What is Human Performance Technology? What does it entail?
Human Performance Technology sounds a bit intimidating on its face, so I'll break it down into its parts:
- Human - focusing on people; the human element of a company or organization
- Performance - the combination of peoples' behaviors and the outcomes of those behaviors (Stolovitch et al., 2004)
- Technology - "the application of scientific and organized knowledge to solve practical problems" (Stolovitch et al., 2004, p. 12)
Human Performance Technology entails using analytical methods to determine interventions that will improve the actions and achievements of contributing members of an organization (Stolovitch et al., 2004; Van Tiem et al., 2012).
When companies generate sub-optimal results, company leadership often assumes that training is the solution (Dick et al., 2015; Stolovitch et al., 2004). However, a performance consultant (i.e., a person who works in Human Performance Technology) looks first for causes rather than solutions to performance problems (Stolovitch et al., 2004). While training often helps address workers' knowledge and skill gaps, knowledge and skill gaps are not the root cause of every undesirable outcome an organization produces. So, from a performance consultant's perspective, a better approach is to examine the underlying causes of the problem and then address those causes.
For example, imagine a fast-casual restaurant has been receiving complaints from customers that they have had to wait long periods before obtaining food items. To address this problem, the owner would like to require additional training for employees to improve their efficient production. However, upon deeper investigation, a performance consultant discovers the underlying cause of the problem is an outdated point-of-sale system. Additional training for employees, in this case, would not affect the desired change.
According to Stolovitch et al. (2004), "If you take the time to analyze the performance gap systematically, asking the right questions from the right sources, the suitable intervention or basket of interventions will surface naturally" (p. 27).
What skills and knowledge do I already have that relate to Human Performance Technology?
I have experience following analytical processes and systems approaches from my previous work developing instructional design projects:
- I've examined organizational needs and goals and broken them into their constituent parts.
- I've analyzed tasks, target learners, and learning and performance contexts.
- I've also explored and addressed ways the different components of a problem's solution connect and influence one another.
In addition, through my graduate school projects and current internship, I have experience collaborating with teams remotely and in person. Collaboration skills help performance consultants ask insightful questions, diplomatically handle nuanced situations, and navigate "issues of people with all their values, emotions, idiosyncrasies, and variability" (Van Tiem et al., 2012, p. 5).
What do I hope to gain from this course?
Through completing this course, I hope to gain practical tools, strategies, and experience that I can use to assist various organizations in meeting their performance goals, even in nuanced situations. Essentially, I hope to gain the skills and confidence to back up the words, "I can help you solve your problem" (Stolovitch et al., 2004, p. 11).
What do I expect to contribute to this course?
I expect to contribute my time, attention, curiosity, and effort to studying and applying the material as the course requires. I will also support my classmates' learning by offering them thoughtful responses, questions, and feedback.
How do I believe I will use what I learn in this course in my future career?
While I have some inklings, I'm not 100% sure what professional role I will pursue after graduating with my master's degree. Nevertheless, I have already discovered opportunities to apply my learning from this course in my current internship. I'm partnering with a relatively new and growing company as they train new employees, update and streamline their procedures, and optimize their performance. Analyzing the root causes of growing pains they've encountered will undoubtedly help address those obstacles and generate better outcomes. I'm excited to have the opportunity to help them and practice applying my new skills simultaneously. Doing so will also give me a better idea of how I can apply these skills in different contexts and in the next steps in my career.
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