The Focus of Our Change Management eBook

Human Performance is comprised of competencies and discretionary effort.  Our book and our consulting practice is about how to improve business results through Human Performance.  Our Six Change Management Keys book focuses on creating the potential to perform (through communication and competency development), then realizing as much of workers' discretionary effort as possible (through an Applied Behavioral Analysis approach to performance management).  The core competency organizations need to develop is the ability to do this fast and effectively.  Manage change and human performance, better and faster than your competitors - that's a source of sustainable competitive advantage.  This is what we believe is the third major theme of strategic thinking, the scope of our consulting work, and the focus of our new book.

In our book, Change Navigation: Managing Transformational Change, we provide guidelines on how to select and develop change agents and change sponsors.  Through models and case studies, we describe how to estimate the numbers of change agents and sponsors that will be needed and how to deploy them.  We describe communication strategies and processes to overcome initial resistance to change and refocus the attention of change targets on the "To Be" rather than the "As Is."  Repeating the same messages over and over is not how the sponsors of change can best respond to resistance.  We describe how to maximize the persuasiveness of the communication process through systematic adjustments recommended by change agents and delivered by change sponsors.

Our book devotes several chapters to managing performance.  The bedrock principles guiding our recommendations on performance management is Applied Behavioral Analysis.   Our discussion of the theories associated with Applied Behavior Analysis is, however, on a "need to know" basis.  In other words, we discuss these theories only in sufficient depth to allow you to apply them effectively.  Again, our focus is on practitioners - not scholars. 

Our recommendations about competency-based HR programs represent an excellent way of refocusing human resource programs that have become largely administrative in nature.  Many of today's HR organizations add little value to the company's they serve, and are often an impediment to fast and effective change.  Our book also describes how to structure and staff a change/performance management organization. 

We describe easy to use models for managers and supervisors who must address performance problems. At the other end of the spectrum, we offer a blueprint to guide the development of a performance management infrastructure.  Many change initiatives fail to achieve their potential because performance management systems were not sufficiently integrated with change management efforts to maximize discretionary effort.  We make specific recommendations to effectively link change and performance management.

Our book can help make change work for you - not against you.  We want to help you to think new...act fast...achieve more.  To buy Change Navigation, just click on the e-book cover on the right.

Performance Management

In my 20+ years as a management consultant, I have learned that there is perhaps no part of a manager’s job more despised than evaluating employees.  It’s true from the employees’ perspective as well.  Most people want accurate, meaningful feedback about their performance – but being classified as “Outstanding,”  “Superior,” “Needs Improvement,” “Unsatisfactory,” or some other ambiguous term is another matter entirely.  Over the years it seems that classifying employees with descriptive terminology has become the focal point of most performance management programs.  We believe this is unfortunate, unnecessary, and ill-advised.

In the approach  we describe in Breakthrough Performance Management we do not focus on evaluating employees – although it does include an evaluation component.  Evaluating employees is minimized in our approach along with the time-consuming process of documenting what person did what and how this results in some kind of “rating.”  The focus of our approach to performance management is improving organizational performance – not classifying and putting labels on employees.

The primary objective of our Breakthrough Performance Management methodology is to improve organizational results through human performance.  There are three critical elements that distinguish our approach from other performance management programs with which you might be familiar. 

First, in Breakthrough Performance Management we begin with the process of deriving performance objectives directly from the organization’s strategic intent using a PC-based, Group Decision Support System.  Developing a prioritized list of performance objectives requires many decisions from many senior executives.  We have found a tool called the Analytic Hierarchy Process that makes the kind of group decision making we need, fast and effective. 

Second, we have incorporated a competency modeling process into our methodology.  Employees cannot produce breakthrough results unless they possess the right competencies.  With competencies representing the potential to perform, we must have a way of producing the discretionary effort required to translate potential into breakthrough performance. 

Third, we include a behavior management program based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis.  Behavior shaping involves applying modest amounts of positive reinforcement to the pinpointed behaviors that will drive performance higher and higher.  Numerous applications of positive reinforcement focused on small improvements can produce much more dramatic results than setting stretch goals and waiting for something extraordinary to occur before rewards are earned.

To purchase Breakthrough Performance Management, click on the e-book cover on the right,