Often, when organisations are faced with "people problems," the initial response is to bring in training to "fix" the people. When the performance does not improve after the training intervention, the blame is placed on the training department. Who is to blame? Was the right key placed in the right lock?
"Learning and development simply cannot exist in a vacuum anymore. Often a particular performance problem cannot be fixed by training alone," says Ricky Robinson, MD of Learning Resources. Because of this common business problem, Learning Resources has formed a new business unit, High Performance Consulting (HPC), which focuses on providing organisations with a set of "keys" for some of the "locks" that challenge them in today`s environment. The unit`s mission is to improve business performance through human performance. "We assist companies to build their human capital by creating solutions that link strategic business issues to performance and development. We combine job business context models, leadership profiling, job profiling, competency matrices, performance management tools, e-learning, interactive simulations, coaching and mentoring, assessment and evaluation tools into an integrated system for continuous performance improvement," says Robinson.
Specifically, some of the practical issues that the new company addresses are the following:
identifying strategies and recommendations directly linked to organisational and business goals;
contracting with leadership to take the actions needed to support improved and/or different performance, including organisation development and human resource development;
working in a consultative manner to become a valued business partner;
transitioning a focus on training to a focus on performance improvement.
Well-tested products and tools support the HPC consulting interventions. One of the most powerful tools used to leverage management performance is a product from Harvard Business School, Harvard Manage/Mentor. Manage/Mentor is an Intranet based, just-in-time performance support tool designed for today`s lightening fast business environment. It is a practical, hands-on tool that addresses the key challenges that managers face every day by allowing them to access topical and actionable information.
"We see our relationship as sole distributors of Harvard`s products as critical to delivering a world class Performance Consulting solution," says Robinson, who has just returned from a convention of Harvard partners in Boston. "World-wide, companies are implementing Manage/Mentor on their Intranets to deliver a state of the art management performance support tool and it`s working."
"IBM Management Development incorporated Harvard Manage/Mentor`s modules into its popular online QuikViews site, an Intranet performance support tool available globally to 307 000 IBM employees" IBM
Learning Resources` HPC division is already applying the Performance Consulting model to two of their large learning outsource clients, Automobile Association and Sun City. "If ever our clients blame training for poor performance, we have failed by having the wrong key cut," says Ricky Robinson.
Learning Resources was formed in May 1997 as a response to the skills requirements in business. The company has built a reputation for being a leading supplier of specialist services and products that leverage technology and resources to provide cost-effective learning solutions to businesses in South Africa.
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