It only makes sense that we begin this blog with a definition that can help drive a very important follow-up discussion. We need to work together to clearly define the scope of this practice we call performance support to ensure that we’re all talking about the same thing. So, here’s a starting definition:
“Performance support is intuitive, tailored aid provided to a person at their moment of need to ensure the most effective performance.”
This definition merits further explanation to make sure our discussion moves in the right direction. Historically, definitions of performance support, like the one above, have been applied too narrowly in the context of all that L&D is charged to do, but there are many benefits to embracing a broader view.
This Broader Understanding Begins with the 5 Moments of Need.
Early in my career, I managed the training, documentation, and help-desk teams for a company that relied heavily on the full range of computing capacity then available to the world. There was everything from supercomputers to PCs. In that setting, our collective work was straightforward: we had complete responsibility for helping every person in that organization successfully perform their work without any wasted effort at any time of any day. This required us to pay attention to the full range of performance support needs people had in their journey of becoming and remaining competent in their individual and collective work.
I learned that there are five phases people pass through during which they require support to successfully perform.
The training industry has primarily focused its practices on the first two moments of need:
- NEW: When people are learning how to do something for the first time.
- MORE: When they are expanding the breadth and depth of what they have learned.
Documentation teams have primarily assumed the responsibility for providing printed and online help information for people to use when they face the third moment of need:
- APPLY: When they need to act upon what they have learned, which includes planning what they will do, remembering what they may have forgotten, and/or adapting their performance to a unique situation.
Help Desk practices have also assumed a role in supporting people in this third area of need. But their primary work has been to address the fourth moment:
- SOLVE: When problems arise, or things break or don’t work in the intended way.
Finally, there is a moment of need that few organizations have addressed well:
- CHANGE: When people need to learn a new way of doing something, which requires them to change skills that are deeply ingrained in their performance practices.
Since spending those early days overseeing the efforts of these three groups (training, documentation, and help desk support services), I’ve had the opportunity to get an up-close view of the efforts of hundreds of organizations in addressing these five moments of need. In almost every case, their combined efforts have been limited, fragmented, and wasteful. This is not to say that great work isn’t happening in each of these performance support silos, but those we are charged to support deserve “intuitive, tailored aid” that is orchestrated together to “ensure the most effective personal and collective performance” during all five moments of need (Gloria Gery, 1991). Solving this requires an understanding of the role of performance support during each of these five moments of need.
What is the Role of Performance Support During the First Two Moments of Need?
The primary benefits of performance support are achieved during the final three moments of need (APPLY, SOLVE, CHANGE), but a common challenge in these moments is whether people choose to use the “tailored aid” available to them. Often this aid isn’t as intuitive as it should be. Also, some performers aren’t as independent as they need to be in order to take full advantage of the performance support offerings.
It is during the first two moments of need – NEW and MORE – that performers can learn how to use the performance support aids we make available to them. It is also vital that we help learners become more self-reliant in their disposition to use these aids.
In addition, performance support aids can change the scope and nature of formal learning events. For example, when there is an embedded job aid that will walk a person through software related tasks as they actually perform those tasks, we can teach performers how to use that job aid and focus their learning on more critical skills tied to business processes and collaborative work.
What is the Role of Performance Support at the Moment of APPLY?
This is the sweet spot of performance support. There is much that can and needs to occur here and today we can do more than ever. When people are at this moment when they need to actually perform on the job, they need instant access to tools that will intuitively help them do just that: perform! This help must be immediate and tailored to the performer’s role and situation, allowing them to dive as deep as necessary depending on their need to plan, remember, adapt, and/or reference information required for successful performance.
What is the Role of Performance Support at the Moment of SOLVE?
This is another area where performance support delivers great value. Often the job aids created for this moment of need are tools that walk performers through the problem-solving process, automating all that is possible to automate.
What is the Role of Performance Support at the Moment of CHANGE?
This moment of need has been paid the least attention, yet it is the most challenging. Since we don’t attend to it very well, it is often the costliest to organizations. Once skills have become ingrained into the work practices of people and organizations, replacing them with new ways of performing is a significant learning challenge. This need cannot be adequately met by only bringing performers into formal learning events devoted to teaching “the new ways” of doing things. In addition, these learners absolutely need job aids that will guide them through the new way each time they are called to perform. This challenge is ultimately resolved over time on the job.
What Is “Intuitive, Tailored Aid”?
Job aids are intuitive and tailored to the degree that they:
- are readily and logically available. The harder people need to work to get to a job aid, the higher the probability they won’t use it.
- are simple, straightforward, and role based. Tailored aid must be focused directly on the specific role of the performer and the situation they face. It can’t contain irrelevant information.
- map directly to the way a person actually performs. The most logical way people approach performance is by business process. Process maps give performers the capacity to see the bigger picture and not get lost in all the detail.
- are integrated to allow deep diving. As any organization’s performance support practice expands, at some point it will face the challenge of job aid proliferation. This calls for development (sooner rather than later) of a performance support “broker” that can help ensure the aid is not only readily but also logically available. These brokers must also allow performers the option to dive deeper into learning at every moment of need.
What is “Effective Performance”?
Effective performance inherently includes efficient performance: it isn’t truly effective if it is achieved in a wasteful manner. Effective performance embraces collective as well as individual actions and is time independent. In other words, it is achieved by helping every person in an organization work together to successfully perform their work without any wasted effort at any time of any day.
Where to from Here?
As a reminder, here is our definition to start this vital dialogue:
“Performance support is intuitive, tailored aid provided to a person at their moment of need to ensure the most effective performance.”
We invite you to consider the ideas presented in this blog and contribute your insights based on your own experience. Together, we can do for performance support what we have too often failed to do in other areas of our profession: clearly define its boundaries. Let’s enable performance support to contribute in its full capacity to this great journey of helping people and organizations succeed in their work.
Read More WLPA Articles