Category Archives: Human Performance Improvement

Careers in Human Performance

By:  Kathleen Iverson, Ph.D. Human Performance Technology (a.k.a. Human Performance Improvement) is a field of study and practice that utilizes a systematic process to analyze performance problems and identify and implement solutions.  The name incorporates: Human: the individuals and groups that make up our organizations Performance: activities and measurable outcomes Technology: a systematic and systemic approach to solving practical problems When considering careers

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Healthy Confrontation Helps Everyone Grow

By: Tom Ford We have all been there: sitting in a meeting silently disagreeing with the organizer.  You know from your experience that the proposal on the table will not work, but you choose not to speak up because you are a professional.  However, the meeting ends and your boss tasks you with doing something that will fail.  Worst yet

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Perfectionism: The Soul Eater

Okay, so the title might be just a bit dramatic. But bear with me. This is my last semester in the MATD program here at Roosevelt. I can’t even list everything I’ve learned about instructional design, learning and most of all myself. One of my biggest lessons gained during this program was about the not so pretty side of perfectionism.

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Corporate Heros: Psychological capital and performance improvement

Just as organizations benefit from a healthy stash of financial capital, human performance is enhanced by reserves of psychological capital (PsyCap) that supply the strength and capability to carry on, even in tough times. A spin-off the positive psychology movement (see Positive Psychology: Shifting from what’s wrong to what’s right), PsyCap is defined as an individual’s strength, perceptions, attitudes toward

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Positive Psychology: Shifting from what’s wrong to what’s right

In the field of training and HPI, we often spend a great deal of our time and resources finding out what’s wrong with individuals and organizations, but what if we shifted our assessment to also consider what is right? Two clinical psychologists created a movement when they asked psychologists to shift their view of therapy from pathology to potential. The discipline of

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Two Truths, No Lie: Positive Psychology

Dr. Martin Seligman is a mentor of mine in spirit. His day job however is being the father of Positive Psychology and its’ two supporting theories: the Authentic Happiness Theory (AHT) and the Well Being Theory (WBT). Spoiler alerts: He was brave enough to recant the first I am about to be brave enough to (respectfully!) recall it. Our story starts

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Don’t Fall into the Capability Trap: Does your organization work harder or smarter?

When organizations fall on hard times, as many do in our volatile market, the way they deal with the performance gap typically involves either working harder or working smarter. When organizations take the “work harder” path, they cut staff, increase hours and productivity, and push their constituents to do more with less. If this doesn’t pay off, then wages are

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Gaming Time Management: How to boost your productivity with game-based apps

It’s no surprise that Americans are obsessed with video games.  In just one year, (2013-2014) the time spent gaming has increased by 13%, with the average American over the age of 13 spending over 6 hours per week playing games on all platforms.  Candy Crush Saga is the king of the App Store, ranking as the most downloaded game to

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Person-Organization Fit

By Kathleen Iverson A family friend developed a software program that helps people buy shoes online that fit properly the first time. Based on shoes brands and styles that have been comfortable in the past, it can predict how a new pair of shoes will feel. The company, Shoefitr, was so successful that it was recently bought by Amazon. The

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