The purpose of Human Performance Improvement is to advance the goals of an organization and the people in it. All too often, organizations create “trainings” that are ineffective and costly. They waste both time and money and fail to get the job done. A good HPI practitioner needs to be cognizant of, and effectively employ, theories of adult learning in the workplace. An effective HPI practitioner understands that human performance improvement takes into account that:

 

• More is not better. The best intervention delivers the right information at the right time, and at the right cost. Interventions need to meet a specific need.

• Organizations and the people in them have immediate goals they need to satisfy, and it is our job to help them get there.

• Learners need to be properly motivated by creating interventions that grab learners’ attention, are relevant, and build competence and confidence.

• Learning should be experiential. We learn best when we are free to play around in a safe environment and see what happens when we make mistakes. Our job as HPI practitioners is to create those safe environments.