Week 2A - A WALK ON THE HUMAN PERFORMANCE SIDE – PART 1

Addison, R. M., & Haig, E. C. (2012). A WALK ON THE HUMAN PERFORMANCE SIDE – PART 1. Performance Improvement, 51(8), 37–41. doi:10.1002/pfi

The first of a four-part series, this article from Performance Improvement (Addison & Haig, 2012) breaks the HPT experience into four organizational levels:

·      Worker/individual/team

·      Work/process

·      Workplace/organization

·      World/society

The first part focuses on the Worker/Individual/Team dimension and presents the idea that a “performance map” allows the identification of performance issues in an understandable (to the client), and timely way. The authors detail the use of the performance map grid and show how it can both uncover performance issues as well as include the management from the beginning of the process.

Addision and Haig make the point that “For training to be part of a solution, we want to be sure the employees do not know how to do the work.” (Addison & Haig, 2012 pg. 38). The grid they propose allows one to quickly change the focus from Learning to one of the other major quadrants of Structure, Motivation, or Environment. By having the client/employee to quickly answer two basic questions and then indicate the answers on the “Performance Map,” the client/employee quickly sees where issues more likely lie.

The audience for this article is that of the practitioner/researcher. It is proposing a set of tools (over the four articles) that can be used for HPT application in real life. The content is drawn in part from their own research and publications as well as that of others (see article references). While the content is explained well, it seems to be a bit light on the examples of application and research leading up to their tool proposals.

I like the approach the authors take to performance analysis. The inclusion of the client at such a fundamental level is a wonderful way to get buy-in from the get-go with the added benefit of having a foundation for a rich dialogue upfront in the process.