Six Barriers to Performance that Learning Does Not Address
It is important for those of us who work in learning and development areas to be mindful that for any given situation, learning alone may not be an appropriate solution. But how do we make that determination? We have to look for root causes. If the root cause for a gap in performance is NOT a gap in skill or knowledge then learning will not address that gap.
We sometimes use the simple analogy of an airplane. You could give me a fully functional airplane and an open runway, and I still couldn't get it off the ground. There is a clear skill and knowledge gap that keeps me out of the clouds. But, you could give an ace pilot a plane with no fuel in the tanks and end up with the same result. For the ace pilot, there is not skill or knowledge barrier - instead there is a barrier in the system in which the pilot works. In this case, the plane is improperly equipped.
Six Barriers or Root Causes for Performance Gaps
When we look at the system or environment in which people work, we find six categories of root cause - all of which can prevent successful performance and none of which can be directly addressed by learning interventions. Those categories are described below.
Clarity of Roles and Expectations
People cannot perform successfully if they don't understand what is expected of them. If they're not sure what their role is, how can they measure their own success? Consider our airplane example again, but this time add a co-pilot. If the pilot and co-pilot are not clear about their roles - each will likely hinder the other's performance. It's important to know who's flying the plane!
Coaching and Reinforcement
The number one reason that skills, developed through learning interventions, do not transfer to improvement in on-the-job performance is lack of coaching and reinforcement. The importance of coaching is highlighted in ATD's recently released report on, "Organizational Performance Improvement," in which 60% of respondents identified coaching as the most effective solution for improving performance (ATD Research, 2018).
Incentives
People must feel fairly compensated for the work they perform. But, incentives go beyond just financial rewards. Intangible incentives, such as opportunities to work on interesting, meaningful projects are also needed to support performance.
Work Systems and Processes
Rummler and Brache, in their 1995 book Improving Performance noted, "If you pit a good employee against a bad system, the system will win almost every time." Systems and processes must align with the way we want people to work or they become a barrier to performance. Consider our ace pilot again. He may be responsible for taking off at a specific time (he's probably also skilled enough and well incented to make this happen). But, if the system in which he works fails to provide a plane that is well maintained, fueled, and loaded before when it's time to take off - then the pilot cannot perform as expected.
Access to Information, People, Tools, and Job Aids
Today's work environments are becoming more and more complex. People are expected to resolved complicated problems with little guidance. Because of this, access to appropriate information and tools is increasingly important. Stress is on the word appropriate here - some people feel awash in information, people, and tools - but they need to have the right resources at the right time if they are to perform successfully.
Supportive Culture
In evaluating learning programs over the years, I've interviewed program participants after they've started trying to apply new skills on-the-job. A story I've heard frequently, across a number of industries, is that someone approached a participant soon after the program and said something like, "I don't know what they told you at in that training; but, that's not how we do things around here." This is clear evidence of a lack of a supportive culture! If we ask people to perform in ways counter to the prevailing culture in an organization, they are unlikely to be successful.
Removing Barriers
We call these six factors, "organizational capability needs," - in other words things we need the organization or system to provide if performance is to occur. Notice they are factors and therefore neutral. If these factors are in place and well executed, they can promote performance. If they are absent or poorly executed, they become barriers to performance.
When any of these six barriers are present, learning interventions can do little to directly resolve them. Removing some of these barriers will require partnerships with organizational areas outside of our talent development comfort zones. Also, for a given situation, multiple barriers may exist and multiple solutions will be required to address them. So, even when we do implement learning interventions, we should consider what additional barriers might exist and work to remove them. Otherwise, like the plane in our analogy, our efforts to improve performance may not make it off the ground.