START WITH PERFORMANCE. NOT THE PROGRAMME.
WHY DO ORGANISATIONS BUY DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS BEFORE THEY’VE PROPERLY DEFINED THE PERFORMANCE PROBLEM?
A leadership programme.
A presentation course.
A sales workshop.
A resilience intervention.
Organisations frequently begin with a familiar solution. Programmes that are recognisable. Easy to describe. Easy to procure.
But there’s a problem.
WE’RE CHOOSING AN ANSWER BEFORE WE’VE PROPERLY DEFINED THE PROBLEM.
START WITH EXECUTION. NOT COMPETENCY.
WHY DO WE DESIGN DEVELOPMENT AROUND WHAT PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW, RATHER THAN WHAT THEY MUST DO?
Organisations are good at defining competencies, identifying skills gaps and establishing what people should be capable of doing.
But the real performance problem doesn’t necessarily reveal itself in a competency framework.
It reveals itself when somebody actually has to perform.
A salesperson encounters an unexpected objection.
A leader faces an anxious and sceptical team.
A manager must challenge someone whose behaviour is damaging performance.
A technical expert has minutes to influence an important decision.
The real situations professionals encounter all have objectives, other people, pressure, uncertainty and consequences. And each presents different challenges to the professional who must perform.
YOU CANNOT DEFINE THE PERFORMANCE REQUIRED UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND THE SITUATION.
What exactly needs to improve? For whom? Where? Who else is involved? What makes the situation difficult? What would better performance actually look like? What must change?
Until we understand those things, how can we know what development is required?
FOUR QUESTIONS THAT CHANGE THE DESIGN PRINCIPLE.
Before selecting a development solution, organisations could begin with four questions.
1. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE?
What does the organisation need to achieve? Establish the specific objectives and business results.
2. WHERE DOES THAT BECOME REAL?
Where will professional performance affect the result? Identify the real situations, the people involved, the conditions and the performance challenges.
3. WHAT DOES IDEAL PERFORMANCE LOOK LIKE IN THOSE MOMENTS? WHAT HAPPENS TODAY?
Define the professional performance required. Understand what people currently do. Identify the performance gap between the two.
4. WHAT WOULD CHANGE IF PEOPLE PERFORMED BETTER?
Establish the improvements in professional performance and the business results we would seek to evidence.
THE FOUR QUESTIONS ESTABLISH WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE — AND HOW WE WILL KNOW WHETHER IT HAS.
They connect the organisation’s ambition to the actual situations in which its people must perform. They reveal the difference between the professional performance required and what people actually deliver. And they make the development requirement specific, observable and connected to business value.
THE REQUIREMENT DETERMINES THE SOLUTION. THE SOLUTION DOES NOT DETERMINE THE REQUIREMENT.
Once the real performance problem is understood, the development conversation changes.
A team preparing for a critical customer meeting may need focused preparation and rehearsal.
A group of managers struggling with difficult conversations may need practice, coaching and workplace reinforcement.
An entire leadership population may need a broader development programme, with different requirements across roles and situations.
And sometimes the right answer may not be a programme at all.
One guiding principle: design from an understanding of real performance. Not experience. Not habit. Not a hunch about what is wrong. Not what was delivered last year. Not the latest development trend. Not the programme a supplier happens to sell. The actual professional performance required to deliver better results.
BETTER PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE. BETTER BUSINESS RESULTS. BY DESIGN.
Starting with the performance requirement also changes how success is judged.
Instead of beginning with attendance, completion or satisfaction, we can establish what people need to perform differently and what evidence would demonstrate improvement.
That might be how a salesperson handles resistance, how a manager conducts a difficult conversation or how a leader creates confidence during change.
And we can connect those improvements to the business results they are intended to influence.
This gives development a clear purpose, a defined performance requirement and a meaningful way to examine its impact.
THE PROGRAMME IS NOT THE STARTING POINT.