In a time of unprecedented global change and challenge, we who define ourselves as practitioners of performance improvement, as well as those of us who focus our careers on developing new knowledge to advance improvement practices, are the right people with the right skills at the right time to make a difference. Amid this powerful confluence of economic, demographic, social, and political changes, our talents are needed more than ever. As business models adapt to changing realities, work and workplace conditions are changing rapidly. Organizations must reinvent fluidly, innovating at the speed of learning of their workforces.

To survive and thrive organizations need workers with the right technical skills, creativity, and problem-solving skills. They need talent that can work in teams, analyze effectively, learn, unlearn and learn again, flexing as conditions change. Organizations have to up-skill workforces which were developed for different business models. Schools and universities have to prepare workers for jobs that may not currently exist and to solve problems that are not yet imagined. The education process must change to match the needs, the pace, and the learners of the 21st century and beyond, requiring dramatic and difficult changes in the institutions and practitioners that support learning.

The ability to respond to change and meet these challenges will shape the future of individuals, organizations, communities, and nations. Our field's research and our toolkits hold the keys to support and lead these changes and meet 21st century demands; however, to be able to get the chance to make a difference, we must convince decision-makers of our value. In order for our worth to be recognized, to gain a seat at the senior leadership table where decisions are made, and to attract the type of investments needed to fund our work--grants, fees for service, or our fair share of the ever-shrinking budget--we must maintain the discipline of value-based practice:

Define: the value we bring, the results we can help achieve, and the detectable difference we will make, supported by evidence of past performance;
Promise: clearly offer the unique services and results we bring, making our intangible expertise and our mastery of the craft of performance improvement tangible and desirable;
Deliver: apply effectively the disciplines of human performance technology and research to guide organizations to purposefully improve, implement with fidelity and sustain results and improvements;
Remind: provide proof of results and our stewardship of investments, develop reciprocating relationships, and build in opportunities to keep our value and relationship top of mind with those we influence and support.

Deb will share tips and techniques, as well as stories, that remind us why we are committed to this work and the difference we can make working together across sectors. She will help us define, promise, deliver, and remind others of our unique value so that we are positioned organizationally to lead the change process.

And, we will close THE Performance Improvement Conference 2010, with the transition of ISPI's Board of Directors and remarks by 2010-11 President Miki Lane, CPT.