Description

AOE 1. Performance Improvement; Sub section 1.5. Approaches for Selecting Improvement Solutions

This could be called a performance improvement solution, improvement solution, or solution —the terminology depends on what your client and what their organization uses. 

The learning objectives for the Approaches for Selecting Improvement Solutions are:

• List the 6 categories of interventions or performance improvement solutions available
• List 3 decision-making matrices and methods along with their advantages and disadvantages
• List 5 activities to build customer-client relationships and their benefits
• Describe what talent development professionals need to know about budgeting and cost when recommending solutions
• Explain why the choice of a specific improvement solution should fit the organizational culture and how to identify that culture
• Explain why describing features, advantages, & benefits of a variety of solutions are important
• Describe some ethical considerations that should be addressed when exploring potential solutions for an organization

Performance Improvement Selection Overview

When conducting a resource analysis as mentioned on 1.3. Business, Performance, & Gap Analysis episode — you can return to if you want to learn more — looking for:

• Reviewing human resources, that is, the people and SMEs, needed for proposed solutions
• Determining skills required for the solution(s) area available in-house or if an external vendor will be required
• Identifying the physical resources, systems, and equipment to support implementation of the solution(s) and the availability of required facilities
• The TD professional’s skills and knowledge have the right competencies, and experience or will need to refer out or find another partner for support 
• There may be multiple causes for the problem which will require many solutions so use the Pareto 80/20 diagram to figure out what the largest issues/causes are (see Ep. 1.3)

Behavior Engineering Model (Gilbert, 1996) from Ep. 1.2, looks at the systematic approach to identify barriers and difficulties that might occur in the workplace to block reaching the desired outcomes of the organization related to performance:

• Recognizing current & potential problems
• Educating managers and employees about performance success factors
• Identifying & involving key stakeholders on performance results during each phase
• Helping stakeholders identify strategies to use learning and performance support
• Obtaining agreement on evaluation criteria that will measure success

Potential Solutions — There’s always room for improvement on the following: 

1.  Structure and Process: this is about how the organization is set up and may involve managing conflict to limit negative aspects of a situation, employee dynamics, etc.
   • Suggested solutions: conflict management, culture reshaping, process leadership, performance appraisals/reviews/evaluations, staffing, process redesign, job interviews
2. Resources: this includes physical resources, like equipment, facilities, hardware, software, etc. 
   • Suggested solutions: ergonomic evaluation and human factors; automation, computerization, physical resource management plans
3. Information Exchange: specifically the management, storage, and distribution of information about individuals, teams, and departments in the organization
   • Suggested solutions: knowledge management, networks for information, balanced scorecard, meetings and dialog, newsletters, public relations campaigns, debriefing
4. Knowledge and Skills: to improve the essential knowledge and skills required for optimal job performance
   • Suggested solutions: accelerated learning; competency modeling; action learning/training; coaching; electronic performance support systems; job aids; on-the-job training;  training that uses case studies, role plays and experiential activities; self-directed learning; social learning
5. Motivation: your employees’ levels of interest, enthusiasm, and commitment
   • Suggested solutions: rewards and recognition; compensation systems; engagement efforts; motivation systems; team building
6. Wellness: factors related to employees’ physical or emotional well-being that impact performance; work-life balance is off, an employees’ career & ambition is competing with their health, family, leisure time, etc.
   • Suggested solutions: energy management; work-life balance correction; employee assistance programs; counseling; win-win negotiating; workplace violence prevention 

Partnership Creation and Support — to reach solutions are critical. Clients you work with can either enhance or block these solutions.  Find expertise and specialists in the organization who have good listening skills, can build trust, and respect one another to reach the goals of the organization. 

Decision-Making Matrices and Methods — the tools to help you aid in selecting a solution:

• Multivoting (Nominal Group Technique) - a structured way to get a group or tram to brainstorm a wide range of responses to an issue, clarify these responses, and then vote or rank these from most to least critical 
• Affinity/Interrelationship Digraph - enable stakeholders to see what root causes have the largest impact on the organization — specifically with relationships and issues, as we shared in episode 1.3
• Countermeasure Matrix - a decision-making tool to identify appropriate countermeasures for root causes of issues as well as identify and rank one to three potential solutions with the cost, time, and action; here’s an EXAMPLE to visualize this one; BONUS TEMPLATE MS Excel sheet from SixSigmaOnline.org
• Common Mistakes made by TD professionals include:
  • Failure to partner/collaborate with the client & org. stakeholders
  • Failure to consider the organization’s culture
  • Failure to manage change...