Define the result
Clarify the business outcome, the observable behaviour and the group or moment where the difference needs to appear.
People, learning and performance consulting / Australia
Learning that changes the work.
A course can be well designed, well attended and almost irrelevant to the result. I help HR, L&D and business leaders work backwards from performance: what needs to happen differently, what currently gets in the way and which mix of learning, process, tools and support can change it.
GREG WOULFE / NEWCASTLE, AUStart here
This may be the problem if…
- Training is the default response before the performance problem has been diagnosed.
- Completion rates look healthy, but behaviour and business measures are not moving.
- People know what to do, while systems, incentives or managers reward something else.
- A capability framework exists, but it is difficult to connect to everyday decisions.
- L&D is being asked to prove value using data that stops at attendance and satisfaction.
My point of view
Start with performance, then decide what people need
Learning is useful when it helps somebody do important work better. That sounds obvious, but many projects begin after the solution has already been named: build a course, run a workshop or launch a pathway.
I begin with the outcome and the behaviour. What would we see people doing if the problem improved? What makes that difficult today? Is the gap knowledge, practice, feedback, process, tools, incentives, workload or some combination of them?
Sometimes learning is central. Sometimes the most useful response is a job aid, a manager conversation, a process change or removing a piece of friction. The goal is not to defend a format. It is to improve the work.
How I approach it
From request to useful response
The work stays close to the people doing the job and the evidence the organisation can realistically collect.
Diagnose the environment
Look at the workflow, tools, expectations, incentives, manager signals and existing capability before deciding on the response.
Design for practice
Build the smallest mix of learning, performance support and environmental change that helps people practise and apply the behaviour.
Measure the chain
Connect participation to capability, capability to behaviour and behaviour to a meaningful work or business measure.
Useful outputs
What the work can produce
The output depends on the diagnosis. These are common pieces, not a compulsory bundle.
- 01
A performance and behavioural diagnosis grounded in the work
- 02
A learning or capability strategy tied to clear priorities
- 03
Practice-based programs, labs and performance support
- 04
Manager and environmental changes that support transfer
- 05
A practical evaluation plan with measures people can actually use
Why me
Learning is part of my background, not my boundary
I have led and designed learning in operational and global environments, then spent years working more broadly across capability, technology and change. That makes it easier to challenge a training brief without dismissing the real need behind it.
I care about the experience, but I care more about what survives afterwards. The useful question is not whether people liked the intervention. It is whether the work became better.
See the experience behind itStart with a conversation
Bring me the performance problem.
You do not need a finished learning brief. A stuck outcome, a repeated mistake or a change that is not landing is enough to begin the conversation.
Talk it through