Oh, and BTW...

In hindsight, I suppose I should add a couple of things to my Gilbert post earlier today...

First, although this may appear painfully obvious for some, Gilbert's principles are directly applicable to educators, so read his eight step list with the following phrase starting each item: "When I am creating an assignment, I will ..."

Second, my aside about what should not constitute an exemplary performance for an NFL running back screams out for an example of what would. To that question, I would answer a quality pro running back should be gaining an average of at least 3.5 yards per carry (they will have little control over the number of carries, but they should gain at least this amount per carry, since three carries would move the chains for a first down.).

Holding onto the ball should have a separate performance standard, too, and to explain why this should be, I'll be blogging more about my recent thoughts concerning Gilbert's immense contributions to HPT soon.

11:22:25 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this    

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Welcoming the Daring Fireball!

John Gruber is a name some of you MacOS users might recognize. He has left his previous gig, seeking new challenges and a return to the Philly area. Now he's revving up a blog, and has privately dropped some mentions of impending cool toys (drool) that some of us may have interest in.

Hope he gets the RSS feed on that puppy enabled soon... ;-)

2:08:52 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this    

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Of Tom Gilbert and K-logs

A while back, I had offered a challenge for McGee to pass along to his students. He did so, but none of them stepped forward. I was disappointed, but am willing to accept this as an indicator of their intelligence. :-)

So I guess I'll have to do the heavy lifting, and that means all this will dribble out over some time. Bad for my readers who might want to get this in one chunk; Good for me to have more time for reflecting about this.

I'll start off with a direct quote from Tom Gilbert's Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance, p178-9. BTW, if you are interesting in management, Human Performance Technolgy, KM/KS, behavior analysis, or performance improvement, you should get two copies of this book (one to keep clutched tightly in your hands, and one for loaning to others).

Principles of Information Flow

The requirements of an information system sensibly designed to give maximum support to performance are absurdly simple, and they can be summarized in eight steps:

1. Identify the expected accomplishments, mission, responsibilities, and duties.
2. State the requirements of each accomplishment. If there is any doubt that people understand the reason why an accomplishment and its requirements are important, explain this.
3. Describe how performance will be measured and why.
4. Set exemplary standards, preferably in measurement terms.
5. Identify exemplary performers and any available resources that people can use to become exemplary performers. [Gilbert defined (p40) "exemplary performance as the most sustained worthy performance we can reasonably expect to attain." So an outlier achievement (e.g., an NFL running back having back-to-back 1,000+ rushing yards seasons) should not be held up as a standard, since it is unlikely to be sustainable.]
6. Provide frequent and unequivocable feedback about how well each person is performing. This confirmation should be expressed as a comparison with an exemplary standard. Consequences of good and poor performance should also be made clear.
7. Supply as much backup information as needed to help people troubleshoot their own performance and that of the people for whom they are responsible.
8. Relate various aspects of poor performance to specific remedial actions.

These steps are far too simple to be called a "technology," but it may be that their very simplicity helps explain why they are so rarely followed. I suppose that people tend to look for more complex reasons for seemingly complex problems, and therefore more complex solutions.

I believe the following about these principles:

• It is indeed a "technology", just as the socratic method might be considered a technology of learning.
• A k-log could certainly be used to help accomplish some of these steps.
• These are precisely the things a good manager should be doing (and more importantly, has direct control over!), to promote an efficient and effective work environment, whether they use a k-log or not.

1:16:53 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this    

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