Improved performance has a direct positive impact on business profits. However, according to the COM-B model, individuals will not improve their performance behavior unless three factors are present: the capability, the opportunity and the motivation to perform at a different or higher level.
Capability is the knowledge, skills and abilities to engage in the behavior. Individuals need the knowledge, skill and physical ability to change their performance level.
Opportunity is the outside factors which make the behavior possible. Individuals need a conducive physical setting and supportive social norms to boost their performance.
Motivation is the brain processes that direct our decisions and behaviors. Individuals need the desire and a plan how to change their performance.
When we consider management performance levels, the same thing is true. They need the capability, opportunity and motivation to change their behavior.
A peer learning group experience can provide and support all three factors.
Managers who are facing the same management challenge, such as dealing with a difficult employee, are highly motivated to learn how to manage the situation. This serves as the impetus for the creation of a peer learning group with managers who face a similar challenge.
During the first of two structured peer learning group sessions, the managers both share their knowledge and gain new skills for handling the difficult employee situation. This increases their capability for meeting their challenge.
They also create an action plan to use what they have learned as they manage the difficult employee in the course of their daily work activities. Thus, their motivation to address the situation is reinforced by their plan of action.
They verbally commit to practice their new skills as they handle the difficult employee. This creates an implicit contract with the other members of the peer learning group that what was learned during the session will be applied.
The managers support each other to use their new capabilities to manage the difficult employee. Since the managers will return for a second session to report on their progress and success, there is subtle peer pressure to practice their new skills. The peers buddy up to reinforce skill practice by communicating their progress on a weekly basis during the month’s interim between the first and second sessions.
All of these actions produce the social norms to support improved performance.
The managers’ opportunity to improve their performance is provided by their daily interactions with the difficult employee. These work responsibilities create conditions that are conducive for practicing their new capabilities.
In summary, an excellent way to boost performance to increase profits is to involve managers in peer learning groups. Peer learning groups provide managers with the improved capability, reinforced opportunity and strengthened motivation to change their behavior. And managers with improved capabilities are much more likely to effectively manage their employees’ performance, thereby increasing the bottom line.
To learn more about peer learning groups and how they help organizations like yours, get our free e-book at https://peerlearninginstitute.com/e-book/
Deborah Laurel
Chief Learning Officer
The Peer Learning Institute
