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Human Performance

Published June 2008

Vision and Values for the Performance Professional

  Harold D. Stolovitch, Ph.D.

Whether or not your title includes the word "performance," if your work consists of helping organizations achieve results through people, you require a clear vision and set of professional values to direct what you do. These help you avoid pitfalls many workplace situations present. They form a foundation for actions and decision making.

Vision

The performance professional first and foremost must have the opportunity to work. The vision, therefore, should be a simple one aimed at accomplishing this.

Here is one: "To be the professional choice of those seeking to improve human performance that results in the successful achievement of organizational goals." The organization or one of its components seeks a desired level of performance. In your vision statement, you are the professional to whom it immediately turns.

Values

As you read through the following value statements and comments, picture how each might play out for you and your team in a work setting.

• Our clients are professional friends. Performance professionals operate in partnership with clients. Positive relationships create trust and open communication. We don't have to go to the cinema together on Saturday nights. We do have to collaborate for success. The pleasure of working together increases the likelihood of this happening.
• We are fully committed to our clients' best interests. We address their needs with the most cost-effective solutions. When we demonstrate concern for the welfare and success of those we serve, confidence in our recommendations grows. When we demonstrate fiscal prudence, the trust level skyrockets.
• We provide greater value than our cost. Clients almost always fixate on price. Our job is to allay such concerns by demonstrating the high return on investment we offer. The good news is small changes in performance usually result in very high yields.
• We perform our services in partnership with our clients in a nonthreatening manner. By stressing partnership, we share in accountability. We also continuously strive to make our clients shine. Our role is that of supporter, never competitor.
• We apply only the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct in our work. This is what keeps us alive from project to project. There is no compromise here. There are too many opportunities to get sucked into the politics and belief systems of others. Our protection is our ethics and irreproachable conduct.
• Our professional practice is based on science and trustworthy evidence. We draw from empirically demonstrated findings and credibly derived data to make decisions. Chasing fads and unproven enthusiasms is a sure way to lose credibility.
• Our aim is to build maximum client self-sufficiency, not consultant dependency. No matter how tempting it is to create a never-ending relationship, we gain far more when those who no longer require our services enthusiastically recommend us to others. They are our best form of advertising.
• We accept responsibility. We allow ourselves to receive congratulations for our successes because we are prepared to live with the consequences of our failures. This requires no additional comment. It expresses responsibility and self-assurance.
• We welcome challenges that allow us to stretch and expand our competencies. Through our courage to undertake new ventures that naturally extend our professional repertoire, we continuously improve our ability to help our clients. Our growth is one of mutual benefit.
• We treat commitments, promises and professional relationships as sacred trusts. This final statement speaks to integrity. Once lost, it can never be regained. Integrity is the mark of the true professional.

We are what we do? We are judged by our actions. Whether you adhere to the vision and values presented above or to others that encompass competence, honesty, caring and sound conduct, your work as a performance professional is strengthened. The result is success for you and the organizations you serve.

     

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