Are you currently faced with performance problems in your organization? Have you trained or re-trained employees to improve their performance and experienced no change in their results? Perhaps it is time to look beyond training to discover other performance solutions that will make a difference.

Many companies are making the journey from training to performance and are finding real value in new approaches to performance improvement. With new tools at their disposal and a wide choice of solutions, these firms add value for their employees and their clients and see improved bottom line results. They enlist the help of the performance improvement professionals within their organization or contract with an independent consultant to get help.

Whether the performance improvement person is on the company payroll or brought in on a project basis, this professional will approach your performance problem or opportunity by:

- Focusing on results; starting with the end in mind
- Taking a systems viewpoint; thinking systemically
- Adding value for the client and focusing on the business
- Establishing partnerships with experts and clients

Focusing On Results
In the world of performance improvement, we begin our exploration at the end of the journey by asking what result the client is looking for. We ask the client questions to specify results such as: What will this situation look like when it is corrected? Or, What will tell you this problem has been solved? Or, What is your goal for this project?

Of course, we also want them to describe the current situation and the nature of the problem or opportunity. They may tell us about an increased error rate, the inability of a sales team to meet goals, the need to integrate a new technical job into the organization, or difficulties meeting promised turn-around times for customers.

These discussions help us articulate clear problem/opportunity statements, and clear goals/end result statements back to the client for verification and more explanation, if necessary. At this point, we can begin to describe the gap, or the difference between the current and desired situation.

Specify the Gap
The gap will contain one or more deficiencies to be addressed, usually described as a lack of something. Typically, these are: poorly communicated or non-existent performance standards or expectations, lack of specific goals, lack of performance feedback, lack of rewards or consequences, poorly designed work processes, or inadequate or tools or equipment. Notice that lack of knowledge or skill is not included in our list. This is because, assuming your employees were hired with specific skills and experience or that your company provided job-specific training, most workers know how to do their jobs. Things that get in the way of their success are usually part of the work environment, as you see in our list above. And the good news is that fixing these issues is almost always cheaper and faster than training.

Find the Cause
Now that the performance specialist has worked with the client to determine what is wrong, finding the cause(s) comes next. We want to know why performance standards are unclear, for example. Does the organization as a whole have a clearly articulated mission and vision? Do employees know how these operational cornerstones support their roles? Do the managers have standards to meet in their own jobs? What happens when an employee's performance is poor or she makes costly errors? If there are no consequences for shoddy performance, where is the incentive to produce quality work?

Gap + Cause = Possible Solution
With the causes of the performance gap identified, it is time to consider possible solutions that will close the gap and produce the desired results identified earlier. In many situations, the performance improvement professional will explore various solutions to present to the client as recommendations. Any solution on the list of possibilities must meet the Three Cs of Culture, Cause, and Cost.

First, each organization has a unique culture that governs how work gets done and what is acceptable or not acceptable in the workplace. Any proposed solution has to fit that culture. Second, the solution must address the cause of the gap, otherwise it will not resolve the deficiency. Third, the solution must meet established cost parameters.

When the performance improvement person has tested each proposed solution against these criteria, it is time to present them to the client for discussion and selection. The wise consultant involves the client as early as practicable in this stage of the project so that ownership for the solution and the intended results sits where it belongs--with the client.

Evaluation and Measurement
We discuss evaluation and measurement as soon as the client selects the performance improvement solution. If we wait until the solution is implemented to think about how to measure our results, it will be too late. Most companies measure a number of aspects of their work such as turnaround, error rates, rework, sales closed, product returns, etc. The prudent performance improvement specialist begins by looking for data already collected to determine how best to tie performance results to the chosen solution. Sometimes, new methods must be devised or reports designed to capture measurement information in isolation from other initiatives that may be in progress at the same time. An evaluation and measurement plan that is designed to show results is an essential part of any performance improvement action.

Taking a Systems Viewpoint
One of the hallmarks of a successful performance improvement project is a broad view of the performance landscape. The skilled professional knows from experience that great solutions fail if implementation is poorly planned. And failure to check all aspects of the performance system is the most common cause of failure.

Today, few of us work in isolation. If we change a work process or tweak a system to improve performance, other workgroups, work processes, or even the organization as a whole will be affected. Making careful plans for the intersection of the chosen performance improvement solution and related areas of the organization will increase the chances of successful results.

Adding Value
It is important that any changes to the performance system in your organization produce the results that you and your specialist have agreed upon. It is equally important that they add value in a way that is meaningful to you, the client. This may mean that you learn to diagnose performance problems and can identify them more quickly in the future, for example, or that the specialist identifies other opportunities for improvement in your work group that will enhance results in the future. Perhaps you develop new alliances with other groups in your organization that you depend upon, or you are able to resolve a long-term issue with the new tools of performance improvement. Whatever the added value is, it should be readily apparent and positively impact your business results.

Establishing Partnerships
One of the most rewarding aspects of performance improvement work, for both the client and the performance improvement professional, is a successful partnership. Such a relationship can become a conduit for resources, a source of innovation, and an entrée to valuable connections with others inside and outside the organization. A skilled performance improvement specialist will help you forge these connections at the same time that you establish your ownership for the performance solution you selected.

Conclusion
The move from training to performance will help your organization with its work, its workers, and its results. Training is a valuable solution for situations where the workers don't know how. In all other cases, performance can usually be markedly improved by addressing typical environmental disconnects such as communicating performance standards, providing feedback, giving rewards or enacting consequences, and ensuring tools and resources are available. Get to know your internal performance improvement folks, or source an outside specialist, and watch your results improve.