Discussion Questions and Summary
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training the solution? (2) Is training in this area the best return on the training dollar? (3) Will training alone make a difference?
This notion of responding to a request is echoed by Gordon (1992), who believes that trainers’ responses are determined largely by how they view their role: as a “provider of instructional programs” or as a “person in charge of helping this organization succeed by improving the performance of its people.” McLagan (1996) identifies the role of performance consultant as one of nine key roles that must be played by HRD professionals now and in the future.
Mager (1996) goes beyond that by contending that trainers must be performance-oriented to survive into the 21st century. He contends: “First and foremost, survivors will think of themselves as being in the performance business, not the training or education business. Successful trainers will understand that, regardless of their job titles, regardless of their specialties, they have one role: to help improve performance aimed at accomplishing important organizational goals.”
Research has been conducted to study this transformation from training to human performance improvement. As mentioned in Chapter 1, Bassi, Cheney, and Van Buren (1997) report that “89 percent of training professionals ‘strongly agreed’ or ‘agreed’ that a shift from training to performance improvement is a top trend.” In addition, a survey conducted in July 1997 among national HRD executives revealed that the shift from training to performance was currently the number three trend, but that it would emerge as the number one trend within three years. In another survey, however, Galagan and Wulf (1996) noted that “73 percent of HRD executives agree that current training managers and staff are ill prepared for performance support.” So, the demand is there, but the skills are not there—yet!
You can’t just assume that employees in a traditional training role will want to make the shift. There will always be a role for a traditional trainer and/or instructional designer in any organization. You can help persuade those in your organization to make the transformation by giving them the business case for change:
1. There will be opportunities for greater rewards and recognition, not just in the training organization, but companywide. 2. Practitioners will become valued and credible partners with the line instead of being seen as merely an overhead expense. 3. The benefits to the client and the organization are quantifiable and observable in the client’s improved operational and performance results (LaBonte and Robinson, 2000).
The Transformation to HPI Practitioner—True Stories
HPI practitioners find their way into the profession from many different backgrounds. Susan Fehl, VP of Enterprise to Value at Pillar Technology, was a traditional technical trainer. She led a team that conducted classroom-based software training for almost 10 years. She became frustrated and began to question the effectiveness of training. She asked herself, “How can you give people the best tools and the best training and support, but not get the business results that you desire?” She interviewed for and accepted a relational database instructor position at a new company and, when given the offer, she negotiated the terms. She requested that the manager allow her to transition her role to HPI within the first year. While the manager wasn’t too familiar with this new field, she had faith in Susan and agreed to the terms. It was during this year that a manager who was familiar with and highly valued performance consulting was hired into a senior technology role. Susan quickly paired up with this manager and began to serve as an HPI practitioner. Just a few years later, the manager became the CIO and made the IT executive team Susan’s primary customer. Then her company merged with another. As most of the executives she served were leaving the company, she decided it was a good time to go out on her own. She spent almost six years as an
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external consultant before joining Pillar Technology. Today she leads the Enterprise to Value practice, Pillar’s cultural transformation and performance improvement practice. There, Susan designs solutions for their clients with software construction and other sorts of performance challenges.
Susan is a long-term member of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and serves on her local chapter board. She continues to develop in the field by networking with her peers and reading articles and books. She often contacts the authors of those articles and books to further discuss ideas that she finds more interesting and helpful. When asked what she finds most rewarding about a career in HPI, Susan quoted Bob Myers, Pillar’s president, who said, “Here’s what I see in you: You get a super charge out of bringing managers and employees together on the same plane.” Susan continued, “Hierarchy imposes restrictions that don’t need to be there and impede success. Everyone provides value—you simply need to tap into it.” She really enjoys teaching others how to intentionally refine the culture of their organization.
Lou Roberts, a partner with Christensen Roberts Solutions, has been an HPI practitioner for over 11 years. In the early 1980s, Lou completed his master’s in instructional design from Columbia University, Teachers College. He became a