Intervention Set Selection

By Simone G. Symonette

This book explains the process of intervention set selection and provides guidance for anyone seeking to improve performance. The 15 principles generated serve as a guide professionals can use to select an intervention set. The principles explain how and why certain actions happen during the intervention set selection phase and they function as a guide for practitioners when selecting intervention sets. A schemata, that consists of composition, directional dependence, mechanism of action, enforcement, transformation, and reverberation adds to the field of performance improvement. Identifying these factors explains a practitioner’s behaviors when selecting an intervention set. The schemata also illustrate the art and science inherent in intervention set selection. The value of a “set” is to create the most comprehensive intervention to assure successful human performance. The book concludes by encouraging others to continue the journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781665568593

Simone G. Symonette

SIMONE G. SYMONETTE is a consultant with over 15 years of experience in performance improvement. Earning a PhD from Indiana University in instructional systems technology while working in corporate environments has enriched this body of work. As well as, holding a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Central Florida and an undergraduate degree in international studies from Bethune-Cookman University. Research interests include human performance technology, specifically intervention set selection. The author can be reached at [e-mail].

Book preview

CONTENTS

Chapter 1:   An Analogy

The Role of Reasoning

Implications for Future Research

Scholarly Foundation

Chapter 2:   Initiating Principles

Initiating Principle 1: Client’s attention

Initiating Principle 2: Client self-diagnoses

Initiating Principle 3: Analysis and tacit knowledge

Initiating Principle 4a: Interconnectedness

Initiating Principle 4b: Seek cross-functionality

Prerequisite Principle 1: Acquire practical experience

Prerequisite Principle 2: Acquire expertise and collaboration

Defining Intervention Set Selection

Chapter 3:   Schemata Elements Of Intervention Set Selection

Composition schemata

Directional dependence schemata

Mechanism of action schemata

Enforcement schemata

Transformation schemata

Reverberation schemata

Chapter 4:   Permeating Principles

Permeating Principle 1a: Intervention set system perspective

Permeating Principle 1b: Consider consequence and reflect

Permeating Principle 1c: Understand the impact of the set

Permeating Principle 2: Select an evidence-based set

Permeating Principle 3a: Balance art, science, and intuition

Permeating Principle 3b: Avoid the cookie cutter approach

Permeating Principle 4: Intervention set modelling (ISM)

Permeating Principle 5: Be open to continuous feedback

Chapter 5:   Intervention Set Selection Substantive Theory

Component 1: Comprehension of the situation

Component 2: Activating schemata

Component 3: Adhere to principles

Chapter 6:   Conclusion

Lesson 1 – Practitioners select intervention sets

Lesson 2 – There are discernable patterns

Lesson 3 – There are guiding principles

Lesson 4 – Intervention set schemata exist

Lesson 5 – Substantive theory of intervention set selection

Future endeavors

Reflections

References

Appendix A: Intervention Set Selection Job Aid

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Composition Schemata

Figure 2: Directional Dependence Schema

Figure 3: Mechanism of Action Schemata

Figure 4: Enforcement Schemata

Figure 5: Transformation Schemata

Figure 6: Reverberation Schemata

Figure 7: Intervention Set Selection Substantive Theory

CHAPTER

1

AN ANALOGY

How a consultant selects an intervention set is similar to how a physician selects a treatment. If a patient complains to their physician about a health issue, such as pain in their stomach, it is very rare that the physician will prescribe a single medicine to address the problem without subsequent analysis of the patient’s condition. The initial patient analysis consists of the physician making observations and asking questions in order to arrive at a treatment based on the evaluation of the patient’s conditions. This is similar to what a performance improvement consultant refers to as the analysis phase and is typically done with the aid of diagnostic and process models.

Analysis and intervention set selection work in tandem to power the final intervention set the practitioner selects, designs, develops, and implements. Just as a physician selects a course of treatment based on a prior experience, a consultant’s analysis informs his or her intervention set selection. The two processes converge when a consultant’s analysis questions leads the consultant to check and confirm their assumptions about a particular performance problem. This is referred to as comprehension of the situations and leads the way for the second and third components.

Similar to the physician illustration, as the consultant asks more questions, they also draw upon their prior experiences; that is, a cluster of interventions or problems they have encountered in the past. Drawing upon previous experiences activates the various schemata. The schemata continuously change as a consultant answers new questions about the performance problem, allowing the intervention set to take shape. Returning to the example, the consultant also seeks guidance or advice from other sources just as a medical doctor may turn to physician’s reference books or electronic database references. For the performance consultant, these references may also come in the form of books on interventions and classification of models as well as journal articles and case studies. If a treatment is not selected after referring to the literature, the physician may then contact other experts and colleagues in their network who are familiar with other specific cases of the problem and can provide insights into how to proceed with diagnosing and selecting a treatment. While this is taking place, the consultant’s schemata are changing as they accommodate and assimilate the new information to further comprehend the situation and select an intervention set. In turn, this engages the second component of the substantive theory of intervention set selection: activating schemata to synthesize an intervention set.

Reasoning is necessary for a consultant to adjust and to accommodate the contextual intricacies of each performance problem. Similar to rare illness cases, the treatments are not straight forward. A patient’s treatment may be experimental, regimented, and conducted over a period of time and requiring follow-up visits for further observation. When prescribing a medicine, a medical doctor may emphasize the need for other treatment recommendations such