In talking with organizations about how they can use computers to improve the performance of individuals, teams and organizations, there is an interesting trend emerging - organizations need performance, computers can help, but today only relatively simple opportunities are being used. As a software community, we need to look at how we can help drive performance through software. In other words, we need to learn to make our software persuasive!

Let me step back first. Almost every company is talking about how their business is undergoing substantial pressure and change. They are changing from being product-centric to customer-centric. New customer segments are emerging. There is increased competition from a variety of sources. And there is little pricing power.

Today you hear senior management talk about how they face the problem of getting their organization to move in the face of these pressures. You will hear them say something along the lines of "the only sustainable competitive advantage is the ability to learn and change," but they will soon say their real challenge is "execution."

This frustration is something that I call the "performance storm." Expect to hear a lot about performance over the next few years. It comes from the fact that while significant attention is being paid to culture, leadership, management, measurement, process, etc., at the end of the day, it is still difficult to quickly get behaviors to change in order to drive particular outcomes - and that is the definition of performance.

Interestingly, as I have had these conversations, most organizations today know a lot about how they could help employees do their jobs better, but they do relatively little with that information to make it happen. I'm especially intrigued by the fact that so little is being done with the software that exists today to combat this problem.

Let me take one example - performance reviews. Virtually 100% of Fortune 1000 organizations today do performance reviews based on job competencies. About 50% also use cascading goals formally or informally. About 95% have employees establish development and/or action plans. About 30% provide "resource guides" that can help employees determine what might be appropriate kinds of developmental or action plans. About 3-5% have automated the tracking of developmental or action plans. About 2% automate communication with managers, coaches or mentors around these plans. This is CRAZY!

It is trivial to have the computer automatically send monthly reminders about what employees are supposed to be working on. It is also trivial to create templates of communications that are suggested. Software is great for this stuff. Instead, most organizations talk about making their performance reviews more meaningful. CEOs talk about the need for leaders who embody their culture of learning and change. But, one of the central tools that is designed to help make this happen quickly becomes a once-a-year exercise that managers have to do - but they really don't get value out of it.

The disconnect here has many facets, but one of the biggest issues is that we fail to see an important role of software - SOFTWARE CAN BE PERSUASIVE. Persuasion is all about changing behavior (getting performance). How can software persuade? It can provide tools that make appropriate behavior easier. It can provide the right kinds of feedback to reinforce that behavior. And it can create or enhance social structures.

Taking the performance review example, computers should help managers create appropriate kinds of reviews, define action plans by pointing to relevant ideas and resources, nag them about their plans, and involve others as part of the effort. And this is certainly not limited to performance reviews.

Virtually every piece of software we've been developing is persuasive. A National Product Challenge - tests product knowledge and uses a national scoreboard to encourage high performance. Channel Partner sites that make it easy for partners to gain mind share and co-market products using direct mail or email; this drives the desired performance among partners.

In fact, when you step back to look at software that has end-users, it is designed to encourage particular behavior. It is designed to persuade.

More on persuasive software can be found at: www.captology.com. In September, the SCSC Technology SIG will be holding an event that looks at software trends. Panelists will include Toyota's Chief Architect. This should be an interesting event and an opportunity to hear more about these kinds of trends.

Site Hosted by