The discipline of Human Performance Improvement (HPI) has evolved since the 1970s to become an important contributor to training, talent management, process and quality improvement, sales enablement, and other functions in companies and not-for-profit organizations. Both the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and the Association for talent Development (ATD), as well as some training companies, offer certifications in performance improvement. Countless books, chapters, and journal articles have emerged as the field has evolved.

The Performance Thinking® methodology and models have developed since the late 1980s to make the underlying methods and logic of Performance Improvement and behavior science accessible to as broad a range of users as possible. It’s simple models and plain English terminology are easy for anyone to understand and apply. Organizations in industries such as biotech, computer hardware and software, insurance, behavioral health, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, banking, social media, and education have adopted Performance Thinking models and programs to extend the reach and impact of their learning and performance departments, organizational development specialists, process improvement teams, talent development groups, managers as coaches, and executive leaders.

A new opportunity for driving performance improvement in organizations it to enable Human Resource Business Partners to help the managers and executives whom they serve to continuously improve performance of their teams, departments, and business units. Because HR Business Partners are usually spread thin across the clients and challenges they serve, they are not well-situated to take on the types of large projects that training, process, and OD professionals often conduct. Instead, they must be able to simultaneously address a wider range of challenges and opportunities for which their clients need solutions, including both day-to-day issues, and larger scope issues. They can help their clients re-define jobs, document ill-defined processes, coach team members for improved productivity, figure out how to measure specific performance, create Employee Engagement Plans, improve working relationships, create succession planning for key roles, and so on. While we cannot usually expect HR Business Partners to devote their time to managing major projects, their roles as advisors to senior managers and executives could allow them to be agents of performance improvement.  Most existing programs for supporting and developing HR Business Partners focus either on HR topics and methods, or on business-related topics, not explicitly on methods for improving employee productivity and engagement.

This webinar introduces elements of the performance improvement methodology known as Performance Thinking.  It summarizes an analysis completed in several organizations of the contributions that HR Business Partners and Senior HR Business Partners make in their work with senior managers and executives. And it describes a modular Performance Thinking® curriculum that can be adapted for HR Business Partners, based on the particular priorities and applications they engage in their organizations. Such an approach can empower HR Business Partners to be agents of continuous performance improvement partnering with stakeholders.