Discussion Questions and Summary
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tools and materials and began to offer workshops to teach other practitioners how to apply HPT in the workplace. Today, Paul and Dennis are managing partners in a company called Outcome Systems, along with two other partners, Mason Holloway and Dr. Karen McGraw. Dennis and Mason are also the managing partners of Platinum Performance Group.
In 2003 Dennis and Mason cowrote, and then copublished with ASTD, a set of paper-based tools and job aids for performance analysis called Performance DNA. These HPI tools and processes have been taught to thousands of people from at least 16 countries in just over three years since their launch. An electronic version of these tools was created through Outcome Systems, and they are described as
a software toolset to help the human performance improvement professional conduct complex analyses to improve performance more efficiently and effectively. Performance DNA Desktop provides support from project set up and management and reporting through the analysis phases:
Business Analysis Performance Analysis Key Performer Analysis Influence Analysis Analysis Consolidation and Reporting
Performance DNA Desktop was developed to align with ASTD’s HPI certification program and provides the tools and templates the HPI professional needs to vastly improve the efficiency of data collection, analysis, integration, and reporting (www.outcomesys.com/products_desktop.htm).
Dennis likes to pick the brains of his colleagues in order to stay current in the field of HPI. He reads the most recent books and surfs the Internet for the latest articles and research on occasion. Dennis says that the best way to develop your skills is to use them and practice, practice, practice. He says that the most rewarding thing about a career in HPI is when “I see positive change and I see people getting past those barriers.”
Charles “Chuck” Harpham’s career began in public education. He taught at both secondary schools and community colleges. He eventually left the teaching profession to accept a training manager position in the manufacturing industry. His next step was to become a business HR manager. Chuck’s Manager of Human Resources at Baltimore Gas and Electric Company eventually asked Chuck and another colleague to become internal performance improvement consultants. Then, about three years ago, Chuck was asked if he’d like to get involved with the company’s Six Sigma initiatives. Today, Chuck is a Six Sigma Blackbelt working in the HR department at Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, a Constellation Energy Company. He is active with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), ISPI, and the local chapter of the ASQ. He likes to network with other operations-based Blackbelts in the company to see the details of their projects.
“There’s a lot to be learned from seeing what others in the field do,” says Chuck. Chuck finds the variety of work the most rewarding part of his job as a Blackbelt. “As an HR generalist, you tend to get spread pretty thin but in this job, I can focus on select projects and I get the opportunity to really sink my teeth into specific problems and work on them until they’re solved,” says Chuck.
Carol Panza today calls herself a management consultant, but that’s not how her career started. Carol received her undergraduate degree in marketing. She went on to earn her MBA in industrial relations. Soon after completing her MBA, Carol went to work for a tiny management firm that focused on training. She was asked to join a job study and quickly took on a leadership role based on her business focus. Immediately following the job study, Carol was assigned to an important training design project that was already underway for a very large client. She was the only one on the project team who had a genuine
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business focus, and ended up designing the entire course. After this, Carol joined another small company, which had just been awarded a project to design a performance appraisal system for use onboard oil tankers operated by a large petrochemical company. She had to learn all of the business processes and understand four different nationality groups so that her finished product could be used cross-culturally.
Carol started her own consulting company in 1985. She describes herself as a very analytical person who likes working with people. She comes at projects with questions rather than answers. She says that she often takes what has been politically and emotionally charged, and converts it into objective information that actually brings diverse people and processes together and, importantly, that the client can use to make improvements. Carol continues to grow and develop in the field by talking with her network of colleagues. She learns every day on her projects by asking lots of questions. Carol cites the ability to form life-long relationships with people as one of the best parts of being in the field of HPI. Carol says, “Being a management consultant allows me to feel like I’m making a difference, that I can help people to be more successful.”