This is a time of unprecedented opportunity for all of us in this profession. I'm saying that because we have access to a unique methodology for improving performance, known as Criterion-Referenced Instruction (CRI).

Some of the characteristics that make CRI unique include:

• Instruction is derived from the job
• Each student must demonstrate competence in every skill being taught
• All potential barriers to performance, including non-instructional barriers, are eliminated

We should, therefore, be well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities inherent in today's business environment. Look at what's going on around us:

1. The pace of change is actually faster today than even five years ago. When organizations change rapidly, the nature of jobs within these organizations changes rapidly as well.
2. When jobs change, there is a tremendous need to attend to the motivational and environmental barriers to job performance that those changes frequently bring about.
3. Skills that may have previously been relevant are no longer essential, and new, usually more complex, skills are required.

You would think that these would be the glory years for people at the top of our craft, for people who are skilled at using CRI to guarantee that training provides each learner with job-relevant skills and the self-efficacy to apply their newly acquired skills.

But it’s not necessarily so. There are barriers for today’s expert practitioner. There are barriers that are so great that if we don’t recognize them, we’ll be prevented from taking full advantage of these opportunities.

Foremost among these barriers are the very traditional beliefs about training and learning that are shared by most corporate leaders, beliefs that are inconsistent with what we know about how people learn and what turns learners on and off. Beliefs that frustrate us because they prevent us from being called on to contribute our skills in support of our organizations’ strategic imperatives.

The second barrier preventing us from taking full advantage of today’s golden opportunities is us. Although we know we can guarantee that all members of the workforce have the skills to perform their jobs at the level of proficiency required, we haven’t given corporate leaders sufficient documentation, evidence, or reason to cause them to reassess their traditional beliefs about learning and training. This is critical, because corporate leaders today are more and more active in the decisions made with respect to training in their organizations.

Knowing that we can identify and solve performance problems that cost corporations millions of dollars per year and prevent important corporate imperatives from being achieved is not enough. Knowing that we can save costs by relatively easily distinguishing those situations where training is appropriate from those where it’s a waste of time and money is not enough. Knowing that we have the tools that enable us to guarantee that all trainees leave with the skills to perform their jobs at the level of proficiency their organization requires, and with the self-efficacy to do so, is just not enough.

As performance improvement professionals, we’re barely a whisper in the corporate ear. We’re barely a blade of grass on the corporate landscape. We’re basically invisible to corporate leaders. Corporate leaders really don’t know what quality in our business can be. They haven’t any idea of what we can do, with the tools we now have at our disposal, to support the bottom line. Today, we’re the ones who face the challenge of making corporate leaders aware of what we can do for them. To meet this challenge, we have to:

1. We have to be data-based. We have to provide corporate leaders with evidence that the return they get in improved workforce performance far exceeds their investment in our skills.
2. Be knowledgeable about new and imminent delivery technologies. We have to learn the terminologies of these new delivery technologies and we have to integrate them with what we know about how people learn.
3. We have to continue to be at the top of our craft. We must use the powerful tools at our disposal, and we must share our lessons learned, our insights, our advice, and our innovative applications with each other.

That’s the sole focus of this e-newsletter—to arm you with:

• Innovative performance-based training and performance improvement solutions
• Proven ways to capture training ROI
• Practical information to help you harness new technologies
• Examples of CRI success stories from around the world

I hope you find this e-newsletter helpful, informative, as well as inspiring. And I hope it helps you to accomplish our mutual goal of guaranteeing effective performance in your workplace.

Submit comments or questions regarding this e-newsletter to vchin@cepworldwide.com.

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