Performance Improvement

 

Organizations seeking to solve a performance problem frequently implement a specific intervention, such as training, without fully understanding the nature of the problem or determining whether or not the chosen intervention is likely to succeed. Just as often, professionals with a high level of expertise in a specific intervention area see every problem as an opportunity to ply their trade. As Abraham Maslow once said, “To the person who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail.” In fact, there are a number of methods for improving the performance of organizations, teams and individuals. Organizational development, industrial engineering, training and development, quality assurance, and human resources development address performance gaps in particular ways. Performance Improvement differs from these approaches by using a systematic methodology to find the root causes of a performance problem and then implement an intervention (or “fix”) that applies to that specific performance deficit. At the successful completion of the program, you should be able to:

• Evaluate organizational and human performance problems and issues
• Utilize communication skills
• Prepare proposals and develop strategies to influence stakeholder decisions
• Design and develop viable interventions to improve performance
• Analyze professional, ethical, legal and social issues and responsibilities
• Measure and revise performance improvement solutions
• Design and manage performance improvement projects
• Employ and apply quantitative techniques in performance improvement areas