Imagine your best possible organization: a place where people strive for continuous improvement, communicate clearly and honestly, freely share information, respect their colleagues and leaders, make a difference -- and achieve truly extraordinary levels of performance, even in tough times. Using this book’s powerful Work/Life Approach, you can build that organization. World-renowned performance consultants Dr. Gene Fusch and Richard Gillespie offer a step-by-step blueprint for developing a true performance culture, where people bring a relentless focus and selfless collaboration to bear on the organization’s most fundamental goals. A Practical Approach to Performance Interventions and Analysis walks through every step of the process: analyzing business problems, identifying performance gaps, selecting the best interventions, measuring results, and more. You’ll learn how to integrate your organization’s goals with the beliefs and needs of your people; foster unity without conformity, and diversity without division; how to overcome the fear and distrust that makes organizations dysfunctional; and how to build an organization where everyone really takes ownership of their “fraction of the action.” Along the way, they present 50 dynamic models that tightly connect theory to real-world business practice, are ROI-driven, are fully measurable, and can be utilized by all leaders and practitioners in HR, organizational development, and training. With their guidance, you can choose and execute the performance initiatives that deliver the greatest positive impact on culture, business metrics, and the lives of all your people.

Table of Contents:
Preface     xiv Chapter 1 Creating a Living Endowment for Ensuring Performance     1 Organizational Performance     4 Performance Analysis     6 Gap/Cause Analysis     11 Intervention Strategy     15 Design an Evaluation Plan to Measure End Results and Your Return on Investment     20 Design, Develop, and Deploy the Intervention     24 Measure End Results and Calculate Return on Investment     25 Conduct a Performance Analysis     25 Summary     26 Chapter 2 Starting with the Desired End Results     29 Principles of the Work/Life Approach     31 Organizational Bill of Rights     32 Understanding and Clarifying What People Were Hired to Do     33 Understanding and Clarifying the Expected End Results of People’s Work     34 Understanding and Clarifying How the Expected Results Are Measured     34 Understanding and Clarifying the Needed Knowledge, Experience, and Skills to Perform Well on the Job     35 Understanding and Clarifying the Resources Needed: Financial, Physical, and Time     37 Understanding and Clarifying to Provide and Receive Regular Feedback     37 Understanding and Clarifying What Is Required to Be Paid for Performance     41 The Celestial Approach to Managing     43 Communication and the Flow of Work     44 Additional Thoughts to Help You Realize Your Desired End Results     45 Batting Averages     46 Tell and Persuade     46 Focus on the Work     50 Summary     50 Chapter 3 Focusing on the Work     53 Organizational Mission     53 Vision     54 Acquiring Wealth     56 Stakeholders     56 Values     57 Growth     59 Social Responsibility     59 Longevity     60 Our People     60 Mission Statement     61 Focus on the Work     61 Summary     65 Chapter 4 Increasing the Flow of Useful Information     67 Sharing Ideas     67 Useful Information     69 Levels of Information     71 Shelf Life of Useful Information     72 Communicating Useful Information     73 Respectful Communication     75 Summary     76 Chapter 5 Getting Others to Own Their “Fraction of the Action”     77 Sapiential Authority     77 Understanding, Acceptance, and Support (UAS)     83 Understanding     83 Acceptance     86 Support     86 Arc of Distortion     88 Summary     90 Chapter 6 Valuing Behavior: Increasing Trust and the Bottom Line     93 Valuing Behavior     96 Stress Reduction     100 Validations     102 The Whole Person Model     105 Summary     106 Chapter 7 Owning the Present Condition Helps Define the Future Condition    109 Managing System Overview     110 Strategic Arena     110 Planning     111 Organizing     112 Directing     112 Leading     113 Controlling     113 Iterative     114 Operational Arena     114 Quality Management     115 Mosaic     118 Summary     121 Chapter 8 Fifty Years of Problem Solving: A Magnificent Obsession     123 Prioritizing and Time Management     124 The Basics of Solving Problems and Making Decisions     129 Problem Solving: Analyzing the Situation, Expectations, and Actions     131 Decision Making     133 Summary     135 Chapter 9 Why Play the Blame Game?     137 Self Assessment and Analyzing the Situation     138 Summary     144 Chapter 10 Fostering Change to Enhance End Results     147 Change Management     148 Resistance to Change     150 Memories     153 Habits     154 Labeling     156 Beliefs     157 Vision     157 Summary      160 Appendix A Measuring End Results: The Return-on-Investment Plan     163 Step 1: Collect, Evaluate, and Isolate Data on the Effects of the Intervention     167 Participants’ Post-Initiative Questionnaires     171 Step 2: Convert the Effects of Performance Intervention into a Monetary Value     175 Direct Observation     175 Interviews with Participants, Coworkers, and Supervisors     176 Interviews with Participants’ Customers, Vendors, and Supply Chain as Appropriate     177 Focus Groups Can Add to the Synergy of a Group’s Output     177 Measuring a Change in Production     177 Reduction in Customer Complaints, Customer Callbacks, and so on as Applicable     178 Reduction in the Amount of Time Needed to Perform a Task     179 Reduction in Scrap/Waste     179 Step 3: Calculate the Total Cost of a Performance Intervention     180 Step 4: Calculate the Net Benefit of a Performance Intervention     184 Step 5: Calculate the ROI     184 Summary     185 Appendix B The Authors and Their Perspectives     187 About the Authors     188 Gene E. Fusch, PhD     188 Richard C. Gillespie     189 References     191 Index    195