Clearworth

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Designing programmes for people with a brain to catch
Clearworth Ltd 2005

Engineering Worthy Performance

Six boxes for managing behaviour at work

The purpose of performance engineering is to increase human capital, which can be defined as the product of time
and opportunity. Opportunities without time to pursue them
mean nothing. And time, dead on our hands, affording no
opportunities, has even less value.
Thomas Gilbert
Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance

What is there in this to tell the rest of the team?

What might be useful for the team to know about from what
you have learned or read?
Make some notes here so that you could explain in two
minutes what this idea has that the team should consider

The two causes of poor performance most commonly espoused are motives and capacity. But these are usually
the last two places one should look for causes of incompetence. Simply because they are rarely the substantial
problem
Thomas Gilbert
Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance

Worthy performance occurs when all six components of the

model and personal behaviour are in place to cause accomplishment that is high in both quality and quantity. Performance that is worthy can only come from the ratio of accomplishment (A) to the costs of behaviour (B)
Mark W. Phillips, Obtaining Worthy Performance,

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Background to the work

A Model for Creating Incompetence
Although passionate and serious about human performance, Gilbert also suggested a model for deliberately creating an incompetent workforce. Perhaps it was a touch of humour or was it a
bitter recognition of his observations of the world of workand a
strangely predictive view of a world inhabited by a fictional cartoon character created years later by Scott Adams and called
not Gilbert.. but Dilbert.
The numbers relate directly to his six boxes..his suggestions for
creating incompetence include
1

Withhold information - dont tell them what they need to

Thomas F. Gilbert described himself as an engineer, behaviourist and philosopher. When he published his book in
1978 entitled Human Competence: Engineering Worthy
Performance, he said he was writing to correct a deficiency. Countless books had been written on different aspects of human competence but none had addressed the
issue in a comprehensive and systematic way.
His intention was to explain human competence and translate theory into practical step-by-step procedures that managers and other performance engineers could use to
banish incompetence from the workplace.

know or how theyre doing

2

Use old technology and design the tools without involving

the people who have to use them

Dont provide incentives for good performance, make sure

poor performers get paid as well as good ones

Dont help people improve their skills, leave training to

Worthy Performance and Leisure

Gilberts approach follows much more of an engineering
than a psychological path to improving performance.
The term worthy performance comes from his first
theorem, usually written as

chance and make it difficult to learn

5

W - Worthy performance
f - function sign
A - Accomplishment
B - Behaviour

Ignore the individuals capacity, select people for tasks

they cant do

Ignore the individuals motives, avoid working conditions

that would make life more interesting

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Or

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By worthy, Gilbert was suggesting that humans only consistently perform if it is valuable to them in some way. In particular
Gilbert suggested we all should aim for more leisure. This was
not a proposal to be lazy or frivolous. His earnest belief was that
if we could learn to perform to the best of our ability and achieve
our full potential in the shortest possible time and with the least
effort then we would and should have more time for taking lifes
opportunities that present themselves, not just spend all our lives
at the office or in the factory.
If we learn to get more leisure, and better
use what leisure we have, then it will not be
too late too soon

He was quite clear that movement along the first row and the
verifying of Environmental factors was the most effective direction.
By moving in this direction you avoid jumping too quickly to training (Boxes 4 and 5) as the answer to poor performance. By correcting deficiencies in information, instruments and incentives
first, you make sure you dont end up
...training people to use tools that could be redesigned, or to memorise data they dont need to remember, or to perform to standards they are already
capable of meeting and would meet if they knew
what those standards were

The Behaviour Engineering Model

Gilbert identified six elements or factors which he saw were the
key to creating, maintaining and developing human performance
and achievement at work. The six elements were divided between two sets of factors. Environmental factors and Individual
factors (also known as behaviour repertory). In other words the
working environment and the people doing the work.
For any given accomplishment, a deficiency
in performance always has as its immediate
cause a deficiency in a behaviour repertory...or in the environment that supports the
repertory or both
The six box model (as it later became known) is a simple yet
powerful way to consider performance and accomplishment at
work and, in particular, to help take an objective look at performance management issues.

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The same rigour applies in moving through boxes 4 to 6. Some

advocates of Gilberts approach suggest that you may never
reach or have to deal with Box 6 since it is extremely unlikely
that, with all the other 5 factors in place and functioning correctly
the issue is purely one of attitude or a mismatch with their values.
Gilberts six boxes approach provides an alternative approach to
the subject of motivation and many performance engineers
have found his model useful in taking an objective view of performance and achievement rather than starting at Box 6.

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Performance Management Questions

The arrangement of the six boxes and the numbering is also to
dictate an order in looking at performance management, particularly in investigating performance problems. Gilbert was typically
opinionated and forthright on this issue.
The two causes of poor performance most commonly espoused are motives and capacity. But
these are usually the last two places one should
look for causes of incompetence. Simply because
they are rarely the substantial problem
The numbering of the boxes suggests an order that managers,
and other performance engineers to use another of Gilberts
terms, should use to investigate and resolve performance problems.

So the place to start, in Gilberts view, is Box 1 and check that

people have what they need in terms of information and feedback to do the job.
If the answer to all the questions ( and some are illustrated
above) in that box are unequivocally Yes then move to Box 2the Instruments box.
It is important to note that, this time, it is not about jumping to
box 4 and checking the match with peoples Knowledge.

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The Six Boxes and their Connections

The boxes are laid out in the pattern above and numbered with a
specific purpose. Firstly to separate two sorts of factors.
The Environmental Factors (broadly the responsibility of the organisation) are
Information - The data people need to do their job, including
performance data to tell them how they are performing and
achieving
Instruments - The tools, technology and processes people employ to do the job. The working procedures of the organisation
Incentives - The means by which performance is rewarded,
both in monetary and non-monetary terms
The Individual Factors ( the things people bring to the job) are
Knowledge - The things they already know which are useful in
performing the job
Capacity - Their skills and their ability to learn and develop
Motives - Their values and needs, the things they count as important, perhaps the reason they do the work in the first place.
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Thinking of the six boxes as three pairs or three columns, Gilbert

states that there should be a match between the pairs.
People need timely and accurate information to
do their work and they need to have feedback
which helps them know what to change or improve.

At the same time they have to have the relevant

knowledge base and the ability to understand
the information they receive so that they can adjust their performance based on the feedback

The rewards for performance need to be structured in a way which encourages outstanding
performance. People should see the clear link
between their achievements and the rewards
they receive

...and peoples values and needs should be satisfied by the nature of the work and the way that
it is rewarded. There should, at some level, be a
match between what they want and the work
they do

It would be pointless providing someone with statistical data on

variances if they had not worked with statistics and could not understand what was being reported.

If someone is not excited by high financial reward and competition to be better than their peers then it is not useful to structure
the rewards in that way. At the same time the reward system
will not provide the performance required if there is a mismatch
between what is asked for and what is rewarded.

To do a good job people need to be provided

with the right tools which function properly and
are designed with the work and the worker in
mind

So one way to use the tool is to check that there is a match between the Environmental Factors and the Individual Factors.
The question then is Do we provide whats required and do we
have the right people using what we provide?

...and people need to have the relevant skills to

use the tools provided and make the most of the
technologies and processes to make their work
easier and to achieve their potential. They also
have to be able to learn how to use new tools.
If the technology is out of date, doesnt work well or was designed without an understanding of the work people do then they
will not be able to do their best. Equally if they do not have or
can not learn, how to use the technology then the investment in
the tools is wasted
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