An Identity Crisis

by Jaime Torchiana

If you're like me, you struggle at cocktail parties and business networking events to describe what you do. Jealous of the clear descriptions inherent in the titles of "financial advisor," "real estate agent," "marketer," "commercial loan officer," "photographer," and "electrician," I default to my latest client work and case studies to describe the impact of performance improvement consulting. (Which is sometimes misconstrued as management consulting, strategic consulting, or learning and development, none of which are accurate descriptions. Or it leads others to ask if I can help Phillies catcher ⚾ JT Realmuto with his batting performance since he's slumped since August and is struggling to see himself as the great player he is.)
To add to the confusion, we've evolved from Human Performance Technology (HPT) to Human Performance Improvement (HPI) and dropped the human! (😖) altogether to Performance Improvement (PI), and we major in Industrial Psychology, Organization Design, Management, or Psychology and fail to find jobs awaiting us in the field of "performance improvement." We've done it to ourselves....and we need to increase awareness and education.
Mike reminded me, "Training is a $70 billion dollar industry because people know what it IS." Regardless if it helps my company's bottom-line performance. So, PI professionals, what do you call yourselves that yields an "A-HA?" That captures the essence of what we do and how we do it. What is your elevator pitch?

Jaime shares her definition in the following video:

An Identity Crisis Video

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