For many organizations and their employees, the months of January and February include a review of last year’s performance. This involves reflecting upon accomplishments and also where we could have done better. Can the practice of human performance technology (HPT) help improve your performance? Your organization may already be using HPT to analyze and manage your performance. And you can too!
Human Performance Technology is defined as “the systematic approach to analyzing, improving, and managing performance in the workplace through the use of appropriate and varied interventions.” (American Society for Training & Development 1992) HPT acknowledges that individual work performance is a function of many influences including skills, knowledge, tools, resources, information, feedback, motivation, incentives, to name a few.
Many managers have a tendency to assume a lack of skill or knowledge to be the cause of a performance problem and so prescribe training to correct the problem. Unfortunately, training is only the right solution to a performance problem if the problem exists due to a lack of skill or knowledge. Following the training, if the performance does not improve, often the employee is thought to be incapable of “getting it,” which leads to disciplinary action and sometimes termination.
So how can you put HPT to work for you? To begin, if you are encountering a performance problem, increase awareness and identify the underlying cause. Performance problems may exist due to a:
- Lack of skills and knowledge – This is the only place where training is the answer.
- Lack of information and feedback – Ask for clearly defined goals, a job description, and specific, behavior based feedback (the good and the bad).
- Lack of tools and resources – What tools do you need to perform to the level expected? (Software/hardware, access to information, meetings with key players, etc.)
- Lack of motivation and incentives – What drives you to perform well? How fulfilled are you with your work? What blocks your motivation? Are the performance incentives supporting you?
Coaching Inquiries: Are you performing optimally? What motivates you to perform? What might be getting in the way of your stellar performance? What can you ask for at work to further support your positive performance?
