1 Discussion Question,1 Summary and 1 Case study

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Human Performance Enhancement, Performance Systems, Performance Support, Performance Support & Training, Performance Design, Performance & Organizational Support, and Performance Technology.

An argument against changing the title of a department is made by Sorohan (1996). She notes that some people—and especially managers—may become confused with such terms as performance technology and performance consulting. Sorohan states that “some performance consultants report that they’ve had more trouble winning support for the term than the practice.” You need to make the decision about changing—or not changing—the name of your organization to reflect your new service offerings based on your knowledge of your client base.

Recognize that some in your organization might perceive the new model as infringing on the job responsibilities of others. When an executive at a Wall Street financial firm received a recommendation to expand the capabilities of the training function to include analysis of human performance, her response was that she expected her managers to be performing that function. She was not supportive of the concept to have traditional training people performing the analysis she expected from the leaders in her organization. In fact, it’s been suggested that it won’t be long before human performance improvement becomes part of the leading MBA programs.

There may be other functions inside or outside of the human resource organization that perform similar roles. Organization development and quality departments, in particular, are just two of many departments that might regard themselves as already providing this service to the organization. It would be advantageous to engage these departments early in your process, share approaches, and determine if there are overlaps in your strategies to improve performance. Reorganization or merging of similar functions, either on the organization chart or virtually, may prove beneficial as time goes by.

Alternative Paths for Transforming a Traditional Training Department into an HPI Department

Other HPI authors have recommended similar, yet different, paths. Smalley and DeJong (1995) reflected on the transformation of their traditional HRD department at Amway and cited five phases in the evolution to HPI formulated by Harless (1992). These progressive stages included “conventional training, performance-based instruction, job-aided training, front-end analysis and measuring results, and performance planning.” Fuller (1998) described a five-step approach for preparing to transition to a focus on performance improvement. These were to:

1. Determine who needs to be involved as advisers 2. Form a definition of HPI 3. Select a single HPI model to use 4. Identify specific people who will perform the HPI work 5. Position HPI into the organization, illustrating its benefits

As with any road map, there are always alternative routes that can be taken. The 10 elements featured in this chapter are simply guidelines that can be modified to fit your organization. They are intended to help you identify a path that will successfully guide your organization from a training function to a human performance improvement organization.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

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While there is no one right way to navigate the transition from a traditional training organization to a human performance improvement organization, there are some pitfalls that you can avoid when leading this transformation in your company. To list just a few:

Don’t wait for the client to come to you; be proactive in identifying performance improvement projects. Don’t assume that you can make the case for transformation by citing external case studies. Don’t widely publicize the intended transformation before you can respond with resources. Do not treat the transformation as a project; treat it as an ongoing process. Don’t form a task force. Don’t form a project team. It’s an ongoing evolution that will be impacted by an ever-changing environment. The players will need to change depending on current needs. Don’t get discouraged. There will be setbacks. A champion may be promoted or leave the company. An emergency, such as a merger, could occur that will alter your focus. Or a host of other changes could occur that might have a negative impact on your course of action.