THE PERFORMANCE EQUATION · PRACTICAL GUIDES
Help people turn new awareness into confident, repeated application at work.
A good course gives people a clearer understanding of what better looks like and opportunities to practise. Back at work, applying that thinking can be harder. Operational pressures return, time disappears and familiar habits take over.
Asking someone to “use what you’ve learned” rarely creates the conditions they need. Managers have a practical role in helping the learning take root.
Agree one improvement worth working on
Before the participant returns to work, agree a manageable improvement with them and their line manager. A simple charter should describe the problem, the current position, the intended benefit, the scope and the people whose support is needed.
Add a short plan with practical steps, time to do the work and review dates. This shared agreement helps when priorities compete. It also makes the improvement visible to colleagues.
Use the review to help the work move forward
A short weekly conversation should check progress and remove barriers. Ask what the person has tried, what the evidence shows and what they have learned. Check whether they have had the time, access and coaching agreed in the plan.
If progress has stalled, establish why. The next useful step may be coaching, a decision, help involving another team or simply protecting the time already promised.
Build repeated practice into the working week
One successful application is encouraging. Repeated small experiments, with feedback and support, help people refine their judgement and gain confidence applying the thinking again.
Leaders set the tone. Explore experiments that do not work rather than encouraging people to hide the problem. Keep the charter, results and lessons in a shared catalogue so the organisation can build on what it has learned.
Start with one person this week. Agree their next improvement, the support they need and the date of the first review. Attendance alone does not tell you whether anything has changed.
James Purse · Project7
People + Process = Performance