Six Boxes Performance Thinking http://www.sixboxes.com/ Welcome to the Six Boxes RSS feed. Sat, 4 Feb 2012 07:01:27 PST en-us <![CDATA[ Fruitful Work ]]> In the midst of the recent drama in Chile, in which 33 miners were successfully rescued, many radio and television commentators described the back story, in which international efforts were marshaled to keep the men as healthy and sane as possible during their extended ordeal in the dark cold depths of the earth.

One of the more interesting aspects of this effort involved experts from NASA who had studied and planned for the prospect of astronauts being stranded in space for long periods in confined uncomfortable spaces with few resources and the prospect of imminent death.  Many psychological and medical procedures and guidelines from NASA turned out to be directly relevant to the plight of the miners, including how to keep them from health-threatening depression, potential conflict, and psychological devastation.

One of the general principles cited was the need for constant "fruitful work." The idea was to keep them busy with activity that has obvious purpose, short-term impact  and obvious connection to the ultimate goal of survival and rescue.  What a wonderful phrase this is!  It describes exactly Gilbert's great insight that, in what he called the "world of work", we care about behavior that produces accomplishments (work outputs) that are valuable because they contribute to business results.  We have always stressed the importance of focusing on work outputs, because they help us technically to identify the behavior that is actually needed to produce them. And we emphasize that the value of the work outputs are determined by their links or contribution to business results.  

This is exactly what is meant by "fruitful work." And in addition to the business advantage of focusing on work that produces valuable outputs, it is also psychologically advantageous for humans to be able to see the fruits of their work, and understand clearly how those fruits contribute to some longer-term outcome or result.

So, just as with astronauts and miners, we want all performers to be engaged in fruitful work, both for the sake of the enterprise of which they are a part, and for their own sake, to be able to stay engaged, feel positive, and be rewarded for day-to-day and hour-to-hour activity, some of which might otherwise seem pointless if the connection to an ultimate goal is not obvious to the performer. ]]> <![CDATA[ Webinar Recording: Break Out of the Training Box with The Six Boxes Approach ]]> Break Out of the Training Box is intended to emphasize the value of the Six Boxes Approach for moving from learning-only to performance, and from being held in place by our clients and stakeholders to being able to engage in productive discussions with them about non-training factors that influence performance. You can still listen here .
]]> <![CDATA[ Six Boxes & Six Sigma in Korea ]]> I had the great pleasure of working with a team of serious, but fun, senior HR professionals at GS Caltex -- the Korean joint venture with Chevron --  for 2.5 days at the Company's beautiful training center in the mountains on a man-made lake, in Chung Pyung.  We used Six Boxes Performance Thinking to address both both cultural and operational applications, with a constant awareness of the interrelations between those two parts of any organization. Led by Jae Young Lee, Executive Vice President, the group included experienced Six Sigma practitioners and black belts with diverse backgrounds in engineering, finance, human resources, training, leadership, and technology management, among other areas of expertise.

]]> <![CDATA[ An Approach Vs. A Methodology ]]> Why do we call our way of helping to improve human performance and results in organizations an "approach?"  Isn't it a methodology, or a tool kit, or a model, or...?  Let me see if I can explain.

The name Six Boxes was given to our model of behavior influences by a long-time client, Tom Hogan, at Dun and Bradstreet in the early 1990's. We'd been using our plain English categorization of the factors that influence human behavior, a descendent of Tom Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model, for years, and it communicated very, very well. People immediately "got" the language in the cells in our model, without the confusion and puzzlement that we often encountered when we showed them Gilbert's language.  And they were able to apply it in useful ways right off the bat. Beyond that, of course, there was a lot of depth, but the big thing is that it allowed us to get individuals and teams in organizations on the path of systematic, research-based performance improvement very rapidly.  

We felt that we had discovered an important way to continue the work that Gilbert began, but with the possibility of quicker and wider adoption, communication and understanding. Our friend and client, Tom Hogan, a long-time sales and marketing executive, said, "You're always talking about those boxes (in the model). Why don't you just call it the Six Boxes?"  We began to use those words to describe our new and evolving model of behavior influence, and it stuck.

Realizing the power of plain language, we then adopted the Performance Chain as a graphic, meant to teach the elements or "anatomy" of human performance in a way that people -- especially business people -- could immediately understand and relate to. The Performance Chain gave us a way to teach performance analysis -- how to break down, understand and then work to improve performance.  We used the Performance Chain to communicate how important it is to understand the elements of performance before applying the Six Boxes Model to help establish or improve it.

From that, we went on to generating a simple 7-step "logic" that captures how we think about performance, break it down, measure it, and then work to optimize behavior influences using the Six Boxes Model.  We called this the Performance Improvement Logic.

After a few years of this development, it become obvious that we had a unique communication tool kit that could be used to work with stakeholders AND with our colleagues, other performance professionals.  We began to build tools and applications for many different types of people - from leaders to individual contributors, with performance professionals and managers in between.  And then, when we began to understand the potential for teaching both performance specialists and non-specialist organizational citizens how to think and work this way to improve performance, we saw that we could spread "performance thinking" based on these elements to build performance-based organizational culture.

So what should we call the whole thing?  That was our puzzle about 5 years ago.  We don't want to scare people off with the word "methodology" -- and it's not the typical system that includes 50 job aids and complicated graphics, anyway.  It's a flexible way of approaching performance that can be as simple as an informal problem-solving framework for managers and as complicated as you want to make it for big projects and strategic initiatives. We teach people to adapt the elements with appropriate tools to a wide range of "applications." We have, at last count, only 8 forms or tools, each of which is flexible and applicable in many ways for capturing and understanding information to improve human performance. Pretty simple, but deceptively powerful.

So, in the interest of simplicity, and to suggest that this is a way of "going after" performance, a perspective, a kind of thinking AND a tool set, we settled on the word "approach." We call the whole thing, with its 5 elements and many applications, The Six Boxes® Approach.  At least it's distinctive, but we also think that it communicates the essence pretty well.

]]> <![CDATA[ Performance Improvement as Design Engineering ]]> I continue to come back to a theme that I and Dr. Donald Tosti addressed in a session at the 2009 annual conference of ISPI, the difference between a problem-solving orientation to performance improvement and what we called a design engineering approach. Don has been an informal mentor of mine, and an inspiration for decades, in many different ways. In this instance we found that we are in "violent agreement" and have continued the dialog over time.  Don says that before the quality movement, performance improvement wasn't so focused on finding the cause of problems, but rather it was about getting the best possible performance as efficiently as possible. Today it seems more tilted toward problem-solving.

At The Performance Thinking Network we have a bias for design engineering -- what I often describe as optimization or tuning and balancing of performance systems.  The Performance Chain and the Six Boxes Model are very helpful in this way because they lay out visually and conceptually the elements that need to be tuned and balanced.

First, we try to be sure we're focusing on valuable work outputs (what Tom Gilbert called accomplishments), to identify the ones that are not being produced or could be produced better.  We judge them as valuable to the extent that they contribute to business results.  Our initial focus on outputs, rather than on behavior or skills and knowledge, helps us zero in pretty quickly on the really important targets.

Then, when we figure out what people need to DO to produce the desired work outputs (that is, when we identify required behavior), we try to be sure that all the categories represented by the Six Boxes Model are optimized for impact, synergy, and cost-effectiveness.  There are almost always ways to strengthen how expectations are set and feedback is provided.  Often there are factors in box 2 -- tools and resources -- that can be improved, with processes, job redesigns, performance support, access to coaches, and so on.  And there is virtually never a case where we can't do a better job with personal delivery of recognition by managers and supervisors, and even by peers, for excellent performance -- box 3 -- and aligning consequences with expectations.   If we do all these things well, then if there are needed skills and knowledge (box 4), we can generally provide them in a cost-effective way as long as we avoid knee-jerk training. And so on.

This is how we approach performance:  If there is performance of value (defined by its valuable work outputs), then we do our best to be sure all cylinders are hitting, all six boxes are working to optimize the behavior needed to produce the outputs.

The contrasting approach is what I see over and over again in client organizations and among some of our most sophisticated colleagues, a big focus on finding the "problem" and identifying the "root cause" and then  fixing it.  But as anyone can see who has stood back and taken a look at performance through a systems-thinking lens such as The Six Boxes Model, there are almost ALWAYS multiple opportunities for improvement, not just one hole in the dike needing to be plugged.  If we  were just trying to resuscitate broken systems rather than optimizing and improving, we'd be working awfully hard for marginal results. The goal is to maximize ROI for our investments in people, and just plugging holes will seldom accomplish that.

I don't have anything against root cause analysis when we're trying to improve defects in quality processes, or when something is just plain broken. But in many cases, an awful lot of paper and hours of interviews and investigation go to waste, in my opinion, when the opportunities for improvement are quite clear if we just look at the variables needed to optimize human performance. We know we need to have operative elements in all six boxes of the model. Our approach, which we think is often quicker and more direct, is simply to do what we can cost-effectively to improve those factors -- those behavior influences -- to optimize, tune, and balance the overall system.

Any thoughts?

Carl Binder, CPT

]]> <![CDATA[ New Six Boxes LinkedIn Group - Join Us! ]]> Here's the link to sign up. We hope to meet you there. ]]> <![CDATA[ Why You Deserve a Seat at the Table ]]> Having just read yet another discussion group thread about HR/HRD having a "seat at the table" with senior management in organizations, I thought I'd take a minute to share our way of making this happen.

One of the things we've noticed over the years is that some of our colleagues make every effort to "sound like" business people by using financial and "strategic" language, and generally trying to talk in the same terms as executives and managers. While this is certainly not a bad idea if it is well-informed, we also see a fair amount of eye-rolling on the part of the line business people who see performance professionals as inauthentic or "fake" business people. What, they say, do we really have to offer?

Our view, as you might expect, is that we know how to connect the behavior of people to business results. If you give us a strategic plan, we can show you how to boil it down to the things that people and teams will need to produce (what we call "work outputs") in order to accomplish business goals. Then we can help you turn business objectives into programs and tactics that can be executed through people. We use the Performance Chain to do this because it drives us to identify the "missing links" between behavior and business results -- the work outputs.

Once we've worked with business people to pinpoint those outputs -- which can include concrete deliverables, key decisions, important relationships, new processes, and many other possible products of employees' behavior -- then we can work with you to identify the activities (behavior) needed to produce those valuable outputs, who needs to take action, and how we will enable employees to perform as cost-effectively as possible. We use the Six Boxes Model to brainstorm and plan for all the factors needed to optimally drive and support required employee behavior.

Our goal is to empower you to identify the most cost-effective combination of factors for enabling employee behavior so that the cost of producing the needed behavior is far less than the value of the work outputs produced. That is a practical, down-and-dirty way to optimize return on the investments made in people.

What I've just described does not involve so much "pretending to be business people" as it is a matter of specialized expertise that can be helpful to business people. We add value by turning business goals into human performance and then helping our colleagues and internal clients figure out the most efficient ways to sustain that performance. That's how you get a seat at the table.

]]> <![CDATA[ What We Learned at Summer Camp ]]> Well, actually, it was the Six Boxes Summer Institute, held two weeks ago at Islandwood, a sustainable education center on several hundred acres of forest a few miles from our offices on Bainbridge Island near Seattle.

We learned a lot of things, but one of them is that we will definitely do this again. And we might add some other events to our annual calendar as a result, too. Here's what one participant wrote:

"Six Boxes Camp has been added to my 'short list' of extraordinary life experiences.
I expect like the others, it will have a major impact on my future. Thank you."

Now let me share some of what we learned.

People Like Good Food

Of course we knew this already.  Not having held events at Islandwood before, we did not know how hard the staff there work to create really delicious yet healthy and natural meals.  It turns out that Islandwood had commissioned the head chef at Canlis, Seattle's oldest premier restaurant, to create a menu of natural foods that even kids would enjoy.  Every meal was superb.  Comprised of natural ingredients from the Pacific Northwest, prepared with care, the breakfasts, main dishes, snacks, and desserts just kept getting better. One of the most frequent comments from people was how much they enjoyed the food.

We'll Break the Management Development Program Demo Into 2 Days

We normally deliver the Six Boxes Management Development Program  in two half-day segments, separated by a day or two so that the managers who participate can do some homework defining the performance of their direct reports and think about what they'd like to develop or improve.  Because we were doing a demo at the Summer Institute, we decided to do the first day's workshop in the morning and the second session in the afternoon of the same day.  

The result was that we were not able to engage participants in the second session's activities of drafting development plans for individuals or teams. This made the workshop more 'about' than 'how to' and while we received positive feedback, we know it would have been more impactful if we'd given people time to do real work in between sessions.  VPs, Directors, and Managers who complete this program are most engaged in creation of down-to-earth, practical development plans for their people, and we want even our demo participants to experience the usefulness and insights that come from that experience.  Next time we do this, we'll figure out a way to schedule the two sessions with at least a day in between, and allow for some individual or small group homework to occur.

Outside Speakers and Facilitators are Great

This year we invited Irada Sadykhova of Microsoft for a "fireside chat" on the evening of the first day.  As usual, Irada was insightful and engaging, and there was lots of discussion about her remarks throughout the rest of the week.  Marilyn Gilbert's appearance on the first day was also a happy occasion, and many of our participants got to meet this pioneer in performance improvement, wife of the late Thomas F. Gilbert, for the first time.  At the end of the second day, we had a visit via the internet from Julie Capsambelis, OD Specialist at Syniverse Technologies, who has rolled out the Six Boxes Management Development program globally across her company. It was great to hear her description of the implementation and its impact, and her responses to our questions, after a day of going through the workshop ourselves.

Next time we'll be sure to continue, and maybe expand contributions from others. We're trying to create a community of users in The Performance Thinking Network, and as more and more people have experience with and contribute to our learning about The Six Boxes Approach, we hope to include more of them in our Institutes and other programs.

Hard Work Can Be a Lot of Fun

The hardy group of participants, affectionately referred to as the Certification Accelerators, who stayed for the last two days to dive more deeply into The Six Boxes Approach, practice using the tools, and better prepare to complete certification portfolios on their way to Six Boxes Certification, worked very hard those last two days. We were in constant discussion, pairs exercises, interviewing each other, sharing and providing each other feedback, and having new insights. Cynthia and I learned a lot.  We also had some great nature walks, a campfire discussion, and fantastic meals. It was fun!  

We're pretty confident that in a place like Islandwood, if we involve passionate learners interested in going further with The Six Boxes Approach, that we can replicate and expand this intense learning experience. We learned details about what works and what doesn't that will help us improve it next time.

We'll Offer Certification Accelerator Programs More Often

There were a bunch of people who could not fit the Institute into their schedules this year, but who expressed an interest in attending.  I even suspect that some of those who participated in the Certification Accelerator Program this year might come again, since there is so much to learn from each other, and this is a great way to accelerate one's own development.

In any case, for the benefit of others who would like a jump-up in their ability to use the models, tools, and language of The Six Boxes Approach, we're going to find a way to offer these Accelerator Programs more often, separate from the Institute, and perhaps even within companies where a handful of people want to move to the next level or become certified.

"The Six Boxes "summer camp" was a GREAT experience -- the content, the facilities, the food and the people! And I left with a better understanding of how to use Performance Thinking for a variety of applications."

If you're interested in attending another Six Boxes Institute, encourage us to do it again soon....


]]> <![CDATA[ Six Boxes Accelerators ]]> After the larger group of participants in our Six Boxes Institute departed, we spent an intense and fun two days with the small group whom we fondly refer to as our Six Boxes Accelerators – those who chose to dive more deeply into the tools and their applications on the path toward certification.

We spent the time practicing with Six Boxes tools, exploring how they fit together for particular types of applications, completing and editing them for various real and imagined performance analyses, talking about the Performance Chain  and the Six Boxes Model, working inside and outdoors, taking walks and sharing the delicious food at Islandwood, the lovely sustainable living education center in the woods that served as our venue.

As you can see from the pictures, the Performance Thinking Network is a very human endeavor, dependent not only on its technical elements, simple models, and plain English language, but also on the people who use them to understand, communicate about, and work to improve performance in organizations.  Everyone at the Institute, especially the facilitators, learned a lot. We had a heck of a good time, and the weather turned out beautiful.

From the two-day Certification Accelerator Program we learned that this is a much better way to get people up to speed for practical certification projects than what we had done before. With improvements based on what we learned, we expect to be offering this type of program more often in the future, both as part of what could become bi-annual Institutes and perhaps more frequently, for Six Boxes users wishing to focus on becoming more proficient and confident in Performance Thinking.

]]> <![CDATA[ 192 Steps* to Great Management ]]> Resource > Day2Campfire.jpg by:Day 2 of the Six Boxes Summer Institute was a demonstration of Managing and Leading with The Six Boxes® Approach, our newest program for developing “people managers” in organizations who can connect the day-to-day activities of their people to business results.  Normally broken into two half days with on-the-job homework in between, we  did a “run through” to demonstrate the lean, flexible program for enabling managers to actively develop their people.  We finished the program with 45 minutes of presentation and discussion among participants with Julie Capsambelis, Organizational Development Specialists at Syniverse Technologies, who has spearheaded implementation of the program at her company, garnering strong support from the CEO on down and integrating training with coaching and accountability in the Company’s performance management system to take management practices and processes to a new level.


Resource > Day2Working.jpg by:In the evening, with a flavor of “Six Boxes Camp” we had a discussion around the outdoor fire pit about implementation challenges and opportunities, paths for introducing improved management practices into organizations, and a shared vision for future development of the Performance Thinking Network. Program participants voiced their requests for various types of technical and implementation support, and together we envisioned the Network as a collection of colleagues available to communicate with and learn from one another.

This second day ended with hugs among participants who had met only two days ago, exchanged contact information and farewells to all but the hardy few staying for the Certification Accelerator Program of intense practice and coaching that will help certification candidates ramp up for projects and coaching that they will complete over the coming months on the path to Six Boxes Certification.

I have to say, this is just about the most fun I’ve had in years of professional meetings, and among the best food, as well. 

 * All (well, most of) the participants climbed 192 steps up the tower to a very precarious perch above the canopy for a view out to Puget Sound and Mt. Ranier.

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