Level 4 Attainment is NOT an Illusion…
Performance Increases Require a Change in Attitude: A Level 4 Achievement
by Richard F. Le Blanc
(The 1st of 3 articles on the MVS© as a legitimate and valid diagnostic tool)
Richard F. LeBlanc is the President & CEO of IMPAC University and former Worldwide Director of ACCESS©, a proprietary training program of IMPAC®, the globe’s leading productivity enhancement organization, and a Professor of Leadership and Management at IMPAC University. He may be reached at IMPAC University in Punta Gorda, Florida, USA, 1-941-639-7512 or at rfleblanc@impacu.edu.
Attitudes and opinions have a direct reflection upon performance. Increasing performance, whether requiring an increase in skill, an increase in productivity, an increase in sales, an increase in profitability or an increase in any measurable aspect of getting effective work done through others demands an understanding that something needs to change and that something must fundamentally begin with a change in attitude. In order to begin the process of changing attitudes that affect performance, one must first get agreement on a simple tenet called things are not now where we need or want them to be. In all adult learners…in order to begin the process of getting a positive, desirable and perpetual change…a need to change must be created. Creating that need demands an understanding of what motivates people to act. It demands creating an understanding of what benefit they, personally, will receive from changing their behavior and…getting the answer to the question “Whose goal is it?” to be an unconditional…”MINE!” for everyone involved. The driving need to change is founded in an understanding of both what needs to change and why. In order to find out the answer to both of those questions, one must properly diagnose the need.
As has been clearly outlined in Dr. Donald Kirkpatrick’s (1979) Four Level Evaluation Model, and asserted by the many people who will attest to the difficulty in measuring the appropriate attitudes and opinions that must change in order to achieve a measurable (Level 4 refers to a Return on Investment (ROI) or monetary value assigned to the transference and utilization of trained materials) increase in performance, the task is no less than daunting. There is, however, an instrument that has been used with management groups for more than 25 years called the IMPAC® Assessment of Appropriate Attitudes (a survey of management values and referred to as the MVS©) that has been proven not only to be very effective in diagnosing the need for changed attitudes and behaviors with regard to getting an increase in productivity but also in creating the needed documentary evidence to prove a definitive return on investment for the training provided as a result of diagnosing the need and delivering a programmed set of interventions to address each identified deficiency.
The MVS© measures attitude appropriateness in the categories of:
TOTAL: Attitudes regarding current management technologies associated with getting appropriate levels of productive output through limited resources.
TASK: The work itself.
PEOPLE: The need to motivate people to actually do the required work.
SYSTEMS: The need to work within a comprehensively designed management operating system.
CHANGE: The need to understand that change is a necessary and desirable element of goal achievement.
COOPERATION: The need to apply some of the basic tenets of working together as a team in order to achieve a commonly defined and agreed upon set of goals and/or expectations.
The diagnostic uses a percentile appropriate response based upon a semi-annually adjusted set of norms so as to ensure each administration gives a clear picture of how the respondents compare to others taking the same instrument at relatively the same time. Raw data scores (compiled using a 5-Point Likert Scale) are converted into an adjusted, sliding-scale Appropriate Response, Strength and Weakness Matrix and Skill Inventory Report that is used to present probable answers to the questions of: “Why isn’t my operating system working?” and “What is the training need that must be addressed in increasing the level of productive output in my company?” The instrument is administered before an intervention process is designed or implemented and then again within three weeks after the intervention process has concluded.
Although the objective and practical answers to those questions can only be answered through a series of observations to determine whether the diagnostic has actually measured actual performance or ability to perform or whether it has simply measured a belief which has not been acted upon…for more than 25 years the MVS© has been used as a means to diagnose needs to be addressed in the design of training interventions intended to change the behaviors of participants that directly affect productive output for organizations in manufacturing, sales, logistics, financial services, etc. and to give measurable results in determining the value of the training received. Given the more than $100 billion that will be spent on training programs addressing similar needs in the year 2001…in the USA alone…it is apparent that the instrument is key in determining, with surgical precision…what training needs must be addressed, why they must be addressed and what is the intended result so that companies do not “train for the sake of training” and actually “train to the intended result.”
Regardless of the fact that the instrument has been used in all types of companies (the statistical sampling of companies used in the preparation of this article compared results from companies specializing in banking, construction, dairy processes, steel manufacturing, mining, health services, retail operations, and consumer goods manufacturing) that range in size from 180 people to more than 20,000 people with annual sales of between $3 million USD and $2.5 billion USD, it still must be noted in citing results that it is a diagnostic and the diagnostic results must, therefore, be appropriately acted upon by senior management in order to realize results. In the case of the MVS©administered by IMPAC®the diagnostic is used to design and deliver a programmed set of interventions through the installation of the IMPAC 10000® System and through delivery of the ACCESS Leadership Development and Communications Strategies Program©. When the diagnosed needs are appropriately acted upon, there are some statistically significant results (regardless of independent variables like company size, type of work, number of people, culture, environment, etc.) that should be noted:
The mean Appropriate TOTAL Response increase for Executive respondents following interventions indicated by the diagnostic is: 7.25 percentile points.
The mean Appropriate TOTAL Response increase for Middle-Manager respondents following interventions indicated by the diagnostic is: 9.78 percentile points.
The mean Appropriate TOTAL Response increase for Front-Line Supervisor respondents following interventions indicated by the diagnostic is: 12.89 percentile points.
The average increase in productivity (as measured primarily through a cost/unit produced baseline) is: Approximately 18.71%.
The average reduction in overall operating costs realized by companies employing the MVS© as a diagnostic tool in determining training interventions required in order to maximize the utilization of their operating systems is: between 10% and 12% on an annualized basis.
Each percentile point increase in the overall mean Appropriate TOTAL Response is equivalent to an overall annualized saving of 10.1% of the overall operating costs.
Although the overall increase in productive output in companies employing the MVS© as a tool in determining the training interventions required in order to maximize the utilization of their operating systems is dependent upon actions taken by senior management in order to realize the savings that will result from that increased productivity, the MVS© has proven itself to be an effective diagnostic of need. The interpretation of results and the systematic design of an intervention program using the results as a foundational basis are the subject matter for the two additional articles in this series.
Attitudes and opinions and their associated values systems not only have a direct reflection upon the performance of individuals, they also have a direct influence on the overall performance of companies and their bottom line. Measuring attitudes and opinions may be difficult at best but, as the MVS© has proven, when done effectively…the results are more than worth the effort.
