How can you infuse a low cost, nimble, performance support solution when your organization is about to change core applications? How do you provide just-in-time learning to keep the momentum of a learning strategy going when all the systems they use are changing? It might seem insurmountable, but it can be done—usually with the tools you already have.

A knowledge management (KM) system had been introduced at CISCO for internal use to drive consistency and track common HR issues. However, little thought had been devoted to training or supporting contact center agents in their transition and beyond, and no additional budget was available.

Front line insurance sales and customer service representatives typically have only a cursory knowledge of the back end claims systems and workflows. But today‘s business insurance customers are asking increasingly difficult questions and demanding clear competitive differentiation. How does a large, dispersed organization such as The Hartford provide claims systems and process support to non-claims personnel?

If you only have to perform a task once a year will you remember what you need to do from the 30 minute online course you took last year? Learning professionals are often asked by stakeholders to create an online course, and we often realize a course is not the best solution. We need to ensure that people can find the resources they need to successfully complete a task at the time they need to do it, and we need to make stakeholders understand this need as well.

Performance support has become an ever-more powerful proposition with the advent of mobile devices that can deliver to learners wherever they are. It can help learners apply what they have learned back in the workplace or even replace the need for upfront training. And the future is exciting, because mobile performance support will be adaptive and contextual, turning iDevices into a combination of coach and personal assistant, and bridging the gap between the classroom and the workplace. But getting started isn‘t always easy.

Delivering performance support tools for sales can be a challenge. There are many approaches to consider, departments to align, and technology options to decipher, all in an effort to create a strategy and provide resources that will effectively support the performance of sales reps. A successful performance support strategy is absolutely critical for optimal sales productivity.

Adopting an embedded performance support (EPS) strategy is unlike most other learning initiatives because it involves a paradigm shift from learning to performance. As such, the presence of change—potentially transformational change—becomes a significant restrainer when attempts are made to disrupt familiar methodologies. In other words, the problem is effectively positioning the solution.

Performance support can truly transform the way an organization looks at training and the way it supports the workforce. However, the promise of such a transformation is about more than just the performance support tools and resources you provide. Truly transformational performance support programs go beyond the tools and resources and target the organizational culture.