Chris Ross, the owner of The Engagement Effect, a consulting firm, gave a webinar about Gilbert’s behavioral engineering model. Chris went over the major players and theorists in human performance technology. He focused on employee engagement and said it is a huge issue. This reflected what we read in our textbook. Chris Ross calls himself a performance improvement consultant.
It was interesting to find out that Gilbert worked with Skinner, which explains the model’s focus on behavior. Mr. Ross said that 98% of businesses have a problem with performance, and only 18% of the workforce is engaged. Another statistic he gave was that the value of training is wasted, it is not applied to produce meaningful organizational results. He said training is only 2-15% efficient in creating outcomes.
The funniest thing he pointed out was that he calls the ADDIE model the “DIE” model because people often skip analysis and design. He advocated for spending more time on analysis, always focusing on what benefit this program will return to the business. While analyzing, define the outcomes with the sponsor of the project. He said there are three ways to affect business outcomes. Increase revenue, avoid cost, or improve service. He asked, “how will this translate into improved performance?” and “how will this be measured?”
Just as we have studied in our human performance technology course, Mr. Ross emphasized that workforce performance is more influenced by the organization and environment than the individual. One thing he said that I am still wrapping my head around, is that it is easier and cheaper to fix environment than individual. I would like to see research that backs this up.
Chris Ross applies the theories that we have been learning in class to on-the-job practical experiences. What Chris does as a consultant is fascinating. He has the opportunity to have so many different experiences with so many different industries and organizations. Chris emphasized spending a lot of time on analysis. Business analysis, cause analysis, and performance analysis. Every webinar I have watched for this course has emphasized asking why until you get the answer you need. Some of the statistics he shared were the same as what I found in our textbook. When it comes to factors that affect performance, environmental organizational factors are 75%, and the individual performer is 25%, however, managers say organizational challenges are only 45%, while 55 % are individual.