Talent Management - January 2009 - (Page 10)

[human performance] by Harold D. Stolovich Apply Low-Cost Performance Measures Our current economic situation has organizations pulling out their magnifying glasses and hatchets as they scrutinize expenses. For performance professionals, however, this may be a moment of immense opportunity to demonstrate our value as maximizers of organizational talent. What follows is a list of low-cost performance-improvement measures that have consistently demonstrated high return far beyond their costs. They also are relatively easy to develop and implement. • Clarify expectations. Empirical evidence links lack of clear expectations to underperformance. Despite the impact unclear/conﬂicting employee expectations cause on performance, this still remains largely neglected whenever organizations seek to in initial stages of application. On-the-job support is a powerful, inexpensive means to enhance performance and productivity. • Design simple, effective job aids. I write frequently about this inexpensive, impactful performance enhancer. Pocket procedural charts, decision tables, checklists, when well-designed, produce instant, expert-like performance from relative novices. Look for opportunities to replace training with job aids. • Clean up policies and procedures. When the rules of the game are unclear, conﬂicting or inefﬁcient, performers get lost or make poor choices. This is a time to bring together stakeholders to clarify policies and procedures, and to reﬁne processes that eliminate wasted effort and wasteful delays. Agree on implementation and consistent enforcement. • Align incentives and consequences. Incentives, especially tangible ones, work. When wellimplemented and perceived as fair, properly selected incentives can dramatically inﬂuence performance. Consequences for poor performance, when transparent and equitable, encourage doing things right. • Increase motivation to perform. Three factors within the organization’s control affect motivation: value, conﬁdence and mood. You can help demonstrate the value of required performance, build conﬁdence through success models and rewards, and eliminate threats and negative environmental elements to improve mood. • Tighten selection systems. Inadequate recruitment and selection criteria and activities result in shaky hiring or promotion practices. Examine these and, with expert help, clean them up. Select for characteristics that match the job, train for required competencies and support for performance. • Eliminate task interferences. Examine what is asked of performers and under what conditions. Get rid of unproductive Incentives, especially tangible ones, work. administrative tasks, meetings and rituals. Create barriers to work-time interruptions, interferences and disruptions. • Strengthen training. Eliminate the nonessential. Apply sound learning principles to redesign dull, wasteful subject matter expert info dumps. Ensure trainers really can train. Provide welldesigned e-learning, not dull, non-performance-based page turners. • Adopt structured on-the-job training (OJT) systems. Organizations already indulge in more informal than formal training. By structuring OJT, you can gain excellent performance results. Similarly, peer assisted learning that pairs advanced buddies with novice workers can yield remarkable results at low cost. In tough economic times revisit performance fundamentals. With low-cost, high-yield measures, we can help our organizations through this tight moment while bringing honor to ourselves. For more insight on incentives, motivation and workplace performance go to hsa-lps.com/SITE_Report.htm. improve productivity. Now is an opportune moment to verify expectations and help redeﬁne and align them with critical behaviors and outcomes. This should generate high productivity yields. • Develop feedback systems. Insufﬁcient feedback that is either ill-timed or unusable is a performance destroyer. Investigate to identify feedback gaps. Develop and help install systems that let people know when they are ontarget or how to recalibrate. The simpler the system, the better. • Create performance support systems. Without on-the-job support, performance frequently deteriorates. Following training, build in tips for supervisors to reinforce use. Create coaching guides. Monitor and reward appropriate performance, especially About the Author Harold D. Stolovitch, Ph.D., is a principal of HSA Learning & Performance Solutions LLC and is emeritus professor of instructional and performance technology at the Université de Montréal. He can be reached at editor@talentmgt.com. 10 January 2009 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://hsa-lps.com/SITE_Report.htm http://www.talentmgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Talent Management - January 2009

Talent Management - January 2009 Editor’s Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Learning Connections Integrate Web 2.0 Into the On-Boarding Experience Show ’Em the Money: Compensation Trends 2009 Transition at the Top How Hollywood Manages Talent and What You Can Learn Get the Most Bang With Limited Training Bucks Life After Layoffs Attract Specific Talent Groups Performance Management: Its Time Is Now Helping the Helpers Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - January 2009

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