Eat This, Not That, and Performance Improvement

"A balanced diet may be the best medicine. I was eating too much good eats. But people consider that part of your job, you know? Eat. And I do!" Alton Brown

Applying Principles of HPT: Eat This, Not That

Frequently, client engagements make it difficult to apply principles of human performance technology (HPT).  Or, perhaps more accurately, it's difficult to apply ALL of the principles in every project.  Some may find that discouraging, others may think that's disappointing, and others may well just give up.

As a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT), I am committed to living the values and standards that the credential represents.  I also am client-centered, and I work to add value wherever I can.  What's the approach I take?  "Eat this, not that."

A good friend and colleague Matt Donovan suggested this thought to me the other day.  I agree.  "Eat This, Not That" is a series of diet and lifestyle self-help books by David Zinczenko.  The main premise is, "Go ahead and eat that, but just make a good choice when doing so."  If you want to eat at Applebee's, then get this menu item.  If you want cookies, then eat this kind.  You get the idea.

So, as we approach performance projects, my clients and I work to apply better practice in this way.  If you want leadership training, then let's engage senior management as faculty and to define results.  If you want finance for the non-financial seminars  then we'll partner with your CFO to get the content right.  If you want to improve work group performance, then we'll do performance analysis, intervention selection and design, intervention implementation, and intervention evaluation.  You get the idea.

With this idea in mind, I partner with my clients to apply business acumen and other learning tools to achieve superior results.  That's what we do.  You get the idea.

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