Blog Post: On Human Performance Improvement

Today’s mid-career training professionals must be Human Performance Improvement experts, not merely traditional trainers. Your real work consists of obtaining executive buy-in, designing and delivering complex appraisal methods, designing workable interventions, evaluating and communicating results, and spearheading corporate-wide transitions.

This body of knowledge is the core of the Human Performance Improvement.  According to William J. Rothwell in ASTD Models for Human Performance Improvement, human performance improvement is the systematic process of discovering and analyzing important human performance gaps, planning for future improvements in human performance, designing and developing cost-effective and ethically justifiable solutions to close performance gaps, implementing the solutions, and evaluating the financial and nonfinancial results.

The Human Performance Improvement Skill Set

The HPI practitioner is able to:

• Identify the barriers to increased productivity
• Prove and communicate the connection between breaking productivity barriers and human performance improvement,
• Demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt the connection between human performance intervention and bottom line improvement,
• Quantify expected as well as actual results, 
• Justify large expenditures to avert expensive future problems, 
• Design justifiable interventions, 
• Deploy or install initiatives which stand up to their press, and 
• Insure cost effective, ethical, accountable, efficient intervention for intended results.

The Human Performance Improvement posts in the ASTD-OC blog will be maintained by graduates of the Human Performance Improvement Certificate program, co-sponsored by Chapman University Extended Education and ASTD-Orange County.  The Human Performance Improvement Certificate Program is designed to give you the knowledge and skills necessary to enhance your reputation for providing results-oriented solutions that impact your organization’s bottom line.  More on that program here.

We seek an open dialog of successes and challenges in the practice of Human Performance Improvement.  Look to HPI posts to learn of success stories, obstacles and solutions, and general tips to ensure that the performance support you provide succeeds in the long run.