.

The goal of performance improvement practitioners should be to have Adoption of interventions, not simply Implementation.

Bob Bodine is Director of Global Development in Education Services for Medtronic’s Cardiac Rhythm and Disease Management division. He directs a group of professionals who develop training and performance support materials for employees and customers. Bob is also the current Treasurer/Director on ISPI’s Board of Directors. He may be reached at bob.bodine@medtronic.com.

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) has three special honorary awards that recognize outstanding individuals and organizations for their significant contributions to Human Performance Technology and to the Society itself. The awards are the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award, the Distinguished Service Award, and the Honorary Life Member Award. As done in the past, the membership is asked to submit names of qualified individuals for consideration for the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award and Distinguished Service Award. If you are interested in nominating an ISPI member, please email the following information to april@ispi.org:

• Name of award
• Name, telephone number, and email of nominee
• Name and telephone number of nominator
• Brief supporting information for the nominee

This year’s recipients were Honorary Life Member: Judith Hale, Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award: Ruth C. Clark, and the Distinguished Service Award: Carol Haig. The deadline to receive nominations is August 18, 2006. For more detailed information on the guidelines used for selecting individuals to receive these awards, click here.

The first consultants’ meeting to develop new International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines, A Manager’s Guide for Evaluating Training and the Work Environment to Increase Organizational Performance, was held from June 12-16, 2006, at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, Austria.

A well-established mechanism is employed to develop the guidelines. Planning and preparation of the document are coordinated by the dedicated team of the IAEA Nuclear Energy Department. A core group of specialists is involved in the development of guidelines. Gathering examples of good practices from various nuclear operating organizations, involvement of nuclear power plant managers, and peer reviews are the tools used to ensure the quality of the document. An IAEA technical meeting will held in 2007 to review the final draft.

Specialists from Canada, Sweden, the United States, and IAEA took part in the first consultants’ meeting at the IAEA. Pictured here are the team members, Alexey Kazennov of the IAEA, Roger Chevalier, PhD, CPT, Jane LeClair, EdD, of Excelsior College, Hakan Andersson, PhD, of Karnkraftsakerhet och Utbildning AB, and Rob Templeton of Ontario Power Generation.

The guidelines will focus on improving human and plant performance through integration of training evaluation in the plant management processes, on providing guidance to the plant managers on how to evaluate training effectiveness in measurable terms, and on reinforcing the line managers’ ownership for the results-based training. The guidelines are planned to be prepared for publication in 2007 in the framework of the IAEA Nuclear Energy document structure.

The IAEA is the world’s center of cooperation in the nuclear field. It was set up as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organization in 1957 within the United Nations family. The agency works with its member states and multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure, and peaceful nuclear technologies. The IAEA Secretariat is headquartered at the Vienna International Centre in Vienna, Austria. The IAEA Secretariat is a team of 2,200 multidisciplinary professional and support staff from more than 90 countries.

ISPI is an organization of creative, innovative, and hard-working members, who often complete impressive projects that are seldom recognized for their excellence! Recently, ISPI Awards of Excellence criteria and application were streamlined so they align with the familiar Standards of Performance Technology.

Now, CPTers can consider completing the Awards of Excellence application for the projects submitted in their CPT application. In fact, any time a project is completed with outstanding results, that added value, used systemic and systematic approaches, and was based on collaboration and partnership, the project is a potential for an Award of Excellence. Read through the criteria, application process, and judging criteria to determine if your project represents the high standards of excellence and “place your hat in the ring.”

ISPI’s Board of Directors would like to thank Eileen Banchoff, Ed Schneider, and their committee for their thoughtful and careful effort to align the Awards of Excellence criteria to the Standards of Performance Technology. Since the standards are key to ISPI’s professional practice, this alignment strengthens ISPI members and conveys unity throughout the profession.

To learn more about the newly-aligned Awards of Excellence criteria, click here. The deadline for award submissions is October 20, 2006.

As a scholarly forum for the Human Performance Technology (HPT) field, Performance Improvement Quarterly, under the guidance of co-editors Karen Medsker and Michael Cassidy, seeks to integrate and expand the methods, processes, and findings across multiple disciplines as they relate to solving problems and realizing opportunities in human performance. HPT work focuses on valued, measured results; considers the larger system context of people’s performance; and provides valid and reliable measures of effectiveness. The quarterly values both methodological rigor and variety, and publishes scholarship related to:

• Process improvement
• Organizational design & alignment
• Analysis, evaluation, & measurement
• Performance management
• Instructional systems
• Management of organizational performance
• Motivation, incentives, & feedback

Experience what Performance Improvement Quarterly has to offer. Become a new subscriber and, while supplies last, receive a complimentary copy of the newly-released Special Issue focused on New Frameworks for HPT Scholarship guest edited by Thomas Schwen. If you are interested in starting your subscription, please send an email with your phone number to pubs@ispi.org and a staff member will contact you.

Are you working to improve workplace performance? Then ISPI membership is your key to professional development through education, certification, networking, and professional affinity programs.

If you are already a member, we thank you for your support. If you have been considering membership or are about to renew, there is no better time to join ISPI. To apply for membership or renew, visit www.ispi.org, or simply click here.

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:

• Short “I wish I had thought of that” Articles
• Practical Application Articles
• The Application of HPT
• Success Stories

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.

Go to printer-friendly version of this issue.

Feel free to forward ISPI’s PerformanceXpress newsletter to your colleagues or anyone you think may benefit from the information. If you are reading someone else’s PerformanceXpress, send your complete contact information to april@ispi.org, and you will be added to the PerformanceXpress emailing list.

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.

ISPI
1400 Spring Street, Suite 260
Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA
Phone: 301.587.8570
Fax: 301.587.8573
info@ispi.org
http://www.ispi.org