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Performance Architecture: Design and Alignment for Best Results

Dr. Roger Addison sheds light on the role of performance architects who uses a creative and comprehensive approach to achieve results. He also provides us with a helpful tool, the Performance Map, that we can use to identify performance issues and opportunities that involve individual employees or entire work groups.

by Dr. Roger Addison

R M A Addison Consulting Dr. Roger M. Addison, CPT, is an internationally-respected practitioner of Performance Technology (PT), performance consulting and principal of Addison Consulting. Roger is a past president of the International Society of Performance Improvement (ISPI) and received ISPI's highest awards, Member for Life and Distinguished Professional Achievement. As an international delegate, Roger has presented and worked in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In addition, Roger is the former President and Chair of the Board of the International Federation of Training and Development Organisations (IFTDO). His book, Performance Architecture: The Art and Science of Improving Organizations, was selected for the 2010 ISPI Award of Excellence.  He can be reached at rogeraddison@earthlink.net

The word “architecture” often conveys a sense of structure, strength, experience and even beauty, but most of all a sense of creativity. When paired with “performance” the connotation is also one of a creative and a comprehensive approach to achieve results.

• Building architects take a broad view. They are not just concerned with the physical design of the structure, but also with its heating, cooling and other energy requirements. They consider the flow of people through the structure, the ease of maintenance, emergency access, wind deflection and a whole range of other factors. They view the entire structure as a dynamic system that must be considered in terms of all its parts. Architecture goes far beyond what kind of widows we install.
• Performance architects also take a broad view, but of the organisation. They are not just concerned with one aspect like the business processes, the strategy, the structure, the culture, the leadership, job performance or the marketplace. Performance architects view the organisation as a dynamic system, where every part is affected and in turn affects every other part. Most importantly, they work from the perspective that the best way to obtain the desired results requires that the whole system be aligned to produce those results.

Of course, both building and organisational systems need repair and both kinds of architects may provide repair solutions. The main job of all kinds of architects, however, is to create and design effective systems that provide a valued experience for their constituents.

There are professions that focus on repair: plumbers fix broken pipes and Six Sigma people fix “broken” processes. There are also disciplines that have deep expertise in particular pieces of the organisational system: there are strategy, marketing, financial, business process, leadership, measurement and project management consultants. There are probably several hundred more specialists that could be identified.

Just as in the building trade, where there are a host of “experts” in various aspects of construction that the building architect can draw on, so too, the performance architect can draw on a variety of supporting organisational experts.

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