A presentation about the dawn of a new era in performance improvement. It is especially relevant to human performance technologists and to anyone with an interest in managing the performance of people, processes and organizations.

1. Human Performance Technology
The Dawn of a New Era
Fred Nickols, CPT
Arizona ISPI Meeting
April 6, 2011
Copyright Fred Nickols 2011 1

2. A Note about Notes
A copy of this presentation is available at:
http://www.nickols.us/AZISPI2011.pdf
Copyright Fred Nickols 2011 2

3. Introduction & Overview
• The End of the Old Era
– A shift in the nature of work & working
– A shift in the locus of control
– A need for some new models & a new approach
• The Dawn of the New Era
– Some models – performance & organizations
– Some examples & ideas
– Some discussion
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4. The Disappearing Farmer
Copyright Fred Nickols 2011 4

5. The Changing Workforce
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6. The Knowledge Worker
“No one can direct him. He has to direct himself. He is
the guardian of his own standards, of his own
performance, and of his own objectives.”
Peter Drucker
Management (1973)
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7. What Was It?
It wasn’t a shift to knowledge work!
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8. It Was a Shift
From…
– materials-based,
– easily observed,
– prefigured working
activities
To…
– information-based,
– difficult to observe,
– configured working
activities
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9. The Mix of Work
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10. Industrial Era to Modern Times
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11. The Upshot of the Shift
• We can no longer engineer their performance
• They must engineer their own performance
• Performance engineering must be woven into
the fabric of the organization; it must become
a pervasive and robust capability
• HPT practitioners can help with that but we
need new models and a new approach
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12. Performance Engineering Model
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13. The Performance Pyramid
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14. The Individual Level
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15. A Performance Problem
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16. In An Ideal World
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17. The Reality
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18. From Proximate to Ultimate
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19. Registration to Employment
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20. The Load Rate Problem
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21. Individual Performance Factors
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22. The Process Level
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23. Applicant as Processor
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24. Process Level Questions
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25. The Organizational Level
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26. A Recurring Cycle of Events
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27. Recap
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28. Discussion
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29. Related Resources
• Manage Your Own Performance: No One Else
Can
• Inside the Process Box
• Fit & Fitness: The Yin & Yang of Sustainability
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30. Contact Information
Copyright Fred Nickols 2011 30
Fred Nickols
Managing Partner
Distance Consulting, LLC
1558 Coshocton Ave – 303
Mount Vernon, OH 43050
(740) 504-0000

31. Some Related Matters
• Performance Architecture
• Contributions & Inducements
• The Control of Discretionary Effort
• The Control Problem
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32. Performance Architecture
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33. Contributions-Inducements
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34. The Control of Discretionary Effort
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35. The Control Problem
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36. The Control Problem (cont’d)
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