Human Performance Improvement Models

🧠 We spend billions on technology, software, and training, yet we are largely ignoring the single most important asset driving our businesses: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻. 💡 For too long, we have treated "Workplace Performance," "Mental Well-being," and "Cognitive Function" as separate silos. We check performance on KPIs, manage well-being with yoga apps, and talk about cognition only when discussing neurodiversity or aging. 📊 The data proves they are fundamentally inseparable. Check out this groundbreaking Unified Model of Brain Health, developed by UsAgainstAlzheimer's’s in collaboration with the Davos Alzheimer's Collaborative and McKinsey Health Institute. 💡The model illustrates exactly how common modifiable risk and protective factors such as stress, sleep, and community engagement are not "soft issues." They are performance drivers that have cascading benefits or crushing weights across both brain health and workplace performance. As leaders, we can no longer ignore this. We can use this model to: ✅ Assess where current policies and practices support or actively hinder brain health. ✅ Identify high-impact opportunities for meaningful interventions (moving beyond surface-level wellness). ✅ Align brain health strategies directly with core business goals. We are no longer just managing the output. If we want resilient, productive, and innovative teams in the Age of AI, we must become stewards of our employees' cognitive and mental well-being. True, exceptional leadership means intentionally supporting the whole human, right down to their biological foundation. ❓Looking at this model, which factor (Stress, Sleep, or Community) do you believe is the biggest invisible barrier to high performance in your organization today? 👇 Dave Ulrich #BrainHealth #MentalHealth

𝐔𝐧𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐉𝐨𝐛 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐉𝐨𝐛 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 What if improving job satisfaction and productivity wasn’t about adding more perks… but about how jobs themselves are designed? The Job Characteristics Model (JCM) by Hackman & Oldham highlights five elements that make work meaningful and motivating:  • Skill Variety – Using different skills keeps work interesting.  • Task Identity – Owning a complete piece of work builds pride.  • Task Significance – Knowing your work impacts others creates purpose.  • Autonomy – Having control drives responsibility.  • Feedback – Getting clear results helps you improve and grow. A recent study in the manufacturing sector found that four of these factors—𝐒𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐕𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐲, 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐤 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤—explained 𝟔𝟖% of the improvement in job satisfaction and productivity combined 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗢𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗼  • Redesign roles to increase variety and ownership of tasks.  • Create clear feedback loops so employees know how they’re performing.  • Connect work to impact by sharing how roles contribute to the bigger picture.  • Involve employees in process improvements to boost autonomy where possible. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜/𝗢 𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝗻 Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology brings evidence-based tools to:  • Conduct job analyses to identify where job characteristics can be strengthened.  • Use surveys and data to measure satisfaction, engagement, and productivity impacts.  • Apply change management principles so job redesign efforts are accepted and successful.  • Develop training & development programs aligned with redesigned job roles. Manufacturing leaders: job design isn’t just an HR concept—it’s a performance strategy. How has job design impacted your team’s satisfaction or output? #WorkplaceEngineer #IOPsychology #TrainingAndDevelopment #LearningThatSticks #ManufacturingExcellence #HumanCenteredDesign

Google nailed it. But where did this philosophy come from? The message is a fundamental shift in how we think about work, productivity, and human performance. 1️⃣ The Intellectual Foundation: Peter Drucker It started with Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives. His insight? “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” Drucker recognized that knowledge work can’t be measured like factory output. 2️⃣ The ROWE Experiment: Best Buy Fast forward to 2005. Cali Ressler and Jody Thompson launch the Results-Only Work Environment at Best Buy headquarters. The results? 35-41% productivity increase. Nearly 90% drop in voluntary turnover. Employees had complete autonomy over when, where, and how they worked, as long as they delivered outcomes. Professor Phyllis Moen’s University of Minnesota research confirmed it: ROWE improved work-life balance, reduced stress, and enhanced performance simultaneously. Though Best Buy discontinued the program in 2013, many teams kept practicing it. 3️⃣ Today’s Revolution: Continuous Performance Business schools are converging on a radical consensus: traditional performance management is broken. Harvard Business Review found only 14% of employees feel motivated by annual reviews—66% say reviews actually lower productivity. Deloitte’s 2025 research shows only 26% of organizations report their managers are effective at current performance practices. MIT Sloan identifies measuring results over attendance as a critical 2025 trend. McKinsey reports that companies focusing on people’s performance are 4.2 times more likely to outperform peers, with 30% higher revenue growth. The OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework, popularized by Google, Netflix, and Intel, is now used by 90% of organizations as a strategic framework. Teams with clearly defined OKR ownership achieve 26% stronger results. 4️⃣ The Knowledge Work Challenge Stanford research reveals a paradox: quantification boosts productivity for simple tasks but demotivates for complex work. This explains why industrial-era metrics fail knowledge workers. Successful organizations focus on goal clarity, autonomy, feedback, learning opportunities, and psychological safety. 5️⃣ The Bottom Line From Drucker to ROWE to today’s hybrid work revolution, one truth endures: hours worked ≠ value created. Organizations embracing outcome-based performance management report higher productivity, lower attrition, and stronger revenue growth. They replace annual reviews with continuous coaching, provide autonomy with accountability, and measure impact. The future of work is about trust. The future of work is about dsta-driven results. How are you focusing on results in your work and with your teams?👇 - j - ♻️➕ John Brewton ✅ Subscribe to Operating by John Brewton, all you need to understand the history, economics and future of companies.

The Cognitive Disabilities Model (CDM) is a framework developed by Claudia Allen that links cognitive ability to functional performance, using 6 hierarchical cognitive levels to describe a person's capacity for information processing & task performance. It is my favorite model to use & teach, due to its utility with regard to predictive validity & alignment with other more comprehensive conceptual models, such as Kielhofner’s Model of Human Occupation (MOHO), Baum & Christiansen’s Person, Environment, Occupation, Performance (PEOP) model , the OTPF-4 & the ICF. Therapists can use the Allen levels to understand patients’ abilities, & design interventions, environments, & activities to match their functional cognition, promoting success & quality of life.. 6 Cognitive Levels: Each level represents a cumulative skill set. Higher levels indicate increasing functional cognition & independence: Level 1: Automatic Actions— Characterized by automatic responses to stimuli. Total care required. Level 2: Postural Actions— Individuals can move & respond to comfort or discomfort cues but remain largely unaware of their actions' effects on the environment. Level 3: Manual Actions— People learn by habituation & use tools but need set up & supervision for daily activities to ensure safety & proper use. Level 4: Goal-Directed Activity— Patients can perform familiar goal-oriented tasks & scan the environment. All new learning must be taught 1:1. At Allen level 4.6, a person can be left unsupervised for 24 hours. Level 5: Exploratory Actions— People can learn by trial & error, follow written instructions, & drive. They inconsistently understand the impact of their actions but have difficulties planning & reasoning. Level 6: Planned Actions— Represents the highest level of cognitive function. Individuals are fully capable of planning, anticipating, & carrying out tasks independently. How the CDM is Used: Assessment: The Allen Cognitive Level Screen (ACLS) can be used as quick screen to assess a person's sensorimotor skills by observing their ability to perform leather lacing stitches. Other CDM-based assessment tools include the Allen Diagnostic Module, the Routine Task Inventory, & the Cognitive Performance Test, all of which yield Allen performance levels & modes as scores. Intervention: Therapists use assessment results to design appropriate activities, modify the environment, & establish routines to support an individual's best ability to function. Goal-Setting: Healthcare professionals use CDM tools via observation to assess functional cognition & ability to perform tasks, helping to determine a specific cognitive level for tailored care, fostering engagement & success. Support: The model helps to reduce stress & burnout for caregivers by providing a clear framework for understanding & supporting people with cognitive disabilities, enhancing their overall quality of life. Attached is a case study I created to illustrate CDM reasoning.

Most teams struggle to improve performance and culture. Why? Because they ignore how human brains actually work. Here's the truth about driving team excellence. The best lever isn't to keep on telling people to behave differently vs. what they are used to. It is to create the *conditions* that get people to naturally change their behaviors. 4 science-backed frameworks to make this happen: 1. The SCARF Model (h/t David Rock) Your team needs to feel: • Safe (status) • Clear on next steps (certainty) • In control (autonomy) • Connected (relatedness) • Treated fairly (fairness) 2. Nudge Theory (h/t Thaler & Sunstein) Make excellence the obvious choice: • Call attention to excellence • Make excellence the default • Make excellence easy to remember • Make excellence easy to perform • Make excellence fulfilling • Reward excellence 3. Fogg Behavior Model (h/t BJ Fogg) Behavior = Motivation + Ability + Prompt Make it: • Super simple • Instantly rewarding • Perfectly timed 4. The Progress Principle (h/t Amabile & Kramer) Small wins fuel big momentum: • Celebrate quick victories • Address setbacks fast • Build positive feedback loops Great teams are about building systems that make excellence the natural outcome. Want sustainable high performance? Start engineering your environment. Because when you work with human nature, not against it... 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲. ♻️ Find this valuable? Repost to help others. Follow Vince Jeong for posts on leadership, learning, and systems thinking. 📌 Want free PDFs of this and my top cheat sheets? You can find them here: https://lnkd.in/g2t-cU8P Hi 👋 I'm Vince, CEO of Sparkwise. We help teams rapidly build skills like this together with live group learning, available on demand. Check out our topic library: https://lnkd.in/gKbXp_Av

The “P” in the STAMP equals PERFORMANCE. How do organizations reach it? C-H-E-C-K Model — Overview Enabling Operational Excellence The C-H-E-C-K model describes how leaders create the conditions for operational excellence by focusing on the human side of improvement. While organizations use many improvement methods—such as Lean, Agile, or Continuous Improvement—the CHECK model emphasizes the leadership behaviors that turn ideas into sustained performance. Operational excellence is not achieved through tools alone. It occurs when leaders recognize people, reinforce standards, build capability, empower responsibility, and maintain focus on mission priorities. CHECK provides a simple framework for doing exactly that. C — Catch People Doing Things Right Recognize and reinforce positive behaviors and ideas. Recognition builds confidence, engagement, and motivation, encouraging employees to contribute improvement ideas. H — Honor Standards Standards create stability and a baseline for improvement. When processes are clear and consistent, employees can innovate and refine work more effectively. E — Educate for Advancement Continuous learning fuels improvement. Training, mentoring, and skill development prepare employees to solve problems, innovate, and take on greater responsibility. C — Circulate Influence Empower capable individuals with responsibility and decision authority. Giving employees ownership over problems increases engagement and drives stronger performance. K — Keep the Focus on the Mission, not on distractions! Align individual and departmental efforts with organizational priorities. Leaders remove distractions, reduce noise, and ensure teams concentrate on what matters most. Key Insight Operational excellence emerges when people are recognized, standards are respected, learning is continuous, responsibility is shared, and focus remains on mission priorities. When these five elements work together, organizations create a culture where improvement becomes natural and performance becomes sustainable. JD Sicilia Chip Palmer, Ph.D.

SPFMAN 36-2905 (Human Performance and Readiness) is an awesome framework for turning Human Performance from a talking point into an operational system. It doesn’t just say readiness matters, it builds the scaffolding: duty day execution, standardized testing, defined consequences, an age and sex neutral body composition standard, and most importantly a clear structure for who owns what. What stands out to me is the emphasis on role clarity. The manual is explicit that Unit Human Performance and Readiness is executed by commanders, SNCOs, and supervisors as part of normal operations, not as an optional add on that gets crowded out when tempo climbs. (p.7) When you set physical expectations, you also accept a leadership obligation: build the culture and protect the time. If the time is not protected, the standard is just a statement, not a capability. And they back it up with testing frequency as a monitoring capability, not a checkbox. The Human Performance Assessment is structured for recurring feedback with a biannual expectation and defined currency windows, plus tighter reassessment timelines when someone is in a Health Concern category, has exemptions, or uses the walk option when medically indicated. (pp.21–23) That is what readiness looks like when it is serious: clear roles, protected time, and a repeatable way to track the organism over time instead of guessing. https://lnkd.in/gbnpncQ7