PbO's and Performance Improvement

Editor's Notes

• #3: Long answer: Instructional Design is practice of maximizing the effectiveness, efficiency and appeal of instruction and other learning experiences. Short answer: I help make learning meaningful, memorable, and measurable.
• #4: So, let me ask a question:By raising your hand….Do you think that training improves knowledge?
• #5: Does training improve skill?
• #6: Does training change attitude?
• #8: How many times have you trained a task or piece of knowledge only to find that after training is completed – either nothing’s changed or behaviors go right back to what they were before you trained?
• #9: There is a big difference between training and performance improvement. Training is an event that facilitates the learning process. Learning is when behavior has changed, and performance improvement is when that change has been sustained over a period of time (in the positive).Training alone does not improve performance outright, and sometimes is not the correct answer to a performance problems.
• #10: So, just to start things off – let’s commit to being more than just trainers. Reason is, starting with training as the focus is really like starting in the middle of the process when trying to improve things. Let’s commit to becoming performance improvement individuals.
• #11: And to inject a random sports analogy to drive the point home…I grew up racing thoroughbred horses, working with my father at a track in Chicago. With anything that requires training to succeed – (like horse racing); sometimes the increases in improvement come from not only what goes on during the race – but with the horse trainer when he trains, the owner and the decisions that he makes, the environment on the track, and sometimes even things like the comfort animal (goats are cool!) you could put in the horse’s stall. If you only look at the performance on the track – you can miss things that could improve that horse’s skill. if you don’t remain aware of the whole system around the horse (or your performance issues ) and constantly re-examine the process you run the risk of choosing the wrong thing to focus on to attempt to improve – wasting time, money, and resources.Because, really, it’s about the end result and overall performance of the whole system right?
• #12: You first need to take a good long hard look at the problem as it exists in it’s system. Then find out EXACTLY why it’s happening. So let’s look at a problem…
• #13: Hopefully, they will respond that there is too much philly steak
• #14: Can someone define the reasons why there might be too much philly steak on pizza for me really quick? What we are doing is trying to find the root cause.
• #15: There are a lot of fancy scientific ways to search for the root cause. Honestly…
• #16: The easiest way is just to ask why….and a best practice is to at least ask it 5 times.The 5 Whys is a questions-asking method used to explore the cause/effect relationships underlying a particular problem. Ultimately, the goal of applying the 5 Whys method is to determine a root cause of a defect or problem. It’s not really about the 5 (or 6 or 4 or more or less) times you ask why, it’s about encouraging you to avoid assumptions and instead to trace the chain of cause and effect through any layers of things that don’t matter. This way the root cause that you discover still has some connection to the original problem.For example:My car will not start. (the problem)Why? - The battery is dead. (first why)Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (second why)Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (third why)Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and has never been replaced. (fourth why)Why? - I have not been maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, a root cause)I will start maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (solution)
• #17: Keep in mind that the more you ask why, the further you get away from the problem at hand and the more difficult the solution will be to fix the situation. Who’s heard of Occam’s razor? It’s summarized as this: “Sometimes the simplest explanation is more likely the correct one".
• #18: Let’s go through the 5 whys?Write down…..
• #19: In this example – it came from an experience I had at a store when I just had just started with Domino’s . I am confused with OER coaches – so the individual that was helping me “explained” all his exceptions to me, one being yes – they over portioned philly steak pizzas because the franchise owner wanted it that way. His customers had given him feedback about it, and he told the pizza makers to over portion them.So the root cause in this case is…
• #20: There is a great presentation by John Kissinger, that illustrates further the entire process where getting to root cause comes from. What is it called?This whole process is referred to as human performance improvement - is the systematic methodology of discovering and analyzing performance gaps, planning for improvements,designing and developing cost-effective and ethically justifiable interventions (this is where the training come in), implementing the interventions, and evaluating the financial and non-financial results.It’s scientific, it’s kind of geeky – but what this does is helps you to quantify the results (increase in $$). Check out John’s presentation for great additional info.
• #22: It’s not always about training. Sometimes its about other things. Some times it’s coaching owners, changing processes, developing job guides, changing the configuration, (or yeah, and sometimes it’s still about the training).
• #23: But all interventions – especially training has to have goals.
• #24: The way you show that you have goals is to write objectives. These are the roadmap to why you are creating instruction, what it will take to complete it, and most importantly – how you will gauge it’s effectiveness.
• #26: This is the scientific-ity way of constructing an objective. A training objective must clearly state the task to be done, the conditions under which training will take place and observed, and the standards of learning that should be accomplished.
• #27: Is this objective Specific? Does is say exactly what the learner will be able to do?Is the objective Measurable? Can the action be observed in training or during evaluations?Is this objective Active? Does it imply change (i.e. use an active verb)?Is this objective Relevant? Does it satisfy a performance action required by the TO?Is this objective Time-Bound? Is it achievable by the end of the program?
• #28: Can you ship it and will it bank?The only task, training or improvement endeavors that matter is the ones that get the product out the door and all of us contributing to the terminal goals $$$. So if you can attached the desired knowledge, skill, or
• #29: Like I said,  objectives serve  as  a  guide  for  learning  and  as well as  a  guide  for  teaching.  They  also  serve as   a   guide   for   the   instructor   in   measuring   student   performance   and   in   duplicating   job requirements  in  the  training  environment. There are three types of Objectives,Terminal LearningAnd Topic(And can be known by other names. )Your students don’t really need to see these, unless the number impact motivates them. This is really just for you, to be able to gauge if when complete the numbers match the intent and to provide a historical record ON WHY THE HECK YOU DID THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE.
• #30: So if I applied it to this structure to this course…..By coaching new regional trainers on the definition of performance improvement and the necessity of measurable performance objectives, they will apply these methods when creating new training and will reduce the amount of resources and time it takes to train end users and improve performance by X as measured by the BTS over X timeframe.
• #32: Avoid using verbs that are difficult to measure objectively. If you utilize verbs like "know" or "understand", make sure that you state how "knowledge" or "understanding" will be demonstrated. Remember, a good learning objectives is one that can be assessed to determine students' mastery of course material.The following verbs are difficult to assess, thus should be used with caution: Included in with your flash drive is a job aid on what we have discussed and a worksheet that will help you design measurable objectives for your future training.know comprehend understand appreciate familiarize study be aware become acquainted with gain knowledge of cover learn realize
• #33: I would love to talk about the design process – what to do after you have defined your problem and your goals – but we don’t have time for that today. However, I have included some job aids on the simplest design process – has anyone heard of ADDIE before?Included in with your flash drive is a job aid on what ADDIE is and how its used to develop instruction.
• #34: Ok, today we were exposed to a little bit about human performance improvement and writing objectives. I know it seems like a lot of work just to deliver some training – but by performing some of these actions up front, you will shorten the time to make improvements by making data driven decisions (5 whys) and clear roadmaps to provide instruction (objectives) and a way to report on your results in a reliable way (measurable objectives such as TO, LO, and SubLO’s)Whatquestions do you have?