PerformanceXpress

Geary Rummler, CPT, PhD, ISPI Past President, Member for Life, and Distinguished Professional Achievement award winner, is this month’s TrendSpotter. He is the founder of the Performance Design Lab, a company structured on the belief that performance doesn’t just happen; it has to be designed. It is called a lab because as the staff is engaged in designing performance, they are constantly searching for better ways to do it.

When we asked Geary to predict the two- to three-year future of HPT, he responded with both Best Case and Worst Case scenarios. This approach makes for a lively conversation that pinpoints the challenges facing today’s HPT practitioners worldwide.

Top Prediction
Best Case—Geary believes that many of our thought leaders and practitioners will demonstrate the successful application of their performance improvement expertise to process and organization results, rather than continuing to focus on the job or performer level in their organizations.

We will see HPTers moving up the Results Chain to practice Serious Performance Consulting at the process and organizational levels. There will be more activity practiced with more rigor, and it will be centered on work and business results.

We will read books and articles, attend presentations at conferences, and hear discussions among colleagues about projects that get beyond the performer level and result in measurable contributions to business goals and results.

Worst Case—If we make no progress, our work will continue to focus on interventions that target only the job and the performer. Our literature, research, and project work will reflect our static state; and we will remain on our people-centric perch, a location that will limit our effectiveness as it does today.

Reasons for this Prediction
Best Case—First, business organizations need help. Increasingly, they are looking for substantial, systemic answers to their problems. Their doors are open to performance consultants to enter and move up to the next level of service.

Second, evidence that we are poised to practice serious performance consulting includes:

How Organizations Will Be Different
Best Case—Performance consulting departments will be established and endure, providing measurable and valued results to processes and the organization. HPT practitioners will be accepted and valued senior executives in our organizations. We will see a significant drop in the prevalent search for the “quick fix” for performance issues and a major increase in the delivery of sustainable, long-term, systemic solutions.

Worst Case—We will continue to change the name on the door from Training to Workplace Learning & Performance, and our job titles from training specialist to performance consultant, or from training manager to chief learning officer, but we will make no changes in our operational dynamics, and thus make no significant impact on the organizations we serve.

Implications for Geary and the Performance Design Lab
Best Case—Practitioners will apply the models, processes, and tools Geary has been teaching for the past 35 years. Using them, HPTers will make consistent, lasting contributions to their organizations that make a difference to their goals and results. The Performance Design Lab will have more opportunities than they can accommodate to practice what they preach and will hold its annual meetings in Cabo San Lucas.

Worst Case—Geary gives it up after 35 years of serious performance consulting. Let’s help Geary realize his life’s goals: Be the first in your organization to boldly step out of your comfort zone at the performer or job level and reach up to leverage your performance improvement expertise at the process and organization levels and make a valued difference to business results.

1. Will it be valuable?
2. Why should I get involved?
3. How can I keep up with ISPI when I’m so busy?

• Conferences provide challenging questions.
• Thought-provoking discussions lead to new resources and conversations with authors and leading practitioners.
• Global friendships and mentors enrich my understanding of business in other cultures. (See Story #1 below.)
• Networking opportunities evolve into learning and employment contracts. (See Story #2 below.)
• The conference bookstore, displays, and peers introduce me to valuable resources not available at local bookstores.
• Pre-conference workshops and conference sessions are my consistent Professional Development and Continuing Education.

• Chapter membership provides a local network of dedicated professionals in human performance, dialogue, business applications, and monthly programs about HPT applications. (I was part of the chartering committee for the Kansas City chapter. Benefits of that time spent continue to add up with new friendships, HPT role models, mentors, invitations to be on committees for ISPI, and the opportunity to serve ISPI as a Board Director.)
• Volunteering for a committee or conference task force increases your experience in applying HPT, provides opportunity for global friendships, and allows you to demonstrate your skills and gain credibility.
• Writing an article about a research project, presenting the highlights and challenges of achieving a business goal, or reviewing a book can increase name recognition as an active ISPI member.
• Becoming a Certified Performance Technologist is hard work that helped me focus on what I do, how I’ve done it, and the business results. The 10 Standards of Performance Technology are no longer just a part of certification, they are the foundation of my daily business efforts.

• Scan the monthly PerformanceXpress. (Congratulations, you’ve already discovered a valuable benefit!)
• Print articles of interest for colleagues.
• Check out the ISPI website for community or chapter news on a given day each month.
• Don’t put the Performance Improvement journal in the “read pile” without reviewing the Table of Contents on the cover and scanning the Executive Summaries at the back of each issue.
• Become involved in a professional community today and network with individuals in your areas of interest.

Vancouver Is the Place to Be
by Diana Depp, Gina Walker, CPT, and Sheila Wilkins, CPT, 2005 Conference Planning Committee

ISPI’s 43^rd Annual International Performance Improvement Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is just around the corner—April 10-15, 2005. Efforts are in high gear, ensuring the conference meets the world-class requirements of our profession. For example, sessions will be closely aligned with our newly created professional communities to bring alive this year’s theme of “Process, Practice, & Productivity.”

Likewise, this year’s conference committee is fine-tuning our approach to the informal aspects of “conferencing.” Both structured and unstructured networking opportunities will abound. From the opening event to conference close, it will be easy for attendees to meet and connect with fellow professionals—to share notes, insights, and business cards! Everyone will receive a Conference Passport to serve as a guide for navigating the conference and for providing opportunities to make valuable connections with colleagues from far and near.

At the start, be prepared for an opening session that is informative, fun, and particularly useful for newcomers as an orientation to the conference experience. We guarantee surprises (which we don’t want to give away!) that will continue as the sessions unfold. And you have your pick of forums, case studies, presentations, and Cracker Barrels to attend. When you have a moment to relax, visit the International Room and meet with our colleagues from around the globe, who are now busy arranging their trips!

Meanwhile, the Vancouver Chapter is working hard to make sure your visit to British Columbia will be a memorable one—their aim is to “amaze” you with their hosting abilities. They are working with Tourism Canada, who will be hosting a Welcome Table during the duration of the conference, to ensure you have easy access to Vancouver’s attractions. They will even make your meal reservations and get you special discounts!

To leave you on an international note, here is a message from Monique Mueller, CPT in Zurich, Switzerland:

“ISPI calls us to beautiful Vancouver. This is quite a journey even for people in North America. Imagine the trip for us who travel from other countries and other continents! Year after year, colleagues from all over the world make the long journey to the ISPI Conference. Why? Because it is the only time we all have the chance to get together and see old friends, make new ones, exchange experiences, learn the latest in our field, and have fun.

This year the Conference Committee has set up ample possibilities for you to learn from and network with participants from outside North America. Would you like to know about HPT in South Africa, the Middle East, or Europe? Would you like to make professional friends from around the globe? In Vancouver, you will be able to do this—just get involved and talk to your colleagues from the International ISPI Community. Looking forward to meeting you in Vancouver.”

Register today! The early bird deadline is this Friday, February 4. Don’t miss your opportunity to save $100.

Tidbits from Behavior Science
by Carl Binder, CPT, PhD

In this first issue of the column, I’d like to set expectations and explain why my previous monthly column—Measurement Counts!—came to an end. Measurement Counts! ran for nearly three years, receiving lots of positive feedback and input. I’ve even learned recently that some readers have missed it since the last issue in November. The passing of Ogden Lindsley, whose work provided much of the inspiration for that column, seemed a natural point to end. And we were, frankly, running out of measurement topics simple enough to handle in 500 words at a time. (By the way, we’re hoping to expand and integrate the 30 Measurement Counts! columns into a useful little book for practitioners some time in the future.)

The idea for Tidbits emerged from several lines of thinking. First, it’s fun to write a short monthly column, and I was looking for a way to continue that fun. Second, as with Measurement Counts!, it seems there’s an opportunity to take a body of information that practitioners often view as too esoteric or scholarly and make it clear, practical, and immediately useful in the everyday practice of performance improvement. Third, since so many of the concepts and tools that I’ve used with clients for decades came directly from the science of behavior begun by my graduate school mentor, B.F. Skinner, I wanted to share some of those principles and how I find them helpful in understanding and addressing different types of performance challenges.

The bedrock natural science methodology developed by Skinner and his colleagues continues to inform the work of many researchers and practitioners alike, particularly those who use measurement to make decisions and who change what they do based on data. I think personally that so-called “behaviorism” has gotten a bad rap over the last few decades (including the notion that it is “dead”). There are quite a number of foundational discoveries and concepts, the origins of which are in the science of behavior, still used in our profession; however they are not widely discussed or recognized as having coming from that source. (Of course the science and its explicit applications still continue robustly, represented most publicly by the rapidly growing International Association for Behavior Analysis, whose next international conference will be in Beijing, China.) Mostly, I think it’s important to recognize that whatever one’s philosophical persuasion, even in these post-modern constructionist times, behavior science has contributed some powerful ideas that many of us old-timers take for granted, and to which many younger practitioners have not been explicitly introduced. These ideas, and their practical implications, will provide the substance for this column.

As with Measurement Counts!, I encourage input and feedback from my readers. It’s always good to know that you’re reading what I write—whether you agree, disagree, or are confused and need further clarification. It’s just plain nice to get feedback, and I hope you will provide it.

So that’s the plan. Next month we’ll begin with several principles related to discrimination learning and concept formation that can help to clarify how we approach many types of projects and performance improvement designs. If you have any pet concepts or principles you’d like to see mentioned in this column, please send them along and I’ll do my best to incorporate them in their appropriate context. In the meantime, let me take this opportunity to wish us all a happy, prosperous, and productive new year!

Action Learning: A Powerful Strategy for Improving Performance
by Michael J. Marquardt

From Boston to Brazil, from Finland to Tokyo, companies as diverse as Samsung, Deutsche Bank, GE, and Boeing share one powerful workplace learning and performance enhancing strategy: They have created thousands of new products and services, improved service quality, cut costs and delivery times, and made fundamental changes to their organizations’ cultures by unleashing the power of action learning. Action learning has rapidly emerged as the primary strategy used by organizations such as Sodexho, Samsung, Boeing, and Nokia for solving their critical and complex problems while concurrently serving as the key methodology for developing leaders, building teams, and expanding corporate capabilities.

What is Action Learning?
Since Reg Revans first introduced action learning in the coal mines of Wales and England in the 1940s, there have been multiple variations of the concept, but all forms of action learning share the elements of real people resolving and taking action on real problems in real time and learning while doing so. The power and benefits of action learning are optimized when it integrates the following six components:

1. A problem (project, challenge, opportunity, issue, or task)
Action learning centers around a problem, project, challenge, issue, or task, the resolution of which is of high importance to an individual, team, or organization. The problem should be significant, urgent, and the responsibility of the team to solve. It should also provide an opportunity for the group to generate learning opportunities; to build knowledge; and to develop individual, team, and organizational skills. Groups may focus on a single problem of the organization or multiple problems introduced by individual group members.

2. An action learning group
The core entity in action learning is the action learning group, which is ideally composed of four to eight individuals who have diverse backgrounds and experiences. These differences will enable the group to see the problem or task from a variety of perspectives and thus be able to offer fresh and innovative viewpoints. Depending upon the action learning problem, groups may be volunteers or appointed, may be from various functions or departments, may include individuals from other organizations or professions, and may involve suppliers as well as customers.

3. A process that emphasizes insightful questioning and reflective listening
Action learning emphasizes questions and reflection about statements and opinions. By focusing on the right questions rather than the right answers, action learning focuses on what one does not know as well as on what one does know. Action learning tackles problems through a process of first asking questions to clarify the exact nature of the problem, reflecting and identifying possible solutions, and only moving toward consideration of strategies and possible action. Questions prevent the group from solving the wrong problem and precipitously jumping into wrong action. In addition, the reflective inquiry process of action learning builds group cohesiveness, generates systems thinking, introduces innovative strategies, and generates individual and team learning.

4. Taking action that improves performance
Members of the action learning group must have the power to take action themselves or be assured that their recommendations will be implemented. If the group only makes recommendations, it loses its energy, creativity, and commitment. Likewise, there is no real meaningful or practical learning until action is taken and reflected upon; one is never sure an idea or plan will be effective until it has been implemented. Reflecting on action taken provides the best source for learning and organizational change.

5. A commitment to learning
Solving an organizational problem provides immediate, short-term benefits to the company. The greater, longer-term, multiplier benefit, however, occurs when the learnings gained by each group member and the group as a whole are applied strategically throughout the organization. Accordingly, action learning places equal emphasis on the learning and development of individuals and the team as it does on the solving of problems, because the smarter the group becomes, the quicker and better the quality of its decision making and action taking will be.

6. An action learning coach
While other members of the group focus on solving the problem, one member of the group, the action learning coach, devotes all of his or her efforts toward helping the group learn. This person identifies opportunities that enable the group to improve its problem-solving and strategy-creation capacity. Experience shows that unless there is a person dedicated to the learning, a group will tend to put all of its time and energies on that which they consider to be urgent (i.e., the problem) and will neglect that which is actually more important in the long term (i.e., the learnings). Through a series of questions, the coach enables group members to reflect on how they listen, how they may better frame the problem, how they give each other feedback, how they are planning and working, and what assumptions may be shaping their beliefs and actions. The coaching role may be rotated among members of the group or may be a person assigned to that role throughout the duration of the group’s existence.

I-Spy: Websites of Interest
by Todd Packer

The capacity to transform organizations for the better lies close to the heart of performance technologists. HPT is a powerful methodology that moves “performance” to what we could call “transformance”—systematic, marked change in the nature, function, or condition of our workplaces or the workplaces of our clients. Despite the pressure for a “quick fix” solution, we recognize the profound opportunities for long-term, in-depth positive change that HPT provides. To implement this scope of transformation, a good performance technologists needs much patience, persistence, and purpose. This month, we explore some sites that offer us opportunities to reflect on the power to Transform. Consider this a warning to any Decepticons or Predacons who may be reading...

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
In response to last month’s column on mentoring, I-Spy reader and transformational past ISPI president Margo Murray invites our readers to learn more about the International Mentoring Association (IMA), “a worldwide network of dynamic individuals who have established successful mentoring programs, who are committed to increasing their ability to continually model effective mentoring practices, and who will gladly share their experience and knowledge with you.” All visitors may access several resources of value for developing successful mentoring programs, including research articles on Program Evaluation (An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Formal Mentoring Program for Managers and the Determinants of Protégé Satisfaction), Leadership Development (Mentoring Develops Skills for New Leaders), and Telementoring (Mentoring Through Cyberspace). Margo, as a Director on the Board of the IMA and the 2005 18th Annual IMA Conference Chair, invites ISPI members and others to attend the April 6-9, 2005, IMA Conference in Oakland, California, on Mentoring for a Lifetime: Education, Career, and Personal Transformation. You can combine attending the IMA event with the April 10-15, 2005 ISPI Annual Performance Improvement Conference “Process, Practice, & Productivity” in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, while you’re on the west coast of North America, for a week of transformational insights. (Remember: Register for the ISPI conference by February 4, 2005, for the early registration discount!)

HPT@work
Are you facing the possibility of a job or career transformation? Perhaps this is a time for you to prepare to change yourself and your organization before your world forces the change upon you. The Center for Association Leadership offers some fascinating articles and resources on career and organizational transformation. Some examples: Changing Careers, Changing Self by Herminia Ibarra, The Importance of Being Flexible by Lisa D’Annolfo Levey, and Bringing Us Back to Life: Storytelling and the Modern Organization by Seth Weaver Kahan. According to their site, “The Center for Association Leadership is a portal to powerful and unparalleled learning experiences and resources that have the potential to transform you and the entire association profession.” Many of their resources apply beyond the association profession. Of particular note, check out their cool Ten Cool Ideas lists on various topics, including Ten Cool Staff Management Ideas and Ten Cool Design Ideas for Learning Programs.

I-Candy
So, if you think transforming organizations is hard work, imagine losing a battle to evil forces on your home planet, crash landing on Earth, and remaining in a dormant volcano for four million years only to be released to do battle all over again with your enemies. Luckily, you have a commitment to peace and the power to transform on your side. Transform into giant robots, that is. Thus, we learn the story of Generation 1 of the Transformers™—a Japanese toy marketed in the U.S. and around the world by Hasbro. You can learn all this and more at The Nordic TransFans Association website, “(t)he only Scandinavian Transformers fan club on the Internet.” The story of the noble, peace-loving Autobots and their struggles with the (boo!) Decepticons and (hiss!) Predacons, evil robots who invade Earth, can be experienced in stories, fan fiction, comics, images, episode summaries, and various links in this extensive site devoted to true fans from all nations. And together, as the rallying cry for relating technology to human performance across the world, all organization-transforming PTs can sing “You are a Transformer,” the lyrics from Japan's first original Transformer's series:

Youi wa ii ka? 3! 2! 1! 0!
Are you ready? 3! 2! 1! 0!

Kimi wa Kawaru Kokoro no mama ni
You can transform any way you want

Dash da kasoku da super car
Dash! Accelerate! Like a super car!

Jihibiki Tatete Sensha
Make the earth tremble, like a tank!

Kassou take off Jettoki da
Taxi out and take off, like a jet plane!

Senkai hovering helicopter
Circle around, hovering, like a helicopter!

Transformer! Transformer!
Transformer! Transformer!

Kimi wa Transformer!
You are a Transformer!

So whether we are transforming organizations or ourselves, HPT can be a powerful force over time for good in our workplaces and in our world. See you next month!

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.

CPT Update and Activities

As of last month, nearly 1,000 performance improvement professionals had received the Certified Performance Technology (CPT) designation by demonstrating their proficiency in applying the 10 Standards of Performance Technology. The application has been streamlined and now has only three highly focused questions for each of the Standards.

Events in Vancouver
Over 150 CPTs came together for lunch at our 2004 Annual Conference in Tampa. The panel presentations that focused on “Lessons Learned in Implementing Performance Technology” received excellent reviews. ISPI is building on this initial CPT program at our 2005 Annual Conference in Vancouver with several events just for CPTs that include a networking lunch; a Professional CPT Clinic led by Roger Addison, Judith Hale, Jim Hill, Roger Kaufman, Margo Murray, Geary Rummler, and Don Tosti; and a reception to honor CPTs, past and present Board Members, Patrons, Advocates, Masters Series Presenters, and Award Recipients.

Re-certification
We are beginning to process re-certification applications from the Chartered CPTs and the first 43 CPTs who were designated before June 15, 2002. Re-certification dates will be June 15 and November 15 each year for CPTs whose three-year certification anniversary occurred in the five months before November 15 or the seven months before June 15.

Are You Ready to Apply for Your CPT Designation?
Visit www.certifiedpt.org for the most current information and to download the application form. You can click here to download a PDF of the current brochure. There is also a new Self-Assessment Guide to assist you in evaluating your readiness to apply for the CPT designation.

E-Ballots Sent for Upcoming Board Election

Ballots for the 2005-2007 Board of Directors election were emailed (mailed if ISPI does not have your e-mail address) to all current members on January 14. If you have not received an email with your online ballot and instructions for voting, ballots for those who have not voted will be distributed by email again on Friday, February 11. Ballots may not have been received for the following reasons:

1. Please be sure to check your membership status:
• if your dues expired prior to January 14, please renew and a ballot will be sent on February 11
• if you joined on or after January 14, a ballot will be sent to you on February 11
2. If your membership is and has been current since January 14:
• check your spam filter to see if the election e-mail ballot was filtered out. The email was sent from “ISPI Election (Election.Ballot@Campus-Vote.com)”
3. If none of the above, look for your ballot on Friday, February 11
4. If on Monday, February 14, you still have not received a ballot, send an e-mail to april@ispi.org requesting a ballot and confirming your e-mail address. One will be sent immediately.