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APTITUDES & PERFORMANCE: A NEW APROACH TO A KEY SUCCESS FACTOR FOR PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT

By: Mariano Bernárdez, PhD.

" All the resources we need are in the mind"
Theodore Roosevelt ,October 12, 1915

In their constant search for opportunities to improve performance, change agents have deeply explored training, communications, consequences (such as compensation), work organization and systems improvements, always searching for newer, more accurate and more powerful tools in order to get the best from their people.

However, what about people’s capacities ? How can we know how these prerequisites to skill and knowledge impact the high performance so necessary these days ?

There has been less of a spotlight on the assessment of capacities for performance improvement, but there have been some impressive advances. In fact, one thing that provoked me to write this article was the growing evidence that many managers and HR people know very little about this side of what Dr. Dean Spitzer wisely calls P.I.O. (Performance Improvement Opportunities) (1)

Let’s have a look at the domains of human capability that have been explored, examine their influence on human performance improvement, and consider the new and potent tools we have to assess them.

The Thinking Processes Domain:

The distinguishing human ability to think has been explored extensively, from Dalton’s first studies on genius in the nineteenth century to our day, and clearly remains a major predictor of high performance potential.

But there are many major contributions to consider:

The typologies and styles of thinking: (Stern, Myers Briggs)

Every human being is supposed to be able to think, and with the large number of PhD’s in the corporate environment "intelligent performance" should be taken for granted. But the simple reality is that people use a high IQ more often to clash with other’s IQs than to work together with them. The underlying reason is that there is nothing like a universal intelligence: all our "human processors" use different kinds of operating systems, with the same result: compatibility problems.

Since the earliest definitions from Stern (2) about multiple kinds of intelligence and the more vast and complex definitions of Carl Jung (3) about personality types, until the appearance of the work of Katharine and Isabel Briggs Myers that is probably the richest and more powerful set of tools for analyzing the way each people thinks, their dynamics , strengths and weaknesses, a real major progress has been consolidated.

Those HR consultants interested in evaluating with practical purposes this dimension of performance have now both reliable and user-friendly background to stand on.

The impressive story of Myer-Briggs research (more than 6 million cases studied since 1942) (4) and the ongoing enhancement of these self-administrable and easily diagnosed tests make a solid foundation for assessing the thinking styles of an individual or group matched to the job, task, function, goals or the organization itself.

What is more, the Myer-Briggs scale (5) makes it possible to form balanced workgroups, to facilitate understanding based upon knowing the differences of group members mental processes, and to obtain richer teamwork and foster motivation by bringing the right people to the right place in the organization.

Levels of thinking (Bloom, Gagne, Lafourcade):

When poor performance occurs, many times the cause is nothing more than confusing elementary skills with requisite mastery skill levels. Unlike computer chess games that give us feedback or options, assignment requirements are often imprecise about the level of ability the performer needs to get started.

When you underestimate the level, you obtain poor performance; when you overestimate it, you demotivate a highly skilled performer.

With Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning Objectives, Gagne’s research on the domains and levels of thinking, and Celso Lafourcade’s "tree" of learning levels, we have a complete set of tools to assess the complexity and requirements of a task or a problem to be solved. This allows us to not only to design more effective instruction (6), but also to improve business product development (the term "software psychology" is more often mentioned within the industry) , EPSS , and even personnel selection.

To correctly analyze performance problems, as Bob Mager taught us to do (7), it is essential that we know not only the difference between levels but the "greyscale" that goes from information recognition to the formulation of hypotheses or creative combinations.

To obtain full benefit from the helpful instruments provided by Mager, we need a deeper immersion in the underlying research about the levels of knowledge and learning that can be achieved. Only then can we perform at an outstanding level as HR specialists or improvers of performance.

Strategies and ways of thinking (LNP, De Bono, Herrman’s):

"You don’t understand me" is a phrase that frequently reflects only different ways of connecting with reality and/or describing it. Just have two incompatible types e-mail each other and you’ll see a lot of "computer interactions"….

The studies of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming, created by Grinder -8-) and/or Ned Hermann’s Brain Dominance show clearly how we can use the "different strokes" of our own thinking/perceptive processes to gain understanding of our reactions and behavior. We can also "tune" our minds to achieve superior performance with collaborators, bosses or clients.

Edward De Bono’s (9) vast work on creativity and lateral thinking could also give us different "hats"and "boots", as well as "liquid logic," allowing us to put innovation to work in real team settings or to measure and improve individual capabilities.

The Emotional Domain:

"Nine-tenths of wisdom consists of being wise in time."

Theodore Roosevelt, June 14, 1917

Mr Roosevelt, a political master player, knew very well the difference between being clever and being smart.

Many careers stumble at this moment of truth: are you able to deal with yourself or not ?

The booming success of Daniel Goleman’s "Emotional Intelligence" concepts (10), followed by tests on EQ like the ones developed by Brockert and Braun, spotlighted this crucial factor of performance and success.

By exploring the permanent influence of emotions and mastering them to fuel our efforts in valuable ways , we could benefit by transforming experience into learning (by learning to manage ourselves). We could also create more motivating organizations and work environments, as Spitzer (11) claims in his recent book.

A second and very interesting performance assessment tool emerged one year ago with the AQ (Adversity Quotient) proposed by Paul Stoltz (12). It measures critical factors like endurance, resistance to adversity, ownership and self-control under stress, allowing both performers and managers to imrove their reactions and flexibility under the normally stormy business conditions of our times.

Very little field consulting work has been done with these tools, but the preliminary results are impressive.

The Social Domain (Wilson):

To educate a man in mind, and not in morals, is to educate a menace to society.

Theodore Roosevelt

Old wisdom gets it right once more. In this age of "just tell me what to do" characters, many people know more about the exploration of Mars than about their own environment and how to have healthy human relations with others.

There are not quick fixes, but come from knowing yourself.

The Social Styles developed by Wilson (13) as far as earlier studies coming from Marston (14) typologies are specially useful for performers required to excel in their interaction with other people (management, sales, negotiation, etc.).

The Postner (15) leadership model also allows us to explore both personal and organizational values and how they match as other key factors for obtaining high performance.

The Perceptive Domain ( Bender, Luscher):

If you are going to climb the 35 meter tower of an oil rig, or turn to the right a high pressure valve under a colored safety pipe, maybe it would be better to add some assessment of your spatial (Bender, 16) and/or color recognition abilities before you are given technical and safety training (Luscher, 17).

That kind of assessment, very simple to administer by non-psychologists such as trained line or HR people, is underutilized. A lot of lives, damage and dollars could be saved if the HR practitioners were more familiar with these collectively applicable instruments.

Not to mention software screen color sets, or the impact on a color weak performer of a poorly chosen EPSS foreground/background color combination …and just skip over the spatial requirements of "graphic interfaces" and mouse clicking…

There are also recent and very important contributions from Lynn Kearny and Phil Smith on studying perceptive problems and distracting factors in the workplace (18)

Some preliminary conclusions:

Some blame the people, others the system. Faced with bad performance, both can be equally suspect, but — don’t play the blame game, just explore.

Blaming is a self-defeating, EQ biased search for pre-determined causes with the self evident purpose of discharging our emotions on others, and the underlying consequence — desired or not — of hiding the real problems.

Performance Improvement begins with us. Knowing these tools can add depth and breadth to our quest for superior performance, and give us a solid foundation to assess where to invest our efforts.

References

Spitzer, Dean : Five Keys To Effective Training (Training, September 1986)

Stern, William: Die Intelligenz der Kinder und Jugendlichen un die Methoden ihrer Untersuchung (I.A.Barth, Leipzig, 1927)

Jung, Carl: Psychological Types (Princeton, 1971)

Isabel Briggs Myers : Gifts Differing (Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc, Palo Alto,CA, 1980)

Isabel Briggs Myers: Manual: A Guide To The Development And Use Of The Myers- Briggs Type Indicator, Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc, Palo Alto,CA, 1993)

Kroeger & Thuesen - Type Talk at Work (Dell Bantam, 1992)

Bridges, William : The Character of Organizations (William Bridges, 1993)

Mager, Robert : Making Instruction Work (Center for Effective Performance, 1997)

Mager, Robert: Analyzing Performance Problems (Center for Effective Performance, 1983)

Grinder: From Frogs to Princes, (Paidos, 1993)

De Bono, Edward: The five-day Course In Thinking, (La isla, Buenos Aires, 1969)

De Bono, Edward: Six Thinking Hats (Vicking, Engalnd, 1986)

De Bono, Edward: Six Action Shoes (Harper Business, 1991)

(10) Goleman, Daniel: Emotional Inteligence (Bantam, 1995)

Brocker & Braun: Das EQ -Testbuch Wie grob ist Ihre emotionale Intelligentz ? (Wilhem Heyne Verlag, Munchen, 1996)

Spitzer, Dean: Supermotivation (Amacom, 1995)

Stoltz, Paul: Adversity Quotient: Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities (John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1997)

(13) Wilson Learning: Social Styles (UA, 1989)

Marston: Personal Styles Profile (AA&co., 1987)

Kouzes & Postner - LPI Leadership Practices I(nventory (UA, 1990)

Hutt, Max: The Hutt Adaptation of the Bender-Guestalt Test (Grune & Straton, 1969)

Luscher, Max; The Luscher Color Test (Random House, 1997)

Kearny, Lynn, Smith, Phil: Creating Workplaces Where People Can Think (NSPI, Jossey Bass, 1994)

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