The emotional side of performance improvement

The missing link in HPT

“…In a series of articles in Performance Improvement (Gerson, 1999(Gerson, , 2000(Gerson, , 2001, I talked about the importance of the people side of HPT and performance improvement. These articles focused on what a performer brings to the performance situation, his or her motivational levels, and how emotions affect performance.…”

“…Emotions. Both positive and negative emotions will determine the outcome of a performance (Gerson, 2000(Gerson, , 2004. People who are happy and confident and who have pride in what they do will usually perform well.…”

Commentary. The psychological side of performance improvement

“…When people engage in a performance, they bring to it a mindset (Gerson, 1999b), a set of behaviors, beliefs, and values (Gerson, 1999a), and a heart full of emotions (Gerson, 2000). We must influence all these factors to achieve performance improvements.…”

“…Sometimes, the emotions come before the thoughts, but the attachment still occurs. This is why we must pay attention to both the mental state and the emotions of the performer when we try to bring about performance improvement (Gerson, 2000).…”

“…The reason is that our theories, models, and assumptions are technically sound, but they are not people oriented. In previous articles (Gerson, 1999a(Gerson, , 2000, I discussed why it was important for us as a field of inquiry to take into account both the people side of performance improvement and the emotional side of it.…”