First Insights Into Human Performance Technology

What do you think Human Performance Technology entails? 

From my readings this past week, I’ve come to understand human performance technology as the bridge that connects company goals (results) with the people in the organization (performance and achievements). The work of a performance consultant requires a great deal of listening, both to what’s said and what isn’t. It entails finding the root cause of unrealized results and recommending efficient and proper action toward rectification. Performance consultants do this by conducting a gap analysis and recommending interventions based on the knowledge uncovered that will lead to maximizing the potential of people in order to meet company objectives.  

It also entails identifying and focusing on those individual actions that are valuable to the outcomes and results of an organization, as well as getting clear on the organizational objectives. This is important because not every action, even if performed skillfully, is valuable toward the major organizational goals. A company made up of high performers working on the wrong projects or goals will not meet results. A company with unrealistic or unclear goals will not convey the desired results to teams. Human performance consultants can help make sure behaviors and actions align with goals and results, and vice versa.  

Good performance consultants display strong interpersonal skills, objectivity, critical thinking, discriminative curiosity, business acumen, patience, and the ability to see the whole picture. 

What skills and knowledge do you already have that you feel relate to the content of this course?  

Professionally, I have experience in being an individual contributor, subject matter expert, manager, director, and high-level organizational leader, as well as being a consultant. These different viewpoints have taught me that performance issues affect everyone, and are usually not due to a single individual, but arise because something is lacking in the communication or relationship between two or more individuals/processes/teams. Identifying the gap and then uncovering the root cause is not just necessary in human performance technology, but it’s how any performance issue should be approached.  

As a business professional, I am tasked with meeting business objectives – what could be called team or business performance. The work of making improvements in any situation starts with an understanding of the desired result and the current state, continues with a focused analysis to determine the gap, an investigation to uncover the root cause, wraps up with the design of a smart strategy + plan on how to move forward, and then culminates with the implementation and measurement of said plan. It’s my experience that oftentimes there are multiple solutions and interventions that could rectify a business performance issue. Experimentation, testing, and iterating on improvements is key to success. Having a growth mindset and a spirit of relentless improvement ensures that processes, systems, strategies, and teams don’t stagnate, and that failures are used as valuable information toward successes. 

As a yoga therapist, the process explained above is the same. Someone coming to me with the desire to relieve back pain, which is very common, has myriad contributing factors. Without a good process to identify the root cause of the back pain, I could prescribe movements or practices that could exacerbate the issue.

What do you hope to gain from this course? 

I think the process of human performance maximization is similar to the process with which I have approached my professional work, but is focused more on the relationship between the person and the organization than I have been. I hope to learn a systematic process for properly identifying when human performance issues are negatively affecting business objectives, and how to pragmatically approach, assess, and ultimately resolve performance issues so people and organizations can continue to grow. As someone who is interested in human potential and self-transformation from a personal and spiritual perspective, I apply that lens to this professional context – maximizing the potential inherent in employees and the organization and the relationship between the two.  

What do you expect to contribute to this course? 

I will bring insights from my diverse background of positions, my current position on a senior leadership team, and experience going through an acquisition and company re-organization to discussions.

How do you believe you will use what you learn in this course in your future career? 

In this first week I’ve come to understand that human performance is different from human resource management in that it looks at the relationship between the organization and the people. This systemic, interrelated dynamic is key to the success of individuals, teams, and the company. By being able to re-frame my thinking of performance as a single person’s output to that of the relationship between the individual and the desired result, I’m able to look at what conditions need to be present in order for results to be met. This is different than solely focusing on what someone needs to be doing. While individual actions are a vital piece of human performance, without an understanding of the why behind those actions and where those actions are going, actions are likely to be misguided or confused.

I hope to apply what I learn in this course to my growth as a leader. I recognize that in order to grow as a leader, I need to understand the complex dynamic between people, effort, output, and goals, and how this all works together for the health of an organization. This class is a step on that path.

**Context - this post was written in week 1 of Purdue’s Human Performance Technology course, as part of my Master’s in Learning Design and Technology.

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