PerformanceXpress

With ISPI’s 44^th International Performance Improvement Conference in Dallas, Texas, just a little over a month away, we couldn’t wait to share our exciting news. Dan Pink, best-selling author of Free Agent Nation and A Whole New Mind has been confirmed to present the Keynote Address—How to Give Your Organization a New Brain—on Sunday, April 9. Pink’s presentation ties nicely into the theme of our conference, Researching the Radical, and helps in fostering an environment where: new ideas are treasured, challenging the status quo is prized, diverse opinions are respected, and varied approaches to solving workplace problems are valued.

How to Give Your Organization a New Brain
These are tumultuous times for business: prosperity is growing—yet disruptive forces lurk just around the corner. Computers do jobs better and faster than high-paid professionals—while armies of overseas white-collar workers can do other jobs at a fraction of the cost. How can your organization survive amidst the chaos? Pink believes that the era of “left brain” dominance—and the Information Age that it engendered—is giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities—inventiveness, empathy, and meaning—will govern. And organizations that incorporate these new “right-brain” abilities will flourish.

Dan Pink is a best-selling author and an expert on innovation, competition, and the changing world of work. His latest book, A Whole New Mind, charts the rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies and explains the six abilities individuals and organizations must master in an outsourced and automated world. Dan’s first book, Free Agent Nation, about the rise of people working for themselves, was a Washington Post nonfiction best seller and a business best seller in the U.S. and Canada. His articles on work, business, and technology appear in many newspapers and magazines—including The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Slate, Fast Company, and Wired, where he is a Contributing Editor. Dan has provided analysis of business trends on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NPR, and other networks.

Four Strategies for Becoming a Performance-Based Training Organization: Actions to Increase Your Value to the Business

Training organizations are striving to become more performance-based in order to better serve internal clients and increase the value of the department to the organization. To do this, the training department needs to be aligned with the business goals and strategies of the organization and deliver measurable results in business terms. As [your] budget and planning season begins, it’s appropriate to consider what strategies need to be put into place and budgeted for so that the training organization can deliver the right programs and offer the right services. There are four strategies that, when properly implemented, will help your department move from where you are today to a full business partner that is integral to accomplishing critical organizational initiatives.

1. Assess Your Organization and Develop a Road Map for Becoming Performance-Based
As a first step, we recommend that you assess your current organization against best practices, keeping in mind your organization’s planned growth strategies. The objective of the assessment is to measure where the organization is today against best practices, identify all the gaps, and develop an action plan or road map for closing the gaps.

The assessment should consider whether the current structure is appropriate for meeting business needs. Beyond structure, what are the team member roles and responsibilities that will be required to meet organizational goals?

In addition to evaluating the structure and roles, consistent best practice standards must be in place. These standards serve as the foundation for measuring individual performance. Establishing precise performance standards will be a key action step if your organization does not currently have these.

Organizations may ask an outside party to assist them with the organizational assessment because they find that recommendations and action step road maps have increased value to executives when they come from an objective, third party expert source with no inherent bias. In addition, there is significant value in getting ideas and perspectives from many other companies, including companies outside your own core industry.

2. Upgrade Staff Skills
Once you have identified the positions, roles, and responsibilities you will need to become performance-based, you can shore up your team’s current skills. In virtually all cases, new skills will be required if you are moving from an activity-based environment to a performance environment. These skills are needed at all levels, from managers and directors, to designer/developers, to instructors.

It is wise to train the team members together in one methodology so that there is a common language, common standards, and a unified approach to processes and service offerings.

3. Monitor Performance and Provide Coaching and Quality Review
Skill alone is not enough to ensure a successful transition to a performance-based environment. It’s far too easy for team members to slip back—whether knowingly or not—to the old and familiar ways. [It is important to] reinforce the right behaviors, provide individual feedback and advice, and make sure team members stay on track.

4. Provide Expert Modeling on Pilot Initiatives
Once the team is skilled, you are ready to support your business partners in accomplishing their goals and objectives. We recommend that you “start small” and select just a few projects with supportive business partners where you can demonstrate measurable results. Identify an under-performing operational unit, department, or business function that you can remedy through training and performance improvement. Document the results in measurable financial terms so that your contribution to the bottom line is clear.

Note: Reprinted with permission of CEP, The Center for Effective Performance. For more information, contact Paula Alsher at 770.458.4080 or palsher@cepworldwide.com.

TrendSpotters: The Organizational Alignment Model
by Carol Haig, CPT, and Roger Addison, CPT, EdD

This month’s contributor to the TrendSpotters Open Toolkit for HPT Practitioners is Don Tosti, CPT, PhD. He is managing partner of Vanguard Consulting, Inc., an international consulting firm formed in 1985 that specializes in organizational alignment and maybe reached at change111@aol.com. Readers who have attended one of Don’s sessions at an ISPI conference may be familiar with his Organizational Alignment Model.

Genesis of This Model
The Organizational Alignment Model evolved out of need. In the 1960s, Don, Lloyd Homme, Roger Addison, and their colleagues were able to streamline processes and improve results by analyzing the functional relationships within a client’s organizational system and the supporting processes and tasks. However, structural relationships and non-task behaviors such as teamwork, culture, and leadership also impacted results, and these practitioners did not have a way to analyze them. Eventually, Don captured this structural side in the Organizational Alignment Model to enable analysis of critical non-task behaviors. Don and Stephanie Jackson published the model in “Alignment: How it Works and Why it Matters,” in Training Magazine, April 1994.

Model Description
Last month we presented Geary Rummler’s Anatomy of Performance Framework, a model that shows functional relationships in organizations. The Organizational Alignment Model addresses the same three organizational levels, but from a structural rather than a functional viewpoint.

The Organizational Alignment Model is a hybrid—both a model and a tool. As a model, it shows that to achieve the desired results, we must ensure the dimensions of processes, practices, and power are in alignment across the three levels of the organization: organizational, operational, and job. In Don’s experience, misaligned cultural practices and managerial power are often significant obstacles to results, yet most organizations focus almost exclusively on process alignment.

How to Use This Model
Don suggests taking a criterion-referenced approach, so we begin at the end by identifying a desired organizational result, such as increased customer loyalty. Next, we determine what behaviors will increase customer loyalty. We gather data from employees, customers, and other stakeholders. The resulting behaviors might include:

Always provide accurate information.
Always meet your commitments.
Base your advice on facts.

Together, these behaviors describe someone who is trustworthy, so we can position them under this organizational value. Since operational values are directly linked to the results of the business, they can more easily be described as those characteristics we must demonstrate as an organization to survive and thrive.

As a tool, the Alignment Model helps us to analyze an organization and then diagnose performance improvement opportunities. We can use it to create a desired process by first determining the result we want. Then, working back from the result, we define the processes that would best produce that result. We can take the same approach to determine cultural or leadership practices.

Generally, the Alignment Model can help an organization improve performance beyond the process changes that can be implemented. For example, suppose an engineering department has developed a wonderful new product with a long production cycle time. By making judicious process improvements, we reduce the cycle time from 12 weeks to 5 weeks. We observe that we are in a linear culture where each team completes its work before passing the product along to the next team. By identifying beneficial concurrent work practices such as collaboration, teamwork, and openness, and aligning these with the re-designed process, we can cut the cycle time to three weeks.

Success Stories
For years, a 50-year-old multinational telephone company had a monopoly on international data transfer at the world’s airports. As the information technology industry expanded, the company began to lose its hold on the marketplace. The CEO realized that they must change the way they conducted their business to survive. Using the Alignment Model helped them move to a competitive culture. The company kept its sales force but spun off its network operations as a separate organization. The Initial Public Offering generated $9 billion.

A product-focused automaker was producing cars and pushing them out to market through its dealerships, but customers did not like the cars. Sales declined and the company foundered. Senior management recognized that to survive they must produce cars that customers wanted. To become a customer-focused company, they gathered information about customer wants and needs and began producing cars that met them. However, their dealers were still pushing product as they always had. Don and his team found that the dealers also had to become customer-driven and change the way they sold cars. The resulting organizational alignment was successful “from the boardroom to the showroom,” and the company was turned around.

Advice to Users of the Organizational Alignment Model
Most of us are comfortable on the processes and tasks side of this model, but the most interesting applications of HPT are often found on the practices and behaviors side. Working there may feel a bit strange at first, but the difference we can make to an aligned organization’s results can be enormous. Be brave and venture over there. Don says, “Remember, it’s all just behavior.”

Link to the Performance Technology Landscape
The Organizational Alignment Model supports these Principles of Performance Technology:

R Focus on Results

S Take a System(s) viewpoint

V Add Value and focus on the business or organizational purpose

P Establish Partnerships and work collaboratively

Application Exercise
At your next opportunity to implement a new process, use the Organizational Alignment Model to learn how the process and its tasks will impact the employees involved. Then, align your process and the related practices.

Note: The Organizational Alignment Model is presented in “Aligning the Human Performance System,” by Don Tosti and John Amarant in third edition of the Handbook of Human Performance Technology available in April 2006.

If you have an HPT model or tool that supports you in your performance improvement activities, contact Carol Haig, CPT, at carolhaig@earthlink.net or http://home.mindspring.com/%7Ecarolhaig, or Roger Addison, CPT, EdD, at roger@ispi.org.

The CPT Code of Ethics
Should We Take the Work Even if We Are Not Sure It Will Really Work?
by Tina Teodorescu, CPT, MA

As Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) practitioners, we are often faced with the dilemma of taking work requested by our clients that we know will not generate the results the client is looking for. Adding to this dilemma is balancing the premise that the customer is always right, the 10 Standards of Performance Technology and Code of Ethics, and, possibly most important, the need to keep our job or consulting contact.

Some of the common dilemmas faced are: Is it OK to sometimes deliver a training program to fulfill a client’s request, even if we know that the root cause of the problem has nothing to do with training? Is it OK to deliver a competency model that we know goes against the performance requirements of the people that the model is being built for? Is it OK to be part of a program that we know will not add value and instead is based on false assumptions (when we know speaking up may lead to the messenger being killed)?

It is OK to go with the flow and be silent? What about Principles 1 and 5 in the CPT Code of Ethics—Add Value and Integrity? As a CPT, didn’t we sign a statement agreeing to manage our projects and their results in ways that add value to our clients and to be honest and truthful in our representation to clients? Don’t we have an obligation to try to right these wrongs and to speak up, even if we stand to lose in the short term? Most of you reading this article will most likely be saying, “Of course we have a responsibility to speak up and not do work that doesn’t meet the CPT Code of Ethics.” But, what if it comes down to upholding the Code of Ethics over keeping your job, a valued client, and your only source of income?

Here are two ways I have resolved this dilemma successfully, and that I can live with:

An example of the second scenario took place a couple of years ago. Sales were down, training was blamed, and a training symposium was planned to fix the sales reps. I did an extensive performance analysis of the audience and uncovered multiple barriers to the required levels of sales performance. Most barriers uncovered had nothing to do with training, but instead pointed out a plethora of organizational obstacles, none of which were easy fixes and all of which were politically loaded. No one wanted to touch the performance analysis; instead, the unspoken plan was to proceed with training and bury or ignore the findings from the performance analysis. Ultimately, I was able to work with sales management to provide them with the information and tools to make a business case for resolving many of the issues uncovered. The positive results were that there was much more trust and openness in the field, many of the obstacles were dealt with, and people were more aware of the systemic nature of problems and solutions. The negative results were that many issues were not dealt with, some messengers were forced to leave, and many people had to walk away because remaining issues were blocking their personal success and, ultimately, the success of the company.

I guess my point is that there are always choices, but there is often a price for adhering to the CPT Code of Ethics. But as fellow CPTs, how can we reduce that price for everyone? Luckily up to now, I have had a choice, but next time I might not. When faced with this ultimate balancing act and choice with so much at stake, what would you do?

Traditionally, at ISPI’s Annual Conference, there are two General Sessions in which well-known people present the keynote addresses. We, the audience members, get inspired, learn new principles and procedures, and pick up some ideas to implement.

This year, the first General Session features an outstanding speaker, Dan Pink. For the second General Session, the conference committee decided to do something different. This session has a radical twist (in keeping with the theme of the conference).

The committee decided that since more than 1,000 performance improvement practitioners, thought leaders, and consultants are assembled at the conference, there is no need to bring an “outside” speaker. Instead, they designed a program called “Learning the Best from the Best.” This interactive session features structured activities to elicit, evaluate, and exchange best stories and ideas about our technology. During the session, you will not passively listen but actively swap powerful stories and strategies. You will also be systematically identifying the best of the best.

This is where I need your help. I will be facilitating this session with the help of 30 Game Wardens. Would you please volunteer to be a Game Warden? You don’t have to be a subject matter expert, a master performer, or a long-time ISPI member. All you need is commitment, enthusiasm, and playfulness. We will “train” you rapidly and arm you with appropriate job aids. Your main task will be to act as a human performance support tool, listen to the instructions from the stage, model appropriate behaviors, and maintain law and order in your corner of the room.

What’s in it for you? You will have more than 15 minutes of fame while everybody admires your exemplary leadership performance. You will feel wonderful about empowering conference participants to share their best ideas. You will help us implement an innovative intervention that breaks away from the “sage-on-the-stage” syndrome. You will become familiar with powerful structured sharing activities that could repeatedly be used in future activities.

To join this gang of Game Wardens, send me an email note at thiagi@thiagi.com. Please indicate whether you prefer us to send your job aids through email or snail-mail. In the latter case, please include your postal address.

Game Warden, or not—this is one General Session you don’t want to miss. Keep an open mind and do these three important things: participate, participate, and participate. To register for ISPI’s upcoming Annual Conference, visit www.ispi.org/ac2006.

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) is looking for four individuals/organizations willing to present cases of real-world applications of performance technology at two conferences in Europe. The presentations will be conducted in Stuttgart, Germany, and Prague, Czech Republic, during the period of October 10-14, 2006.

Individual presentations will be integrated into a program coordinated by ISPI. The program will introduce attendees to the principles and practices of performance improvement and will showcase examples of PI at work. Given the nature of the conference attendees, selection preference will be given to internationally recognized organizations.

If you are interested in taking part in this very special opportunity, contact Roger Addison, ISPI’s Senior Director of HPT, at roger@ispi.org by March 21, 2006.

From the Board: Keeping Up-to-Date: Gleaning Ideas Without Hours of Research
by Marilyn Spatz, CPT, ISPI Director

Time management challenges each of us as we juggle multiple projects—planning and implementing meetings, correspondence, numerous emails, and professional journals that seem to accumulate in the stack on the floor. Sound familiar?

Accept the challenge to become a gleaner (collect little by little) or to share your gleaning tips with your colleagues. Gleaners can keep up-to-date with ISPI news, resources, and emerging ideas by using the following tips:

Wow! ISPI has created many valuable resources. Too often we neglect the resources that are free—website and PerformanceXpress—and don’t value the benefits of the Performance Improvement journal and the “log-in” opportunities on the website.

I have been a member of ISPI since 1987 and have not taken advantage of the many resources at my fingertips. One of my 2006 goals is to be a better gleaner and keep up-to-date with ISPI news and the thoughts of colleagues. Please share your gleaning techniques with me at mspatz@everestkc.net. I may be able to incorporate them into my Bagel Barrel presentation at ISPI’s upcoming Annual Conference.

The votes have been tallied, and the following candidates have been elected to serve as members of ISPI’s 2006-2008 Board of Directors.

The following Board members retain their seats: Clare Elizabeth Carey, CPT, EdD (who becomes President in April), Robert L. Bodine, CPT, PhD, Capt. Matthew T. Peters, CPT, Immediate Past President Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan, CPT, PhD, and Richard D. Battaglia, CAE (ex officio).

A special thanks to departing Board members: Mariano L. Bernardez, CPT, Andrea K. Moore, CPT, and Marilyn K. Spatz, CPT, for their hard work and dedication to ISPI.

Scottsdale, Arizona was the place to be in February! Why, you ask? Warm weather, good food, and ISPI’s Performance Professional Workshop Series.

Geary Rummler, CPT and Alan Ramias presented Serious Performance Consulting, Judy Hale, CPT gave us Implementation, and Robert Brinkerhoff offered Evaluation.

Participants networked during the workshops, at lunch, and after the sessions, and exchanged ideas and case studies. There was even time for a few brave participants to hike Camelback Mountain.

Geary and Alan focused on the Anatomy of Performance and how it applies to individuals, processes, and the organization. Judy explored what it takes to sustain performance initiatives in organizations, and Robert shared his wealth of information on evaluation.

Look for information on the futures dates for ISPI’s Performance Professional Series in an upcoming issue of PerformanceXpress.

Promoting Human Performance Technology to Others
by Roger Chevalier, CPT, PhD

Each of us brings a unique background to our chosen field of performance improvement. In my case, in one of my former lives I was fortunate to study for six years under Drs. Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, the developers of Situational Leadership™.

Drawing from that experience and over 25 years of presenting Situational Leadership, I was asked to write book chapters with Dr. Hersey for the first and second edition of Leadership and Coaching. In the first edition, we combined Situational Leadership with performance management as “Situational Leadership and Performance Coaching.”

Now, five years later, we married Situational Leadership to performance consulting and performance analysis in a new chapter, “Situational Leadership and Executive Coaching.” This gave me the opportunity to present the concepts of gap and cause analysis to a new audience, those focused on executive coaching as a means to improve performance. The publisher, Pfeiffer, has provided a PDF of this chapter, which can be read by clicking here.

I believe that all of us must work from our unique backgrounds to export performance technology to others who are not aware of the power of the models and tools that we have to use. Each of us must work to build from our past experience to spread the word to others who can benefit from what we have learned. It is by sharing our ideas that our field will grow. It is great that we exchange what we have learned among ourselves, but the future of our profession lies in bringing our message to those outside our field.

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) has three special honorary awards that recognize outstanding individuals for their significant contributions to Human Performance Technology (HPT) and to the Society itself. Those awards are the Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award, the Distinguished Service Award, and the Honorary Life Member Award. ISPI is pleased to announce this year’s recipients: Ruth Colvin Clark, Carol Haig, and Judith Hale. The awards will be bestowed at the 2006 International Performance Improvement Conference in Dallas, Texas, April 8-11.

Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award
This award recognizes outstanding and significant contributions to the knowledge base of HPT. This year’s award goes to Ruth Colvin Clark.

Since receiving her doctorate in instructional technology in 1988, Ruth Clark’s professional focus has been on bridging the gap between research on instructional methods and the application of that research. Her seminars and books have focused on how to apply evidence-based learning principles to design and development of classroom and e-learning instruction.

Ruth has published five award-winning books, two in second editions, and received the ISPI Award of Excellence in 1990 for her workshop “How to Design, Develop, and Evaluate Instruction.” She served as president on the ISPI Board of Directors from 1996-1997 and was a key leader in the establishment of the HPT Institute program. Ruth has been a regular presenter at ISPI and ASTD (and other HPT organizations) for the past 20 years and is a highly sought-after keynote speaker.

Her contributions to HPT reflect her amazing ability to translate research into effective training and performance improvement technologies. Ruth has formed very effective collaborations with two of the most recognized instructional researchers in the world (Richard Mayer and John Sweller). These collaborations not only allowed her to understand the latest research but provided her the opportunity to shape the research. She has applied basic research and best practice to the design and development of instruction in diverse media delivery environments including classroom and asynchronous and synchronous e-learning. In parallel, Ruth has contributed to a clearer understanding of the psychological underpinnings of performance and translated them for practitioners. She has consistently connected these best practices to the research in her publications and workshops.

In addition to her publishing and collaborating with top researchers, Ruth maintains a successful consulting business. Her company, CLARK Training, offers a suite of eight seminars on instructional design and development for classroom and e-learning training, sought after by numerous companies all over the world.

Distinguished Service Award
Congratulations to Carol Haig, CPT, this year’s recipient of the Distinguished Service Award, an award that recognizes long-term, outstanding, and significant contributions to the betterment of ISPI.

Carol Haig first received the Distinguished Service Award in 1996, and 10 years later she is receiving it a second time. Some ISPI award recipients become less involved in the Society, often fading into the background. Others, like Carol, continue to serve with distinction. It is for this sustained effort that she is recognized.

Carol’s ISPI tenure began in the early 1980s when she became active in the Bay Area chapter in San Francisco. An Annual Conference presenter since 1989, she increased her involvement as a Regional Consultant to chapters, 1992-1996. After serving as a member of several standing committees and chairing a few including Nominations and the Conference Program, Carol was elected to the 1998-2000 Board of Directors.

She has served on the faculty of the Principles & Practices of Performance Improvement Institute since 1999 and led a major revision effort in 2005. Since 2002, Carol has co-authored, with Roger Addison, the popular TrendSpotters column in PerformanceXpress. She is co-author, also with Roger, of chapters in both the second and third editions of the Handbook of Human Performance Technology. Carol is a tireless reviewer and editor of countless articles, promotional documents, and miscellaneous writings for colleagues, cheerfully delivering astute feedback, often on very short notice.

A vigorous cheerleader for HPT and ISPI, Carol happily guides new ISPI members, regularly presenting in the Introduction to Performance Technology conference session, connects colleagues to reliable resources, and fanatically documents processes and procedures that enhance the effectiveness of ISPI.

Carol consistently delivers, to her personal high standards, all she has committed to on time, year after year, providing truly distinguished service to ISPI.

Honorary Life Member
This award recognizes outstanding and significant contributions to the field of HPT and the Society. It is not bestowed easily: It requires the unanimous vote of two consecutive ISPI Board of Directors, making it the Society’s most prestigious award. This year ISPI honors Dr. Judith Hale, CPT.

Judy Hale has been a major contributor to the development of Human Performance Technology (HPT) principles, tools, and processes and has been a strong advocate for the Society’s growth. Work groups, processes, evaluation, standards, kitchen cabinet, and Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) are words or phrases that ISPI colleagues will associate with Judy Hale. Her history with ISPI began on the leadership team of the Chicago chapter and quickly grew to involvement at the international level. Judy has been a presenter at annual conferences, skills workshops, and chapter meetings for 25 years. During her term on the ISPI Board of Directors and later as President, she was the champion for a professional certification (CPT) and initiating workshops directed to business leaders. To date, there are over 1,000 CPTs who apply the 10 Standards of Performance Technology in daily business settings.

Judy is the author of The Performance Consultant’s Fieldbook, Performance-Based Certification, Performance-Based Evaluation, Performance-Based Management, and Outsourcing Training and Development. She has been a consultant to management in the public and private sectors for more than 25 years. Judy specializes in needs assessments, certification programs, evaluation protocols, and the implementation of major interventions. She earned a BA from Ohio State University, an MA from Miami University, and a PhD in Instructional Design from Purdue University.

Judy is known for her ability to clarify complex topics and provide models and tools that we can use. The words most frequently used to describe her are funny, practical, relevant, and accessible. Meet her at the Dallas conference and experience her yourself.

People can be radical in their theories and models or radical in their applications. Human Performance Technology (HPT) is in desperate need of radical applications, but it probably can do without radically new theories or models.

HPT has succeeded over its nearly 50-year history by being solidly based on human performance theory. That theory recognizes three classes of independent variables:

A significant breakthrough in HPT occurred when we organized these elements into a system, focusing on results and then defining those results in terms of the value perceived by a receiver. This defined the domain of variables our various HPT models have addressed, and it has served us well.

The first principle requires us to adopt criterion-referenced analyses. These are focused on what it takes to achieve specific desired results. The second requires that we recognize and act to better align the interdependent components within the human performance system in terms of their functional and structural relationships.

There are certainly many other kinds of models of human interactions that have their adherents. For example, there are theological models, organization development (OD) models, quality models, economic models; the list is practically endless. But none of these are Human Performance Systems models. Their theories may be considered legitimate in their own domain, but that does not mean they should be considered as part of HPT even if they are labeled as experimental or radical. If it doesn’t fit our constraints, then it doesn’t belong.

Some argue that we should entertain these other kinds of “radical” viewpoints in some spirit of openness. That’s the same rationale people use for introducing Intelligent Design into the science curriculum. Intelligent Design is legitimate in theology not science for the simple reason that it does not meet the underlying assumptions of science.

Similarly, style-dimensional theories may be legitimate in OD but not in HPT because our underlying assumptions are not the same. Style or “window pane” models like the “old” management grid model or the “new” emotional intelligence models are based around some theoretical or response-inferred dimensions using normative references. They are not acceptable within HPT because we require that our models be result focused and use a criterion-referenced approach to analysis. It may be true that this requirement may make HPT appear to be less “rich” and leave little room for “deep” psychological or sociological understandings. HPT models generally ask what you have to do to get results—not what quadrant you are in, or analyze your Johari Window.

Another problem is that many “radical” theories and solutions are “snake oil”—fad concepts or repackaged ideas with new labels. These are often promoted by their developers as performance cure-alls. They are usually backed with testimonies rather than hard evidence and presented with pseudo-scientific jargon (often neuro-physiological) to persuade an unsophisticated market to adopt them.

Applications developed by others are often a different matter. For example, I have worked with some of the best minds in the OD field and found many of their tools and applications to be extremely useful. But one need not accept their “theology” to adopt their technology. I have found the best OD tools generally have better and more powerful effects when anchored within and/or modified by the HPT principles. Performance-based approaches to team building, collaboration across groups, and culture change, just to name a few, are all very effective when they are analyzed from a results focus and all the systemic factors are considered.

HPT needs radical applications. We have been stuck too long at the individual level and with training as our major application. Even though these are great applications, they are nevertheless limiting.

We can learn much from other technologies. Electronic technology was “stuck” for more than 50 years in one general application: radio. It was only when they extended their technology to other applications that electronics really boomed. (And it didn’t require any radically new theories.)

Information technology, which started slightly earlier than HPT, was primarily focused on the single application area of finance and accounting for more than 30 years. IT only came into its own when radical applications that went far beyond financial issues were developed. (Again, no new theories, but new insights on application of existing theories and tools.)

There have been many radical applications of HPT. These include culture change, reducing cycle time in new product development, aligning the customer experience with the advertised promise, leadership focused on mobilizing people to delivering the business results (as opposed to identifying their situational styles), enhancing the value chain, assisting organizations in becoming agile enough to change as fast as their market place, and so on. We have only scratched the surface in developing powerful HPT applications. All we lack is more innovative and radical thinking.

In 1964, HPT pioneer Lloyd Homme summed it up nicely: “We look at people’s behavior because we care about the results of that behavior.” The requirement of a results focus should be the test of any HPT theory or application, and most “popular” HR theories fail.

HPT: Radical applications—many more needed! Radical theories—few if any needed!

ISPI is once again pleased to announce there will be an International Room for our colleagues from around the world who will be attending ISPI’s 44^th Annual International Performance Improvement Conference in Dallas, Texas, April 8-11, 2006. The International Room was introduced several years ago as a resource for all conference attendees, but, in particular, for those who live and work outside of the U.S. It will be open throughout the conference beginning with an opportunity to meet old friends and connect with new ones during an informal welcome and introduction to the International Room, just before the opening event. For those who haven’t attended a conference in the last few years, or who haven’t had a chance to visit the International Room, it’s a place:

At the request of past participants, we plan to make available a list of local resources for translation and interpreting services.

Are you concerned about optimizing your Return on Investment?
The International Room will open each morning at 7:00 am (before conference sessions begin). Consider joining us for morning coffee or tea and to plan your day by: consulting the handouts library, getting advice from colleagues, and meeting others with common interests who are willing to share handouts and feedback on sessions scheduled for each day. Anyone who has attended an ISPI Annual Conference knows that the large number of great choices during each time slot often forces participants to make difficult decisions to miss compelling topics or speakers, simply because it’s impossible to be in two places at the same time. The resources and activities available in the International Room, throughout the conference, are provided to enable all who participate, to multiply the value of their conference experience and expand their personal networks at the same time! The International Room will also provide a forum for sharing at the end of each day and an International Wrap Up Session, covering the whole conference, at 1:30 pm on April 11.

Are you interested in firsthand information on what’s going on in other parts of the world?
We would like to announce the continuation and enhancement of informal sessions to be held in the International Room! Note that sessions will only be conducted during the time slots for educational sessions because we don’t want anyone to miss the wonderful General Sessions planned at specific times during the conference. We will once again invite chapter leaders from around the world to lead Global Chapter Leaders Chat Sessions. These chat sessions will be an opportunity to meet global colleagues and share thoughts and experiences regarding forming and running ISPI chapters as well as the challenges and opportunities of being a performance improvement professional in countries and regions around the world. A schedule for these sessions will be posted in the International Room.

This year we want to add a session to serve as an extension to the Chapter Leadership Workshop, geared to the needs of the International chapters and to permit you to continue with discussions and ideas. It will also be an opportunity for those who couldn’t attend to join the conversation! In addition, we would like to host one or more panel discussions on topics of interest. We would like to ask you now, to suggest a topic you would like hear about in a panel or other interactive format. So far, it has been suggested that we have a panel discussion on transferring HPT to other than North American venues—specifically cultural and regulatory barriers. This would focus on transfer tactics—what practitioners have done or can do to apply HPT. Again, if you have an idea for a topic that you would like to contribute, please don’t hesitate to let us know at the email address below.

So, please consider joining us in the International Room during the Dallas conference. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions prior to the event, contact me at CMP@orgmap.com. We’re looking forward to meeting and greeting you in April!

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Human Factor’s & Medicine Panel convened a meeting of an exploratory team (ET) in Genoa, Italy, from January 16-18, 2006. The purpose was to review the state of the technology in the coalition forces and to consider possible adoption of a performance technology research and technology group by the various NATO Forces. Captain Matt Peters, CPT, who is in charge of the United States Navy’s Human Performance Center, chaired the meeting. Captain Peters is also a member of the ISPI Board of Directors. During the meeting, the ET “…identified performance technology methods utilized by different partner countries of NATO and shared standards of performance that will enhance each military’s achievement of their goals and objectives.”

Representatives of Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States participated in the meeting hosted by Dr. Paul Noja, the science and technology advisor to Italy’s Minister of Interior. Dr. Noja opened his home, the beautiful Palazzo dello Zerbino, to the participants as they evaluated the potential use of performance technology. Also present were Paul Chatelier, HFMP delegate and a research fellow at the Potomac Institute, and Roger Chevalier, CPT, ISPI director of certification.

Chevalier described the Standards of Performance Technology, focusing on the systematic and systemic approach used to identify and remove barriers to effective individual and organizational performance. Captain Peters described the Navy’s success with HPT during fiscal year 2005 in which the Navy worked on 154 projects with 33 of these progressing to implementation and evaluation stages. The Navy invested $14.1 million in working on these projects with a return of $525 million in cost savings for a 37:1 return on investment. The representatives from Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. Air Force described their organizational structure and their work in the related field of human factors. Klaus Wittkuhn, CPT, then gave insights into industry applications of HPT.

The outcome of this meeting was an agreement to present information to interested NATO Forces with a series of workshops that would describe performance technology and the progress made by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard in using it. A revised Technical Area Plan and a new planning document are being developed to describe how the other NATO member partners will learn of HPT so that they can make a considered decision as to whether to proceed.

Although Genoa is primarily a commercial city, it is a beautiful seaside town that hosted the G-8 a few years ago and is no stranger to official NATO functions. It is a vibrant city with a mixture of historical sites, such as the home of Christopher Columbus and the cathedral Duomo di San Lorenzo, and modern structures, such as its refurbished port area with the second largest aquarium in the world. The food was exceptional with many varieties of seafood and pasta, making Genoa a delicious experience as well.

A note of interest: The U.S. Navy has 61 Certified Performance Technologists, more than any other public or private organization.

Interested in Mega thinking, planning, applications, and performance results? Performance Improvement Quarterly, Volume 18, Number 3, from 2005 is a Special Issue dedicated to Using Societal Value Added as the Practical Alternative to Conventional Failure. Co-edited by Roger Kaufman and Mariano Bernardez, it has articles by Roger Kaufman; Sarah Clark and Margo Murray; Bob Garratt; Mariano Bernardez; Ingrid Guerra-Lopez with Gonzalo Rodriquez; Ingrid Guerra-Lopez, Mariano Bernardez, Mike Jones, and Suhail Zidan; Ronald Forbes, Dylan Forbes, and Peter Haskins; Ingrid Guerra-Lopez; and Silvia Uranga and Mariano Lucellas. Concepts, domestic and international applications, and performance results for applying Mega thinking and planning are provided. If you would like to read the articles from this Special Issue, click here.

Work hard, do well
Stand up for ourselves.
We strive to help workplaces thrive,
Improve, perform, run.

Any listing is for informational purposes and does not indicate an endorsement either by ISPI or myself. I hope you find these resources useful, and your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Most of you know that when you walk into a hotel room bathroom you have an important choice to make: whether or not you choose to reuse your towels. By reusing towels, hotel guests can save millions of gallons of water per year, not to mention the energy involved in washing those towels. Reuse programs have gained strength over the past decade as environmental activists, governments, and the hotel industry look for ways to reduce consumption and costs.

Persuading a hotel guest to reuse a towel rests completely on a small card or hangtag that is strategically placed in a hotel bathroom. But what is the right wording for a card like this? Can compliance with this simple request be increased using words? Arizona State professor Robert Cialdini, author of the best-selling book Influence: The Power of Persuasion, decided to conduct an experiment in a real hotel. Cialdini and his associates crafted three different cards. One card focused on environmental protection by communicating this message:

HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
You can show your respect for nature and help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay.

The second card focused on environmental cooperation between the guest and the hotel, where the hotel would contribute part of the savings to an environmental cause:

PARTNER WITH US TO HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
In exchange for your participation in this program, we at the hotel will donate a percentage of the energy savings to a nonprofit environmental protection organization. The environment deserves our combined efforts. You can join us by reusing your towels during your stay.

The third card focused on what Cialdini calls “descriptive norms,” otherwise known as “social proof”:

JOIN YOUR FELLOW GUESTS IN HELPING TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
Almost 75% of guests who are asked to participate in our new resource savings program do help by using their towels more than once. You can join your fellow guests to help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay.

These cards were randomly placed in 190 hotel rooms. The housekeeping staff collected data about towel reuse, focusing only on single-occupancy rooms and only the first night of a guest’s stay.

Which message triggered the strongest performance? The third card, which focused on social proof, resulted in a reuse rate of 48%. This was significantly higher than the first card (38%) and the second card (36%). Cialdini cautions that the results are artificially depressed due to the experimental conditions but nonetheless demonstrate interesting differences.

Why did the third card deliver much stronger performance among hotel guests? The secret lies in the persuasion principle of social proof. The third card communicated that almost 75% of guests participate in the program. This simple statement unconsciously triggers in people a classic response: If so many other people are participating in this program, then it is probably a good idea. Contrast this approach with the message on cards one and two. These cards focus on the environmental protection appeal, but lack the social proof that people are complying with the appeal.

After considering these results, Cialdini tested his hypothesis yet another way, developing a fourth card based upon the persuasion principle of reciprocity:

WE’RE DOING OUR PART FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. CAN WE COUNT ON YOU?
Because we are committed to preserving the environment, we have made a financial contribution to a nonprofit environmental protection organization on behalf of the hotel and its guests. If you would like to help us in recovering the expense, while conserving natural resources, please reuse your towels during your stay.

This message resulted in a 47% reuse rate, simply by changing the framing of the message in the second card. Persuasive words framed by the principles of persuasion have a strong effect on improving customer performance.

Editor’s Note: Customer Performance is a new, bimonthly column that explores HPT from the customer perspective. The column will explore ways companies add value to their customer experiences and brand through the application of HPT strategies.

Dallas Conference Features Practical Research for All of Us
by Scott Schaffer, PhD, and Mary Norris Thomas, CPT, PhD

Are your practices evidence-based? It’s simple. Evidence-based practices work, whereas MSU (making stuff up) doesn’t. Whether you are a practitioner or researcher, novice or veteran, faculty or student, regardless of specialty, evidence-based practices are essential. That’s exactly why the Science and Research Professional Community and the Research Committee bring you these research-anyone-can-use sessions.

Creating a Positive Workforce
Sunday, April 9, 11:00 am-12:30 pm
This session features Dr. Timothy Judge, a Matherly-McKethan Eminent Scholar in Management at the University of Florida. In today’s competitive environment, customer service is critical. Although organizations may recognize the need to create positive employee-customer relationships, just how to do this remains elusive. Drawing upon 10 years of research, this session examines why a positive self-concept matters, how it matters, and what organizations can do to achieve a positive workforce. Judge’s recognitions include the Ernest J. McCormick Award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the Larry L. Cummings Award from the Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management.

Improving and Validating HPT Through Application of Key Research Findings
Sunday, April 9, 2:00-3:30 pm
Distinguish evidence-based practices from folklore, fad, and fashion in an interactive atmosphere where research and practice come together at ISPI. These engaging roundtable discussions, which focus on transferring research into practical applications, are hosted by our leading researchers and practitioners. The session is facilitated by Ingrid Guerra-Lopez and Ryan Watkins. Table hosts include Doug Leigh, Elizabeth Johnsen, Linda Huglin, Tony Marker, Scott Schaffer, Cathy Sleezer, Mary Norris Thomas, and others.

Science and Research Community Caucus
Monday, April 10, 11:00 am-12:30 pm
The Science and Research ProComm, one of ISPI’s seven Professional Communities, invites you to debate divergent views, examine sources of evidence, and forge practitioner-researcher reciprocal partnerships. During this session, facilitated by ProComm Chair Mary Norris Thomas, you will engage in small group discussions with distinguished community leaders including Dale Brethower, David Cox, Jeanne Farrington, Rob Foshay, Ingrid Guerra-Lopez, Linda Huglin, Cloyd Hyten, Doug Leigh, Jim Pershing, Scott Schaffer, Ken Silber, Ryan Watkins, and others.

Fourth Annual ISPI Research Exchange
Tuesday, April 11, 10:30 am-12:00 pm
This acclaimed, annual event brings you up-to-date on vanguard discoveries and explores developing issues as today’s latest and greatest findings become tomorrow’s principles and practices. Ryan Watkins and Ingrid Guerra-Lopez facilitate multiple energetic research briefs directly from our leading researchers including Matt Casey, Diane Chapman, Yonnie Chyung, David Cox, Mary Janes, Elizabeth Johnsen, Barbara Lockee, Michele Reece, Cathy Sleezer, and others.

We look forward to seeing you at all of these events as we build more bridges between evidence, practice, and results within the ISPI community!

ISPI Recognizes Excellence in the Field of HPT

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) Awards of Excellence program is designed to showcase the people, products, innovations, and organizations that represent excellence in the field of instructional and human performance technology. The recipients below will be recognized during the Closing Banquet at ISPI’s 44^th Annual International Performance Improvement Conference April 11, 2006.

Chapters of Merit
Chapter awards celebrate the accomplishments of local ISPI Chapters. The awards emphasize accomplishments rather than competition of the Chapters.

Outstanding Educational Programs
This award is given to chapters that spread and share the performance improvement message to others in academic and non-academic settings.

New Mexico ISPI Chapter

The NM ISPI 2005 10th Annual Workshop, “Dollars and Sense: Supporting Successful Client Strategies,” focused on the Human Performance Technology (HPT) principle of establishing and maintaining partnerships with clients and other specialists. This workshop provided opportunities for the New Mexico professional community to learn, network, share ideas, and reflect on workshop lessons.

HPT Standards of Performance Technology were applied in planning and implementing the workshop and sessions were selected based on their reinforcement of good Human Performance Practices. The 10th Annual NM ISPI Workshop met its objectives and received positive feedback. Workshop proceeds enable NM ISPI to provide future professional development activities.

Outstanding Human Performance Intervention
This award recognizes outstanding human performance interventions.

PG&E Case Process Improvement
Jeanne Farrington, CPT, EdD, Martha Jensen, CPT, EdD, and Carol Haig, CPT, Farrington & Jensen Consulting, and Bill Stock, Nina Kisch, and the Team of Ten, Pacific Gas & Electric Company

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) is a regulated utility in Northern California. Regulations, as applied through a quasi-legal hearing process with state and federal regulatory agencies, cover nearly every aspect of the work that is performed by PG&E, including the ability to determine rates for services and collect billings from customers. The Regulatory Relations Department (RegRel) at PG&E is responsible for managing the cases that are heard at regulatory agencies through a process called “case management.”

RegRel initiated a request to Farrington & Jensen Consulting for professional definition and training for the Case Intake Process and for a Case Communication Guide. As the work began, concerns about making changes in the organization surfaced, and the first priority became to analyze how to facilitate changes to the case management process.

During the analysis process related to change management and communication within RegRel, a number of cultural and methodological issues surfaced, leading to an additional recommendation for action and a greatly increased project scope.

This project scope included the creation of a flexible, comprehensive case management methodology and implementation of this new methodology within RegRel. Implementation required training and performance incentives to facilitate and ensure compliance with the new methodology.

Performance Management Initiative
Laura Birk, CPT, Tiffany Chapman, Tomi Clark, CPT, Lucinda Ehlen, CPT, Marie Fang, Lorraine Fella, CPT, Amy Heirman, Beth McCarty, CPT, Greg Moran, CPT, Hilary Morris, CPT, and Mark Wojcik, CPT, Discover Financial Services

In 2004 we heard those dreaded words, “We want to completely re-design our approach to performance management.” Thus began an enterprise-wide three-year program to implement a more strategic approach to performance management that included:

Commutating strategy and procedures at each key stage of the process
Aligning goals and performance with company strategy
Creating core competencies to define “personal effectiveness” at all levels
Developing an online tool for the completion of key performance management tasks
Implementing instructor-led and computer-based training programs to inform staff and build the required knowledge, skills, and abilities
Maintaining a manageable level of change

Working closely with the management committee, a cross-functional, company-wide task force, and business leaders throughout the organization, we were able to accomplish our goals and collect measures to demonstrate the impact it had on the business.

Outstanding Instructional Communication
This award recognizes an outstanding communication that enables individuals or organizations to achieve excellence in Human Performance Technology.

Creating Do-It-Yourself Customers: How Great Customer Experiences Build Great Companies
Peter C. Honebein, CPT, PhD, and Roy Cammarano, Honebein Associates, Inc.

The book Creating Do-It-Yourself Customers: How Great Customer Experiences Build Great Companies examines the link between Human Performance Technology and the design of great customer experiences. The central message of the book is competitive advantage through customer performance. Whether it is self-check-out at the grocery store, self-check-in at the airport, or designing customized athletic shoes at NikeID.com, customers in today’s economy are co-creators of value. A co-production experience that integrates vision, access, incentive, and expertise enables customers to perform. The net result is a value chain that increases usage, satisfaction, trust, loyalty, and customer lifetime value.

Outstanding Instructional Product or Intervention
This award recognizes outstanding results derived from instructional products and interventions developed through systematic approaches to human performance problems, needs, or opportunities.

Demonstrated Performance QuickStart Service Training Program
Doug Hall, Gene Hoffman, Ed Veligor, Mike Carden, and Justin Moore, Crown Equipment Corporation

Crown Equipment Corporation’s “Demonstrated Performance: QuickStart” service training program has been designed to teach a lift truck service technician the core skills needed to service an industrial lift truck. Each technician studies and practices at his or her own pace while completing 40 modules and is under the constant supervision of a qualified instructor. All students are required to demonstrate their competence in each skill before moving on. By implementing DP QuickStart, Crown has decreased the time to competence of a newly hired service technician from an average of 12 months to less than 3 months.

Influenza Virus Vaccine Isolator Operator Course
J.E. Zandbergen, S. Karadayi, A.J. Maatkamp, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, and Henny Van Der Wielen, CPT, and T. Sleddens-Liebregts, SBK Advies en Training

Solvay Pharmaceuticals installed new technology to produce and pack syringes with the influenza virus vaccine. This means complex handling and packing of a sensitive product in a sterile environment with a high “time to market” pressure. The operators, selected from the existing crew, had to learn to operate this “Isolator.” It is organized as a self-managed and self-paced program. Mentors are available for support. It is also available for continuous and re-qualification training of the operators and for new hires. The program was developed and implemented in a period of four months. A competent crew and satisfied management were the end results. The use of the program is ongoing.

Principal Leadership Program
Jean Dames, Xerox Global Services Learning Team

Xerox Global Services is partnering with The Forum Corporation in development and delivery of a four-day training intervention called the Principal Leadership Program. The program equips principals with tools and skills for becoming trusted advisors to clients. This includes learning to make the “Un-Sales Call” required for effective selling of services (as opposed to selling products). The Un-Sales Call signals a transition from the non-billable sales cycle to billable services delivery, and promotes initial contract signing. Highlights of the program include an electronic “Toolkit” and a web-based knowledge sharing portal. The program is a key component of Xerox’s transition to a “services-led” strategy.

U.S. Coast Guard Yeoman “A” School Online
CAPT Al Folsom, LCDR Peter Seaman, YNCM Vade Keithley, YNC Tarvin Greene, Shyla Oru, YN1 Cathy Nauta, YN1 Tammy Bingham, YN1 Chris Fiorenza, YN1 Don Chester, YN1 Tracy Rivera, LTJG Dave Torres, Bill Seletyn, United States Coast Guard, and Joe Volk, Vivian Davis, Ray Reid, and Harry Willingham, Perot Systems

Yeoman “A” School (YNA) Online is remarkable if for no other reason than its sheer magnitude. This is a complete 6-week course, taken by about 200 students per year, entirely online. It is also a successful course in which 100% of the students in a recent convening said they believe the course “will adequately prepare them to be Yeomen.”

Yeomen are the Coast Guard’s HR professionals. They process pay, benefits, leave, and all of the administrative provisions of the Coast Guard workplace. Yeoman “A” School was selected for conversion to e-learning because Yeomen do most of their work on computers.

YNA Online is a result of the Coast Guard’s growing commitment to develop e-learning in response to ever-increasing demands on its workforce and training system. By moving traditional resident training to computer-based delivery, the Coast Guard saves time and money.

Outstanding Performance Aid
This award recognizes the reduction of dependence on memory by storing information, processes, or perspectives that influence or guide job behavior.

Facility Claims Processing Support Tool
Ferdinand Tesoro, PhD, Lisa Eldridge, Todd Dooley, Tonya Adams, Rochelle Wright, and Denny Jones, WellPoint

When the cast of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia executives met to discuss ways to improve financial results and reduce the amount of rework required in the claims adjudication process, a listing of the top five causes for rework with financial impact or high customer abrasion was analyzed. A scene stealing intervention soon presented itself. This intervention required the incorporation of current job aids and other online reference materials into an electronic performance support tool. In the creation of this tool, the Analysis-Design-Development-Implement-Evaluate process played the role of the new STARR on the scene and introduced a methodology that aided in improving quality and aligning processes throughout multiple business units. This has reduced the need for rework and made the end users STARR performers. Reviews are in and it’s two thumbs up.

Online Performance Aid for Membership Customer Care Associates to Support Rate and Plan Options
Michael Ayulo, Glori Graham, Gabriella Huerta, and Jody Smrekar, WellPoint/UNICARE

The online performance aid was created for customer care associates (CCAs) in our UNICARE, Small Group Membership business. This online performance support tool provides CCAs with targeted information supporting customer inquiries on rate and plan options. It is organized and accessible in a manner reflecting their customer’s needs. The performance outcomes of this tool included reducing the need for memorization of product information; decreasing training time for associates; decreasing administrative costs associated with training and training materials; establishing best practice processes, a centrally accessible resource; and increasing first call resolution.

Quality Assurance for Web-based Training
Carmen Taran, CPT, EdD, SBC Communications Inc.

Standalone web-based training (WBT) has become one of the most popular mediums for training corporate employees. For this project, standalone WBT is defined as an educational event completed via a browser, which is learner controlled, and occurs in an autonomous and independent way, without the direct supervision of tutors, professors, or other educational agents. A massive amount of literature has been published addressing the topic of effectiveness of WBT: How do we ensure what we produce is of sound instructional quality? Corporate designers, always struggling with ambitious timelines, do not have sufficient time to research principles that ensure quality in online instruction. Therefore, we have created a comprehensive checklist, which includes various guidelines for ensuring quality in WBT. Although the checklist has been developed mainly for corporate trainers, it may also serve as an academic audience, in the context of an instructional technology program, in which students are learning principles that should be followed for producing effective online training.

Reader Contest

How Has ISPI Radically Enhanced Performance?
In keeping with this year’s Annual Conference theme, “Researching the Radical,” Performance Improvement (PI) journal invites readers to submit a special feature about how ISPI membership, conference attendance, CPT certification, or PI journal tips and tools have radically enhanced your individual or organization’s performance and have inspired you to think innovatively about the practice of HPT.

Guidelines

Manuscripts should not exceed 1,500 words
Deadline: May 22, 2006
Judging criteria include Human Performance Technology (HPT) relevance, creativity, and appeal to PI readers
Include your name and postal address with your entry
You may send more than one entry (but you can only win once)

What’s In It for You?
The winning entry will receive a paid registration to next year’s conference, along with points toward CPT re-certification for being published.

The winner will also receive:

Heightened visibility for your HPT efforts
The satisfaction of contributing value-added performance solutions to the profession
Publishing credit for your career portfolio or resume

Results
Results will be announced in the October 2006 issue of PI and the winning tool will be published in the November/December 2006 issue. All entries will be acknowledged in the journal.

A New Edition of the Key Reference for the Field of Performance Improvement!

Next month, the Handbook of Human Performance Technology, 3^rd Edition co-published by Pfeiffer and the International Society for Performance Improvement will be released. This latest edition of the Handbook, edited by Dr. James A. Pershing, CPT, picks up where the previous editions left off, taking a fresh look at the principles, practices, and potential of HPT in the workplace, with thorough and expert coverage of:

Foundations of Human Performance Technology
The Performance Technology Process
Interventions at the Worker and Work Team Levels
Interventions at the Workplace and Organizational Levels
Performance Measurement and Assessment
Performance Technology in Action
Looking Forward in Human Performance Technology

With 53 new chapters and 83 contributors, this comprehensive sourcebook offers both “what about” and “how to” information, supported by key theoretical and research findings, and provides a vast array of models and techniques that have proven effective in enhancing individual and organizational performance.

If you are a consultant, instructional designer, or manager engaged in improving workplace performance—or a student studying workplace learning and performance improvement—this book is an indispensable resource.

Pre-order your copy of the third edition today and save 20% off the list price. For your savings, click here to visit the Pfeiffer website, and enter the following Promotional Code when you checkout: W66YE. Offer good through March 2006. Reserve your copy today

Performance Marketplace

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 e-mail 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
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Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA
Phone: 1.301.587.8570
Fax: 1.301.587.8573
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Jeanne Farrington, CPT, EdD President-elect	Jim Fuller, CPT Director	Miki M. Lane, CPT Director	Darlene M. Van Tiem, CPT, PhD Director

PerformanceXpress

The votes have been tallied, and the following candidates have been elected to serve as members of ISPI’s 2006-2008 Board of Directors.

The following Board members retain their seats: Clare Elizabeth Carey, CPT, EdD (who becomes President in April), Robert L. Bodine, CPT, PhD, Capt. Matthew T. Peters, CPT, Immediate Past President Sivasailam “Thiagi” Thiagarajan, CPT, PhD, and Richard D. Battaglia, CAE (ex officio).

Promoting Human Performance Technology to Others by Roger Chevalier, CPT, PhD

Promoting Human Performance Technology to Others
by Roger Chevalier, CPT, PhD