The Place For Performance Improvement Professionals

The International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI) is the association of choice for performance improvement (PI) practitioners seeking a community of practice. As the premier source of performance improvement information, tools and professional development opportunities ISPI offers:

• Opportunities to network with other PI professionals
• Leading edge news, journals and other periodicals
• The latest books on performance improvement
• Access to the top people in the PI arena and their latest work
• Developmental opportunities: conferences, world-class website resources, local chapter events
• Professional volunteer activities – committees, holding office, faculty opportunities
• International contacts and current information on PI activities around the world
• Multiple venues for presenting your ideas in print and at conferences
• The Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) designation

Our Foundation

Increasing workplace performance requires a focus on results rather than just the solutions. To facilitate this approach, ISPI bases the practice of performance improvement on the successful alignment of the work, the worker and the workplace to enable the organization to:

• Focus on results
• Take a systems viewpoint
• Add value to the organization
• Establish partnerships

Our Methodology

Performance Technology is the means used to improve individual and organizational performance. The methodology used requires a systematic approach to:

• Assess a need or opportunity
• Identify causes or factors that limit performance 
• Design solutions 
• Develop solutions 
• Implement the solutions 
• Evaluate the results 

Our Members

Performance technologists, training directors, human resources managers, instructional technologists, human factors practitioners, project managers, and organizational development consultants are members of ISPI. They work in a variety of settings including business, academia, government, non-profits and the armed forces.

ISPI = PI

ISPI is synonymous with Performance Improvement. It is our one-stop shop for the most current information, collegial recognition of professional achievements, and connections to organizations and industries worldwide. With a constant flow of new ideas and shared experiences, ISPI embodies the concept of giving something back to one’s profession. With so many ways to become an active and contributing member, ISPI truly offers something for every practitioner.

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Our members tell us why they value ISPI:

I joined to learn from other professionals, and to link with them as colleagues and resources. I am a CPT, and have found that designation to be helpful in my dealings with my own company, as well as customers. I stay with ISPI to keep my CPT designation in force, and to stay current in the field through contact with other members. -- John Jones

I am a member of ISPI because ISPI fills my needs better than other competing organizations. I like that it emphasizes a systematic, systemic, data-driven, scientifically and empirically derived methodology that is focused on valuable, meaningful, and measurable results for both the performer and the organization in which the performer works. -- Tony Moore, CPT

I have been a member of ISPI for about 10 years. It's a great resource. -- Tina Morton

ISPI is my professional association. It is where I go to learn from my peers. It is how I stay current. It is also where I choose to contribute to the profession. The Society gives me an opportunity to contribute and shape the practice of performance improvement. In turn, clients associate my affiliation with ISPI as an indication that I am a professional. -- Judy Hale

What matters is analysis, customization, and systems, not any one mode or medium. ISPI provides that voice in the midst of all the irrational exuberance. -- Allison Rosset

Why belong to ISPI? Where else would I go to expand my knowledge and improve my professionalism? Besides, that's where I get to schmooze with friends and colleagues - that's worth the price of admission all by itself. -- Bob Mager

I am a member of ISPI because it exists to support HPT. It's where its founders and practitioners live. It's my professional community of practice, where I trace my roots in the field though Deborah and the others who have influenced our thinking and practice. It's the place where I do my research and apply the research of others. In short, ISPI is my professional home. -- Steve Villachica

I continue to be impressed by the practical benefits that my membership in ISPI provides me and look forward to increasing my participation as a member. -- Peter Han

Having learned so much at ISPI over the past 26 years, I was pretty sure that that would continue. This offer made both financial and human capital development sense to me. -- Guy Wallace

ISPI has been a part of my personal and professional life for a long time, and signing up for life membership was a way for me to communicate my intent to keep the organization a part of my life for a very long time to come. I'll never again have to worry about missing that membership renewal. -- Chuck Georgo

ISPI is my number one tool for staying in touch with human performance specialists when I find myself working outside of the field. As a military officer, I have to alternate between human performance jobs and operations, but I like to stay connected. ISPI Conferences are my annual refresher training  retreats , and I always feel invigorated by contact with like-minded professionals and their ideas. I became a Lifetime Member because I can't imagine skipping a conference - why not guarantee myself the discount? -- Heather Hanson, Lieutenant Commander, U.S. Coast Guard

I grew up in the business world and was thrown into the realm of training & development. As I was searching for answers on how to do things better, faster and more effectively, I found those answers at ISPI. Over the years ISPI helped me to move from training to performance. It has been a source of knowledge, a forum for debate, a community of folks with a common interest, as well as a fount of good friends. -- Jim Schultz, Pretty Good Consulting, Inc., Denver, CO

I joined ISPI because of the values of performance over performing, results over actions, and ends over means. ISPI isn't a professional society of any single solution, product, or set of goods; ISPI values all activities that can lead to improved performance. Its primary focus on performance and results allows it to reach across the borders of countries, organizations, disciplines, and theories. --
Ryan Watkins, George Washington University, Washington, DC

I decided to become a life member because I have always found ISPI to be a source of leading thinking and people willing to give to their profession and others looking to join or discipline. -- Lewis Parks, Principal Consultant and Founder, Barrington, IL

I am joining ISPI to reconnect with colleagues in learning and performance who realize that developing individuals is more than building training interventions. While my formal education and experience is in Instructional Systems, I like to focus on the larger landscape of organizational and individual performance and the impact on business results. Additionally, with the upcoming shift in the employee workforce from 2010 to 2015 when approx. 40% of the workforce will be eligible for retirement, I am increasing intrigued by how we can help support the transfer of knowledge from those who will retire and immediately impact the performance of the new workforce that will be assuming new responsibilities across corporate America (and academia). -- Amy Carr, New Albany, OH

In my quest to network with professionals who can influence and help me in my quest to improve performance at work, my colleague introduced this great society to me. The name and the aim fitted well with my aspirations and so I had to register. I believe 'service delivery' is basic to whatever role we are playing in our different organizations and even outside the organization. I am always striving to embrace different ways I can bring quality to service delivery. I want to believe that with ISPI, I will be on top of current innovations in service delivery. -- Grace Nkwo, Victoria Island, Logos, Nigeria

I joined ISPI because I am committed to human performance technology and I can count on ISPI to keep providing the many benefits that help me do my job better - especially the publications. The Lifetime membership also rekindled my interest in becoming a certified performance technologist. I found the ISPI conferences to be great vehicles for learning about cutting edge HPT research and applications and interacting with seasoned professionals. -- Peter Dams, Scotts, MI

I have been a chapter member since 1993, and an international member since 1995. To me, this is the best development a person can get for such a low cost.-- Jena Perkins, Grand Prairie, TX

I rejoined! I was working in another role for a few years and am back in a company as a performance technologist. When I had the opportunity to join a professional society, ISPI was the one I wanted to join and the one my new colleagues recommended. I prefer a scientific, analytical approach to diagnosing and addressing performance improvement opportunities. -- Mary Lou Cazers, Mattawan, Michigan

Of all the professional organizations I attend I find ISPI provides the collegial setting that balances theory and practice in the world of human performance in general, and HPT in specific. -- Bill Coscarelli, Carbondale, IL

I decided to join ISPI from the idea that my interest in human work performance has strengthened and I need to network with other professionals in the instructional technology field. After a recent trip to Disney World, I realized that I wanted very much to check into opportunities as an instructional technologist outside the university where I work. For many years, I never once thought about leaving the university, but the trip renewed my interest in work performance and management in addition to other skills that I have gathered. -- Doreen Mace, DeKalb, IL

I was introduced to ISPI by Dr. Dale Brethower, a professor I had at Western Michigan University and former ISPI President. I am a performance practitioner and have used the concepts and tools of performance improvement with my employers since learning them at WMU. I have studied the works of T. Gilbert, D. Brethower, D. G. Robinson, G. Rummler and A. Brache, D. Kilpatrick, R. Brinkerhoff, and P. Senge just to name a few. The stuff works and I use it to train the leaders of my current organization to think differently about performance problems so they can identify the root causes and appropriate interventions outside of the traditional  training fits all  solutions. -- Gary Sinclair, MA, SPHR, Manistee, MI

Since I am the sole course developer for my company, I joined ISPI because my boss wants me to keep up with the latest tools and techniques for course development. -- Rick Davis, Honeywell Automation College

I joined ISPI to build my network of instructional designers... I look forward to meeting people who can help me get more done! -- Veronica Micklin, True Value University

I'd like to share how much CPT program and the ISPI conferences have helped me grow in the last three years. I have been able to transform my role in my company and revise the purpose of my job to ensure that our company's human capital is more aligned with our business strategy. The ISPI organization has been instrumental in increasing my value to my organization. -- Kenda Avery, CPT, Amadeus

ISPI – The Professional Home for the
Performance Improvement Practitioner

For more information: www.ispi.org/info/about.htm

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