Principle-Based Performance Improvement™
As a Leader, Business Owner, and/or Performance Improvement Professional, you've likely been exposed to either the 'Technical' side or the 'Kum-by-yah" side (or both) of Human Performance, 'Team Building', 'Team Learning', Behavior-Based Safety, Organizational Performance, HPI, HOP, HRO...the list goes on and on.
Each of these has merit and are typically well-intended, HOWEVER...
The jury's reached a verdict on all of 'em- of themselves, at least as they've been deployed and employed with old-school thinking and doing, NONE can or will achieve long-term, sustainable, and continually improving Results & Outcomes.
If you need to move something and your 'tool' is a piece of rope, if you're strong enough, using the rope to pull the object can work quite well.
However, attempting to push the object using that same rope...the results are quite different.
And yet, whether focusing on Technicals & Metrics or the latest & greatest 'program', MOST approaches for improving performance continue to start by diving straight into the light blue pieces of the Principle-Based Performance Improvement (PPI) Model. (in other words, by pushing on the rope)...
-
Straight into reducing mistakes and improving metrics with incessant pushing of new (latest & greatest) policies, procedures, checklists, rules, and 'tools' to improve targeted KPIs or measurements
-
Focusing on "ZERO" through well-intended slogans and messaging without regard for human fallibility
-
Attempting to Implement & Scale across teams and organizations, treating Team Members like 'things'- expecting them to 'fall in line' and 'do what they're told' with little (if any) understanding of human nature
Again, while likely well-intended, such isolated efforts can never achieve sustainable and continually improving results because they omit & bypass an understanding of the Human Element.
The ONLY way jumping straight to the pieces identified above gets any results whatsoever is through compliance.
And in a compliance-based environment, Team Member choices, actions, & behaviors can rise to meet expectations. BUT- will typically do so only for short periods...when someone is watching.
While reducing mistakes, achieving ZERO Events, and cross-organization scalability are indeed necessary and important, the answers & solutions for HOW to properly leverage and scale intrinsic aspects of human nature to WIN-WIN-WIN sustainable Outcomes & Results lies within the rest of the Model.
To achieve sustainable performance improvement, you must transform your THINKing and FEELing about human nature, motivation, and accountability (the bottom of the T), BEFORE you begin DOing (the top of the T).
If you truly want to maximize your efforts to Improve Performance, whether your primary focus is to improve Safety, Reliability, Efficiency, Productivity, or profitability (or any combination of these), you must have an understanding of Human Nature AND develop a FULL toolbelt of Human & Organizational Performance skills.
NONE of this is 'rocket science'.