Knowing Where to Leap: Are You a Performance Artist?

Knowing where to leap is a critical skill. But, so is building something great once you get there.

The difference between the artist and the (tradesperson) lies in the artist’s diagnostic abilities.

~ Adapted from Gilbert, Thomas

Look Before You Paint

When I was a kid I once painted the Mona Lisa and it looked pretty good (to me anyway). But it wasn’t anything special because I used a “paint by numbers” kit to do it. In that case I wasn’t really an artist, but I did have the skill to paint within the lines and follow directions pretty well. The real artist was that DaVinci guy of course because he’s the one who figured it all out in the first place.

In the business of Human Capital Improvement, there are many good craftspeople who can build decent learning interventions, or job aids, or other technical solutions. And these same people can be pretty good at carrying things out.

But there are very few real artists who can really figure out what kind of solutions should be built in the first place and then build them in a superior way so that performance really does improve.

In business, these artists all have a skill set that separates them from those who try hard and miss the mark time after time. This skill set goes by multiple names, but it’s mostly referred to as performance analysis or performance consulting. If you have this skill set, you can help your organization quickly:

• Figure out what’s going on now
• Figure out which solutions will help people get the right results in the most effective way without wasting time and effort doing things that may or may not make much difference
• Build the best solutions to get the results you need

That’s important because none of us has any time or money to waste (not that we ever did).

Are You a Performance Artist or a Paint by Numbers Person?

If you are a performance artist—a competent performance consultant—you understand what kinds of things need to be in place for good performance to happen.

You know that good performance—that is, accomplishing the right things—comes about because the environment supports it and the right people have the skills to pull it off. There are always a number of factors that affect performance and improvement results no matter where you are. But as that expert artist, you know that people can get great results if they have:

• Clear Leadership: People need the strategic and tactical directions and expectations that are tied to those directions—along with great communication about how efforts are going and where improvements can happen.
• The Right Tools: People need the right tools, processes and resources that allow change and improvements to happen.
• A Supportive Environment: People need the right measures and incentives that support improvement and don’t clash internally.
• The Right Skill Sets: People have to have the right skills, knowledge and attitudes to foster improvements. This includes a way to address emotional and knowledge issues that normally arise during any change initiative.
• An Appropriate Job Match: People on your team need to have the right capabilities to do what they are supposed to do.
• Positive Motivation: People doing the work have to have motives that are in sync with what the company needs to accomplish.

Formula for Success

I’ve just described a kind of formula you can follow to achieve great results. It’s not always that easy to do (true performance improvement rarely is) but if you start with an “artist’s eye” first, your chances of success will be improved tremendously.

From a process standpoint, it looks something like this:

• Clarify where you want to go (your goals and objectives).
• Identify what needs to be accomplished to get there (measures of success).
• Identify what people need to do to accomplish the right things (best practice models).
• Figure out why people may or may not be doing the right things (analysis). Look at performance factors to isolate what helps people or keeps people from reaching their objectives.
• Design targeted and cost-effective solutions to help people do the right things to get the right results (implementation).

Can you help your clients know where to go and what do to once they get there? And, can you build the right thing with them once they are there?

If you can, you are truly a bona fide performance artist who can figure out the right way to go and do the right thing once you get there. You’re ready to know where (and when) to leap.

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Posted in: Thought Leadership