PerformanceXpress

International Society of Performance Improvement Newsletter
December 2004

ISPI Research Committee: What Is It Doing Today?
by Will Thalheimer, PhD

Mission and Activities
The ISPI Research Committee’s mission is to support research within ISPI and the performance improvement field at large. In the last several years, the Committee has been responsible for four major initiatives: 1) administering the research grant program, 2) organizing conference sessions that focus on research, 3) developing a research community, and 4) advocating for the importance of research.

ISPI was founded in 1962 by a group of researchers (academic and military) in San Antonio, Texas. Since that time, research has often distinguished ISPI as the trade organization that most exemplifies proven ideas and evidence-based practice. We’re not perfect of course, catching an occasional whiff of snake-oil sales jockeys, but ISPI members as a whole are especially committed to practices that work to improve performance. As evidence of ISPI’s preeminence, in August three of our researchers— Steven J. Condly, Richard E. Clark, and Harold D. Stolovitch—won ASTD’s research award for an article they published, “The Effects of Incentives on Workplace Performance: A Meta-analytic Review of Research Studies,” in ISPI’s Performance Improvement Quarterly, Volume 16, Number 3.

Research Grant Program
The Committee is responsible for administering ISPI’s Research Grant Program. Each year it puts out a Request for Proposals, reviews incoming proposals, awards grants, mentors recipients, and monitors compliance. This is no easy task, and we’ve learned some lessons the hard way along the road to our own performance improvement. The grantee completion rate has improved from 0% to 40% to 75% in the last three years. We’ve learned that we must: 1) select only those proposals that have a high likelihood of completion, 2) coach grantees to improve their research methodologies, 3) closely monitor compliance, 4) insist on interim deadlines, and 5) reward the researchers after they’ve completed their research. Given this new regimen, the ISPI community will soon be seeing more fruits from these efforts.

The Committee would like to congratulate the following 2003-2004 Research Grant recipients who completed their research: Heather M. McGee and Alyce M. Dickinson for their research entitled, The Effects of Individual and Group Monetary Incentives on High Performance; and Yonnie Chyung for her research, An Investigation of Motivation-Hygiene Factors in e-Learning. She presented her results this year at ISPI’s Annual Conference in Tampa.

The Committee would also like to congratulate the newest Research Grant recipient for 2004-2005: Douglas A. Johnson and Alyce M. Dickinson for their research proposal, The Effects of Feedback When Added to Individual Monetary Incentives. If you’re reading closely, you’ll notice that Alyce is a back-to-back recipient and is doing great work supporting and coaching her graduate students in performance improvement research. All research grants are chosen using a very comprehensive blind review process.

Research-Focused Conference Sessions
Two years ago, the Research Committee sponsored an Annual Conference session called the Research Exchange. It attracted over 100 participants hungry for research-based sessions at the conference. Last year the committee hosted another Research Exchange and added a second session designed to help practitioners develop more “consumer literacy” about how to use research. The Research Exchange was a success, but the second session was sparsely attended, partially because it competed with at least two renowned speakers and partially because we labeled the session with the uninspiring title, Research Roundtables. The lesson we drew from that experience was that while there is a passionate cadre of individuals who will flock to research-based discussions, many ISPI conference-goers may live in fear of the r-word.

At next year’s conference in Vancouver, the Committee will once again sponsor a Research Exchange focused on new research results and will also sponsor a session entitled, Snake Oil or Results? How You Can Improve, Validate (or Justify) Your HPT Practices.

Developing a Research Community
Two years ago, as Committee members brainstormed activities for our annual Committee work, we found there was a lack of communication between ISPI members who were interested in research and research-based practice. So, we set out to alleviate this gap with two doable initiatives. First, we developed a “Research Community” mailing list and sent occasional emails regarding conference sessions, research activities, and so on. Our second initiative was the construction of an ISPI Research Community bulletin board, where ISPI members could post messages on topics related to research. Except for a few phone calls and some topic selections, we had very little work to do on this and are indebted to ISPI webmaster Craig Grimm for including us in the ISPI-wide discussion board initiative.

While these community-building initiatives have only had a moderate effect on the quality and amount of research-related dialogue, the Committee is hopeful that the nascent ISPI-wide Professional Community initiative, with the Science and Research Community led by Research-Committee-Veteran-Extraordinaire Mary Norris Thomas, will bear fruit in bringing together those interested in the scientific foundations of ISPI.

Advocating for Research
You may have seen Research Committee members arrested by police at this year’s Annual Conference for demonstrating and standing up for the importance of research and research-based practice. You, too, may be delusional. Most of what our Committee members do to advocate for research is to have conversations with ISPI members and opinion leaders. We’d like to invite all ISPI members to chat with us. The best way to get started is to join the Research Committee’s mailing list by subscribing at: www.work-learning.com/ispi_research_mailing.htm.

Future of the Research Committee
The ISPI Board of Directors asked the Committee to think innovatively about its activities and specifically to look beyond its current tasks to future opportunities. Board members Marilyn Spatz and Jim Pershing have been particularly helpful. The key goal is to continue the momentum around research-based performance improvement, to continue to increase the visibility of research within ISPI, and to ensure that ISPI maintains its image as an organization dedicated to the use and design of proven methodologies.

Although I am the current chair of the Research Committee, I am blessed to be a member of a brilliant, hard-working team, including Chris Ryan, Ingrid Guerra, Jo Gallagher, Marcey Uday-Riley, Marilyn Spatz (Board Liaison), Mary Norris Thomas (Past Chair), Rich Pearlstein (Former Chair), Ryan Watkins, Steve Condly, and Steve Villachica (Chair Elect).

If you’d like to get involved or have ideas for the Research Committee, please contact me via email at will.thalheimer@work-learning.com.

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

 

10 Tips for Maximizing Measurement

1. Measure what matters to your organization. Bank of America Corp. uses three techniques that are complementary in measurement system alignment: Hoshin planning and Kanri are beneficial in aligning functional areas of the organization with corporate-level goals; and Six Sigma focuses on improving the underlying processes, resulting in measures that are aligned by process.
2. Embed your measurement systems into daily operations. Crown Castle International Corp. has implemented a knowledge management process in conjunction with the balanced scorecard to allow employees to share not only the quantitative improvements, but also the underlying knowledge gained by those who have worked to improve the system.
3. Reflect the maturity of your business model within your measurement system. JetBlue Airways Corp. is focused on building a brand and managing its rapid growth rate. L.L. Bean Inc. is focused on providing a customer experience second to none while competing in a mature marketplace.
4. Build a flexible measurement system. Saturn Corporation’s collected data are mined from its host system to its data warehouse. This flexible system makes it relatively easy and inexpensive to make quick updates.
5. Embrace simplicity in your organizational measurement system. Best-practice organizations use technology appropriate to the enterprise and to the task of collecting, analyzing, and reporting metric data.
6. Manage change while developing your current measurement system. Crown Castle developed a program called “Crowning Achievement” to link the scorecard with the company’s compensation and recognition plans. This has helped increase each unit to maintain its focus and recognize outstanding performance.
7. Use the measurement system as a vehicle to communicate performance. Saturn developed a system that relied on the ability of people to pull information to solve problems and overcome challenges, while giving the company only the information it needed.
8. Link system to culture. Crown Castle used a three-phased, multilevel, multiyear effort to engage the top levels of leadership and management, as well as management and front-line employees at the country level.
9. Define roles and activities for all measurement activity. All of the best-practice organizations profiled in this benchmarking report have assigned responsibility for action and resources for the measurement system to the process and business owners.
10. Act. L.L. Bean uses leading indicators to forecast an impact on operations. It uses indicators such as order size and how many units a customer orders to help decide if the work coming to the fulfillment centers can be easily handled with existing processes or if automation is required.

Note: Tips are excerpted from Effectively Managing Performance Measurement Systems, a benchmarking report published by APQC.

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

Eight to Four: Results (and More) of the Performance-Based ISD Contest
by Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan, PhD, CPT

Last month I conducted a PerformanceXpress contest that required people to define performance-based instructional systems design in exactly eight words. This was a follow-up to the October contest that required a 16-word definition. We received several entries from around the world.

The Winner
After several rounds of reflection, arguments, and recounts, our international panel of judges selected the following entry from Mark Galsdies of Wollongong, Australia as the winning entry. Good on ya, mate! (Note: As always, the judging panel’s decision is final.)

Taking the ‘don’t know’ to the ‘can do’.

Special Mentions
We want to recognize Deb Stone as the contestant with the fastest reaction time. Her entry beat Mark Galsdies’ entry by just one minute. In addition, Deb is to be commended for creating her definition in the form of a haiku:

Create instruction.
She demonstrates performance.
Need becomes fulfilled.

Daniel Roberts also submitted a poetic entry:

Defining needs,
Effective training,
Performance improvement,
Evaluate all...

By the way, here is the slowest entry for the October (16-word) contest. It was submitted by Paul McGuane (and inspired by Bob Mager):

Where are we going? How will we get there? How will we know we’ve arrived?

Another Chance to Win
Here’s how the third round of the contest goes: Define performance-based instructional systems design in exactly four words. Notice that the definition should contain exactly four words. You must not use fewer than four words or more than four words. (Hint: Eschew obfuscation and pontification. Go for a slogan, a bumper sticker, a tee-shirt message, or a tag line.) You can compete in the third round whether or not you competed in the earlier two rounds.

How to Cheat
At the end of this article are several eight-word definitions from the second round. Review the ideas and the words and synthesize your own four-word definition.

Other Rules

• Deadline: December 15, 2004 (Hey, the editor gives me a tight deadline.)
• Email your contest entry to contest@thiagi.com.
• Judging criteria include accuracy, creativity, and appeal to PX readers.
• Include your name and postal address with your entry.
• You may send more than one entry (but you can only win once).
• The decision of the judges is final.
• Results will be announced in the January 2005 issue of PX.
• All entries will eventually be displayed in PX. (Of course, you will get full credit.)

8-Word Definitions

• A box of chocolates with a job aid. —Roland Isnor
• A method of cloning expertise without using DNA. —Dave Bailey
• A simple decision-making process camouflaged in jargon. —Paul Swan
• Advancing people’s performance through proven learning-catalyst methodologies. —Esther Bergman
• Defining needs, Instructional methodologies, Performance improvement, Evaluate all. —Daniel C. Roberts
• Development tools to maximize performance oriented training results. —Jack Cunningham
• How to do what needs done for results. —Jack Cunningham
• Improving the total system, not just unwary performers. —Ken Finley
• Learning interventions designed to fill specific performance gaps. —Alvaro Estrada
• Learning to do what needs to be done. —Rob Stevens
• Methodology to improve the results of performers’ actions. —Vicki Wolfe
• Monkey see, monkey question, monkey practice, monkey do. —Janis Currie
• Not about know-how, it’s the value of can-do. —Howard Sommerfeld
• Performance based instructional systems design produce lasting results! —Jane McClelland
• Rules-based creativity that improves people’s job performance. —Esther Bergman
• Systematic methodology creating measurable positive employee behavioral differences. —Monica Luketich
• Systematically crafted performance improvement opportunity, with timely feedback. —Laura Jackson
• Whatever it takes to achieve the required performance. —Howard Sommerfeld

From the Board:
ISPI’s Fiscal Fitness
by Barbara Gough, CPT, ISPI Treasurer and Clare Elizabeth Carey, EdD, CPT, Acting ISPI Treasurer

Candidates Announced for ISPI’s 2005-2007 Board Election

The Nominating Committee has announced the slate of candidates for the upcoming 2005-2007 Board of Directors election. This year the membership will elect a President-elect and two Directors. They will join the President, three continuing Board members, and the non-voting Executive Director who make up the eight-member Board.

The slate was developed by the Nominating Committee, which received nominations from the membership and determined the willingness of those nominated to run. All the candidates meet the qualifications and criteria of the positions. For further information on the qualifications and criteria, click here. In mid-December, members can view the Candidate Statement from each nominee on the ISPI website.

As a reminder, ISPI will hold its annual Board election electronically, and active members will vote for candidates to the Board online. Since your link to the “voting booth” will be sent via email in mid-January, it is important that ISPI has your most current email address on file. To review your record, visit www.ispi.org and click on My ISPI to login. Or, you may call us at 301.587.8570.

The candidates for the 2005-2007 Board of Directors, listed in random order, are:

Designing an Internal Perfromance Improvement Organization: Five Questions
by Jim Hill, CPT and Rodger Stotz, CPT

What is the best method for creating a performance improvement organization within a company? This question often arises at conferences and meetings, during phone calls, and chats with performance consulting colleagues. Fifteen ISPI Advocate members recently met and discussed this topic. Below is a summary of that dialogue, drawn from their combined experiences. For anyone considering the development of a performance improvement team, these considerations may help to more rapidly develop a framework for success.

1. Why form a performance improvement organization?

The Advocates identified two primary purposes for an internal performance improvement organization:

• To provide results to the company that are not otherwise being provided.
• To help integrate disparate initiatives that aim to improve performance.

2. What are our potential measures of success?

• Are we delivering results? (short-term)
• Are we in demand by internal clients? (mid-term)
• Do we have repeat clients? (mid-term)
• Are we a place where people want to work? (mid-term)
• Are we expected at critical meetings and in critical decisions? (mid-term)
• Are we a part of the company’s DNA? (long-term)

3. How can we gain and maintain support?

• Ensure a clear charter. When something is “new”, others want to know what it does (focus), how it affects them (scope), and whether it is supported by senior leadership (license). These three issues can be rolled into a single requirement—a charter. Your charter is supportable if the focus is crystal clear, the scope is reasonable, and management provides public, visible support via words, actions, and resources.
• Ensure a broad and clearly identifiable network. Consider four elements of your network. The first is a network of sponsors. These must be known, recognizable, and influential. Having this network will lead to an early ability to exercise your role—but it will not lead to success. That is where results take over.

The second is a network of critical stakeholders in related departments. It is often these people who must acquiesce or welcome your inquiries and analyses, your expertise, your lack of bias, and your ability to deliver as promised.

The third, drawn from the first two, is an internal board of advisors. An advisory board provides advice, reduces barriers, and identifies key constraints to success. When using a board, give them something to do and ensure they do it. Small things such as calling another executive or providing access to data will ensure they maintain connection to your team’s mission.

The fourth is a network outside the company. This group ensures you are linked to scientific developments and new professional practices.

• Ensure balanced objectivity. The role of a performance improvement organization is to help move the company upward on the performance/results graph. We must operate much like a physician who provides diagnoses without bias for a particular drug or treatment. The main objective is health. That is not to say that we ignore internal politics or interactions. The company’s organizational realities need to be considered.

4. Reactive or Proactive—How should the PI organization provide services?

There are likely three typical models of service provision:

• Reactive: in which the organization mainly takes requests for support. This is the “show me” stage of development and most likely occurs early in the team’s formation.
• Proactive: in which the team has the authority to conduct analyses where they see opportunities.
• Hybrid: which tends to occur once the organization is established and offers known value.

5. Centralized or Decentralized—What structure is best?

This may be the greatest area of debate. Building your team based on your service approach and the culture of your company will likely lead to greater acceptance. Other factors requiring consideration are:

• A need to standardize your methods.
• A need to prioritize, track, and report on projects across the company.
• The variations in demand across the company.

From an operational perspective, the Advocates questioned whether a centralized organization—where all assets are singularly owned and distributed—will be most effective. Instead, a hybrid model seemed to be the most common experience of the Advocates. This consists of a core management team; locally distributed assets; and a centralized, flex-staff that can be shifted based on need.

Via a core leadership team, the organization ensures commonality of thought, process, tools, and language. It has the authority to temporarily reassign assets based on the operational needs of the company. It also tracks and manages all existing projects from analysis to implementation.

Locally distributed assets are small teams assigned to or owned by the business units and field organizations. Project requests come from the business units while oversight is provided by the core team.

A flex-staff fills operational gaps or offers a “surge” capability when the size, scope, or number of projects grows beyond what the local teams can handle. Temporary “task forces” that address critical needs are supported via this team.

It is likely that a performance consulting team will have responsibilities beyond analysis, such as supporting project design, implementation, and evaluation. Many companies do not have budgets specifically earmarked for “performance improvement.” So, you may find yourself in the training department or, maybe, in the process improvement, marketing, or sales departments. Whatever the location, grow where you are planted, and exert influence on other departments that may provide performance improvement solutions.

Preliminary 12-point Checklist

	We understand the primary purpose of our organization and our sponsors concur.
	We have a clear, sponsor-approved, charter.
	We have a solid, dependable, network within the company.
	We have a solid, dependable, network outside the company.
	Our organizational structure is business and culturally appropriate and understood by others.
	We have a common set of tools, processes, and methods.
	We are delivering results.
	We are in demand by internal clients.
	We have repeat clients.
	We are a place where people want to work.
	We are expected at critical meetings and in critical decisions.
	We are part of the company’s DNA.

One size doesn’t fit all, and this is just a start. Consider the ideas outlined above and use them as they best fit the nuances of your company. Where you can build on these, please do, and then share with Rodger.Stotz@maritz.com. By considering these experiences and the suggestions of others, you’ll likely increase the speed at which success comes to your team.

 

I-Spy: Websites of Interest
by Todd Packer

As we conclude the year 2004, we have the opportunity to evaluate our experiences. How we place value on our successes, our lessons learned, and our sense of self creates guidelines for our capacity to evaluate the performance of ourselves and others. There are many who put the “love” in “evaluation”, so this month we visit a few sites that may be of value to performance technologists. Our theme is Value URL. Get ready for some trippendicular HPT.

Quick recap: Every month, three sites, one theme. While far from comprehensive, hopefully these sites will spark readers to look further and expand views about HPT. Please keep in mind that any listing is for informational purposes only and does not indicate an endorsement either by the International Society for Performance Improvement or me.

These are the general categories I use for the sites featured:

1. E-Klatch: Links to professional associations, research, and resources that can help refine and expand our views of HPT through connections with other professionals and current trends
2. HPT@work: Links to job listings, career development, volunteer opportunities, and other resources for applying your individual skills
3. I-Candy: Links to sites that are thought provoking, enjoyable, and refreshing to help manage the stresses and identify new ideas for HPT

E-Klatch
What’s your “e” value? For a simply designed and extensive list of evaluation resources, visit Digital Resources for Evaluators, compiled by Catherine A. Callow-Heusser. The site includes a great portal for international communities of evaluators, a variety of evaluation instruments and data sources, and several funding and employment listings. Some gems uncovered here of HPT interest include: the Institute of Objective Measurement’s definition of, well, Objective Measurement; a 2001 article by Kim Sheehan, University of Oregon, on E-mail Survey Response Rates: A Review; the United Nations Development Program Handbook on Monitoring and Evaluating for Results; and a working paper on adapting U.S. program evaluation standards to African conditions by the African Evaluation Association. Despite some broken links, this comprehensive site is a helpful springboard to learning more about evaluation. Extra credit for listing ISPI, too (under Other Associations for Researchers and Evaluators)!

HPT@work
What’s your “I” value? Trying to figure out your own value at work? Some light on this issue is shed in a recent article by Loren Gary on The new ROI: Return on Individuals which appears on the Working Knowledge site of the Harvard Business School. Also on this site are other pieces to help explore how we are valued at work, including an email interview by Mallory Stark with Russell Muirhead on the justifiably double-meaning nature of his recent book Just Work, and a list by Herminia Ibarra on Nine Unconventional Strategies for Reinventing Your Career. Other articles on Career effectiveness can be found here. This site includes a large library of articles on topics including Finance, Moral Leadership, Innovation, and Outsourcing. Additional links bring you to current Harvard Business School Faculty and Research and special reports from Conferences.

I-Candy
And what’s your Valley you? For a quick translation of your valued text into Valley Girl speak, hop over to the eLibs Funkatizer and select “Valley Girl” in the “Translate to:” box. Here’s what you get for the definition of HPT from the ISPI website:

“Human Performance Technology (HPT) uses a wide range of interventions that are drawn from many other disciplines includin’, fer shure, behavioral psychology, fer shure, instructional systems design, fer shure, organizational development, man, and human resources management. As such, oh, baby, it stresses a rigorous analysis of present and desired levels of performance, fer shure, identifies thuh causes for thuh performance gap, like, offers a wide range of interventions with which to improve performance, oh, baby, guides thuh change management process, fer shure, and evaluates thuh results.”

Other options for “funkatized” text include Swedish Chef and Smurf. (You can note their disclaimer: “The Funkatizer is not intended to be racist, sexist, or otherwise demeaning or discriminatory. It is pure humor in word-play.”) For a definition of “Valley Girl” you can visit the InThe80s.com Cliques of Eighties Teens and find definitions of Valley Girl speak and other terms from U.S. English in the 1980s here, where we learn that “Trippendicular” is “Something that is totally amazing.” Sounds like HPT to me.

Best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season, and we at I-Spy look forward to seeing and “e”-ing you in the New Year. Fer shure!

When he is not Internet trawling for ISPI, Todd Packer can be found improving business, non-profit, and individual performance through research, training, and innovation coaching as Principal Consultant of Todd Packer and Associates based in Shaker Heights, Ohio. He may be reached at tp@toddpacker.com.

Sponsorship: The Key to Implementation
by Capt. Matthew T. Peters, CPT

HPT practitioners are trained to systematically analyze performance issues, determine causes, and recommend specific solutions that lead to measurable improvements in performance, profit, and employee satisfaction. Unfortunately, many of the best-intended efforts fail. Why?

Consider this scenario: A globally recognized organization experienced a highly visible operational failure. An HPT team was afforded direct access to the COO and key performer groups, and had sufficient time to conduct a thorough analysis. They identified 14 environmental and eight individual performance deficiencies. Their recommended solution set was well thought out. The COO agreed with their findings, but later failed to lead the implementation effort. Why?

The HPT team hadn’t really communicated with its sponsor. At the outset, the COO had focused on a few topical symptoms, had rationalized some solutions based on years of personal experience, and expected the HPT analysis to support those positions. Meanwhile, the HPT team had assumed the quality of their work would carry the day. They worked in isolation, rarely shared their findings, and delivered their comprehensive, well-authored report on time…to no avail.

This presumption of sponsorship is an area of weakness for many in the human performance profession—especially for new HPT organizations and practitioners. We centrally managed our initial efforts in some 20+ Navy sites and partnered with Dr. Jim Hill (a past president of ISPI) to avoid as many pitfalls as possible. It’s also why ISPI included “Utilizing partnerships and collaborating with clients” in its Standard of Performance Technology.

We learned a lot during our early efforts. Here are 10 ideas to help performance technologists improve their ability to gain sponsorship:

1. Begin the effort on Day 1.
2. Clearly define the roles and responsibilities with your sponsor early in the game. Gain consensus on the desired outcomes and the potential range of solutions.
3. Get verbal and public commitment from the sponsor. Sponsorship can never be delegated. Without committed sponsorship, stakeholders will hesitate to commit, your recommendations may never be implemented, and long-term change is likely to fall short.
4. Keep your sponsor engaged. Schedule regular discovery and discussion meetings to share interim results. Ensure your sponsor is fully prepared and is your advocate.
5. Over communicate. Update your sponsor at every critical phase. Be sure you get a response. Silence is deadly. Help your sponsor engage the other stakeholders by drafting the response you want in an email along with a recommended list of recipients and their addresses. If sponsors have to work too hard, they are likely to lose interest.
6. Expand your sponsors and champions during each phase of your analysis. Don’t leave any potential naysayers on the sidelines.
7. Spend time—maybe a day a week—with sales and marketing professionals. They will teach you a lot about customer/client management—plus, they’ll appreciate the interest.
8. Learn the language of your sponsors. Talking to them in “HPT” is a sure way to fail. Save the scientific talk for meetings with other HPTers.
9. Help new HPT practitioners learn from your experience. Trying to figure it out alone own is painful for the novice and costly for the organization.
10. Be aggressive…but smart. Let the organization know your value.

Try a few of the actions above. You’ll know you are on the right track when you have to keep your sponsors from implementing your recommendations before your work is complete.

Captain Matthew T. Peters, CPT, is Commanding Officer, U.S. Navy Human Performance Center (HPC). He has been in the Navy for 24 years, is a Naval aviator, holds an MBA, and has held several jobs in the Operations Research field. Captain Peters has been directly involved with the Navy’s Revolution in Training transformation initiative since 2000. He may be reached at matthew.peters1@navy.mil.

Performance Technology Makeovers
by Allison Rossett, PhD, CPT, Column Editor

This past semester I taught a graduate course about performance technology for 20 on-campus students and 24 distance students. One assignment, dubbed PT Makeover, asked graduate students to choose a past project that would benefit from some serious PT “magic.” I’m sharing several of their short papers with you.

Even good projects can profit from a more comprehensive approach. Below, Jerry Marino describes a branding effort that went well and finds several ways that it could have gone even better. Read all about it in Rethinking a Branding Program. If you would like to contact me, I may be reached at arossett@mail.sdsu.edu.

Store Visits With a Purpose
The visits by marketing agents ran over three months. During that period, the agents made over 1,500 store visits, and spoke with over 4,000 sales associates as well as to over 1,000 store managers and 5,200 customers. They left sales aids and shelf talkers (shelf promotional sheets) at the stores. The Marino Group developed approximately 60 pages of web content and a 10-question quiz. Approximately 146 sales associates started the quiz; all but seven completed it.

There was very little analysis done prior to developing the content, and performance drivers and causes were not considered. Although there was collaboration between groups, there was significant white space between the groups charged with organizing, managing, and implementing the program. We collaborated with the marketing reps about delivery of the message but did not speak with any prospective retailers to determine performance gaps. We used our best guess for solutions, taking direction from the client and their marketing representatives.

The client evaluated the program as a general success: follow-up surveys and visit reports showed that the store visits and leave-behind promotional material raised brand awareness and increased knowledge of the technology. The client was pleased with the response from store sales associates and the web training, but would have liked more visits to the website and greater test participation from store personnel.

Rethinking Our Approach
This program could have been improved by a more thorough and purposeful analysis. This would have included interviews with the client, the potential users/participants, their supervisors, and the marketing representatives visiting the stores. Questions to analyze performance would have followed the interview schedule used for a rollout program (Rossett, 1999). In addition, a review of the literature would have provided more information about what others had experienced for this type of rollout. What works? What doesn’t? What tends to get in the way of such efforts?

Client Questions to Clarify Goals
Client questions would have been helpful to more clearly define what the client expected from participants as well as the drivers associated with that performance. It also would have helped the client clarify goals and establish realistic expectations for the project. The client wanted to motivate sales associates to recommend sales and to instill in them the value of products certified with their cutting-edge technology. Their goal was to implant “top of mind” product and technology value recognition through education and training. This implies a skills and knowledge deficiency. An initial analysis of the intended audience would have validated this premise and established specific information to deliver. Did the sales associates lack knowledge about the products and their superior value? Our approach assumed that was the driver of their performance. Now, with performance technology perspectives, many other possibilities present themselves.

This type of sales call, with follow-up information support, is a standard approach for brand awareness and product training. What we did, the follow-up and support information delivered via the website, was an innovative solution providing more information than a representative could cover in a call. But, I believe, a more extensive analysis may have uncovered even better ways to deliver the information and motivate sales associates to visit the client’s website.

When All Else Fails Ask Users…and Review the Literature
In retrospect, several appropriate questions could have been asked to improve the outcome: What are the best ways to encourage website visits and interaction with the content? Would a motivator such as an online game or simulation attract the sales force to the site and deliver the appropriate message? Would interactive tools engage visitors at the site longer and encourage them to become involved with the content? Would less “training” information and more performance support and job aids improve performance or information retention?

A review of the literature and an extensive after-the-fact Internet search has uncovered other potential solutions. Reflecting on it now, I’m keen on the use of incentives. Games or simulations could also be employed to increase involvement and motivate the audience to repeatedly visit the website.

Games and Incentives
Incentives have been shown to not only improve job performance but also to improve results of roll outs and promotions. Stolovitch, Clark, and Condly (2002) showed that incentives greatly increase job performance. Their study found that incentive systems work best when current performance is inadequate, when the cause of inadequate performance is motivational, and when the desired performance can be quantified (how much, how often, how many). For incentives to improve performance, goals must be challenging but achievable.

In addition, vendors of incentive programs have shown that online incentives can support offline programs, like this rollout. Linkner (2003) states, “Industry statistics show that adding an online promotion to an offline campaign increases response rates by as much as 50%.” Mitchell (2003) of Snowfly.com proved that using Las Vegas-style incentives to reinforce performance objectives in a call center reduced call handling time and increased compliance to schedules, and these results were not temporary. They improved over the year-long period that the solution was implemented at the call center.

Further research and questions to sales associates (the target audience) and their supervisors would clarify whether such incentives would be enticing to this audience, how incentives would be received, if introducing them would increase web visits, and what type of incentives would be most appealing.

This process clearly shows that even programs perceived as successful can be improved through thoughtful planning and analysis. A thorough literature review and insightful questioning of potential users and sponsor can produce innovative options for solutions.

References
Linkner, J. (2003). News Release. ePrize CEO touts power of online promotions to stretch marketing dollars at Ad:Tech New York 2003. Retrieved online March 30, 2004, http://www.eprize.net/company/news/pressreleases/20031027.html

Mitchell, B. (2003). White paper: Snowfly incentives call center improvement. Retrieved online April 2, 2004, http://www.snowfly.com/Alliance_Data_White_Paper.pdf

Rossett, A. (1999). First things fast: Strategies for performance analysis. San Francisco: Jossey Bass/Pfeiffer.

Stolovitch, H.D., Clark, R.E., & Condly, S.J. (2002). Incentives and motivation in the workplace. Retrieved online April 8, 2004. http://www.hsa-lps.com/Performance_WS_2002.htm.

Jerry Marino is a performance consultant who specializes in learning, training, and knowledge management. He has more than 30 years of experience in education, training, and publishing, and in his practice has worked with high-tech, banking, and publishing companies. Jerry is a graduate student at San Diego State University where he will earn his Masters Degree in Educational Technology in December 2005. He may be reached at gem@marinogroup.com.

CPT@Work
by Brian Desautels, CPT

The impact of Human Performance Technology, our technology, may be our own best-kept secret. Whether better visibility will translate into increased opportunity and effectiveness for CPTs is its own debate. But, maybe sharing our secret can lay a fertile ground upon which ISPI members can plant the seeds of HPT, grow its influence, and yield higher accomplishments for themselves and their organizations.

This is the vision of CPT@Work: A place where anyone, any time, from any place, can go to find a case study of how a human performance technology (HPT) approach to improving individual and organizational performance made a difference.

Every application received for certification provides us with many illustrations of our technology at work. Illustrations of successful endeavors that made a positive impact on the business, in manners that we have seen possible, repeated in story after story, application for certification after application. We’d like to highlight these successes for the world to notice, and then invite CPTs in for further discussion.

From this moment forward, we’ll be asking our CPTs if they would like to share the stories in their applications publicly. The goal is to identify projects done by CPTs that clearly defined the performance gaps and causes, used appropriate solutions, and achieved measurable results. Every month in this series, we will place these case studies for anyone to access and learn about how others are applying the technology to close performance gaps. We may also utilize a space on the ISPI website to locate case studies as white papers of particular interest to specific groups.

We want accessibility to the illustrations to be easy so that decision makers can see what HPT is about and move forward with action. While we may say, for example, that HPT can be applied to solve any performance issue, we want the CEO who asks how it works to witness our technology in a cross-section of:

• Industries
• Professions
• Performance gaps and causes
• Performance interventions
• Impacts on individual and/or organizational performance

Ditto for managers who ask about designing measurements or about use of consequences. Ditto for how interventions get identified and implemented.

These shared stories will become part of the public repertoire. They build the ISPI lore. Our membership will share these stories with internal and external clients because they illustrate how performance obstacles are identified, clarified, and rectified. Maybe the CPT who contributed the story will be phoned for a deeper discussion by a reader working through a similar complexity.

If you are a CPT and wish to contribute a case study for consideration, click here to open a Word document containing the guidelines for submission. Each case study submitted should help us understand the:

• Opportunity or performance gap,
• Solution designed to capitalize on the opportunity, or close the gap,
• Measurement process utilized, and
• Findings that indicated the success of the intervention.

Lastly, woven throughout every case study will be its alignment with our 10 Standards of Performance Technology and our Code of Ethics…critical reflections of how we work.

I hope you agree with my enthusiasm about the potential to gain visibility for HPT. If you’d like more information about submitting your case study, email me at briandes@verizon.net.

Brian Desautels, CPT, is a past ISPI Board Director and Society Treasurer, 2000 ISPI Conference Chair, and co-founder of the Seattle chapter of ISPI. He is a former Sr. HR Manager for Microsoft Corporation and is currently the Managing Partner of JB₂D Performance, a Seattle-based consulting firm which applies performance technology strategies to human resource management.

Seeking Applicants for Editor-in-Chief of Performance Improvement

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) is seeking an ISPI member who has the flexibility to take on the commitment and responsibilities of Editor for Performance Improvement (PI).

We’re looking for a member who can demonstrate an extensive knowledge of human performance technology (HPT), has a professional HPT network, and possesses an editorial review ability. The Editor will be responsible for acquiring, reviewing, and selecting manuscripts and will contribute suggestions and ideas toward the editorial direction. The Editor will work with authors and potential authors to maintain the highest standard of editorial content and will work directly with ISPI’s Senior Director of Publications, who is responsible for all production and distribution. The Editor reports to the Executive Director, who serves as Publisher of Performance Improvement. The position requires a two-year commitment, commencing in April 2005. The Editor will receive $10,000 a year as compensation for the invested time and effort.

PI is published 10 times a year and is distributed to more than 5,000 members, subscribers, and institutions. For an application and instructions, or for questions regarding the position or the application process, please contact April Davis, ISPI Senior Director of Publications, by phone: 301.587.8570 x112; by fax: 301.587.8573; or by email, april@ispi.org.

Newsletter Submission Guidelines

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:

In addition to the article, please include a short bio (2-3 lines) and a contact email 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.

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: 1.301.587.8570
Fax: 1.301.587.8573
info@ispi.org
http://www.ispi.org