Workplace Performance Blog

Putting the NEED in Needs Assessment

By christensenbd | February 25, 2019

If you can’t describe the problem or opportunity in terms of a gap in results, it’s a want, not a need and you should proceed directly to the stop sign, take a breath and give your problem a second look.

Opportunities vs. Good Ideas

By christensenbd | February 12, 2019

An opportunity will increase the value of your organizational outcomes by improving results at one or more of the three levels. A good idea on the other hand will make work, expend resources and possibly look productive in the short term, without contributing real value at any level.

Get to Know Your Customer Day

By christensenbd | January 17, 2019

Make it a point to get to know a little more about your customers and make each of them feel like they are your most important customer of the day.

A Better World: Are you Adding or Subtracting?

By christensenbd | September 18, 2018

In all my adult years I have worked for some great adders and some real big subtractors. In retrospect, I am pretty sure I have been on both sides of the equation at different times in my life. I am also pretty sure that at the end of the day, my balance sheet will be in “the black” and overall I will have added more than I subtracted.

Networking Power

By christensenbd | April 11, 2018

Social media is under fire right now and this article in NOT about THAT! I have always been pretty open in the digisphere (buzzword bingo!) because I believe the benefits far outweigh the risks. A couple days ago, I experienced some great examples of why. I was in Seattle for the International Society of Performance…

Turning Brick into Paper: An Example

By christensenbd | April 3, 2018

We were “asked” if we could increase the throughput of the Navy’s sonar school by about 35% for the next two to three years. Enter the “five no’s method” for honing your fortitude. This is how we turned a lot of no’s into YES!!

Just gimme training…

By christensenbd | March 21, 2018

Author’s note: The names have been changed, faces blurred and voices altered to protect the innocent in this post.  It’s a story I have heard many times. The boss wants training, the Instructional designer – performance technologist – analyst KNOWS that training isn’t going to fix the problem but is told to “gimme the training.”…

Accommodating Disabilities

By christensenbd | February 28, 2018

The requirement to accommodate appears to be directed at employers. Reading between the lines, that means if I am disabled – I should not disclose my disability until after I have secured employment. There remains a very large gap between when a child with an IEP leaves the education system and the transition to the workforce where they have an opportunity to add value to our shared society.

Just because it says performance doesn’t mean it’s there (sadly)

By christensenbd | February 14, 2018

As a professional in the field of performance and learning, it is important for me to continually learn and to give back. To do that – in part – I have been a long time member of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) and the Institute for Performance and Learning (I4PL) – previously the…

Task Analysis or “How DO you do that?”

By christensenbd | January 12, 2018

Getting to the bottom of all the skills knowledge and other attributes to complete a task is a skill in itself. Here’s a video that shows how to do it.