IDSI Employee Delivers Presentation to International Society for Performance Improvement HR Chapter

May 4, 2012 - PRLog -- IDSI employee, Chris Lewis delivered an enlightening presentation on having and developing a sense of urgency to the Hampton  Roads Chapter of the International Society for Performance Improvement (HR ISPI).  The HR ISPI meets once a month to discuss approaches to develop and promote the awareness and application of Human Performance Technology in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.  The HR ISPI can be found on the Web at http://www.hrispi.org/. For his presentation at the April meeting, Chris summarized Dr. John Kotter's book, A Sense of Urgency, reinforcing the premise that "when the urgency challenge is not handled well, even very capable people and resource-rich organizations can suffer greatly."    

Chris' presentation, A True Sense of Urgency, summarized the main points of John Kotter's book, A Sense of Urgency.  What is Kotter's meaning of urgency and why is it important to our organization right now?  In what ways do complacency and false urgency hurt an organization's sense of urgency?  What tactics can we use to establish and increase a sense of urgency in our organizations today, as well as keeping the sense of urgency alive in the future?  Chris noted, "I entitled the presentation A True Sense of Urgency because just having a sense of urgency doesn't work.  Dr. Kotter explains that when organizations or individuals have a false sense of urgency, things look chaotic and frantic - much energy is wasted in activity, instead of productivity.  His book really forces you to look at how complacency and false urgency prevent us from achieving our potential.  I really feel it's important that we shine the flashlights on ourselves and look at what we as individuals can change to increase urgency, instead of pointing fingers at the person next to you."  You can view a copy of the presentation (reviewed and approved by Kotter International) on IDSI’s Web site at http://www.idsi.com/press.
The presentation was a great success and appreciated by all in attendance.  Fellow employee, Kelly Cross, a Senior Instructional Designer notes, "Our chapter leaders applauded Chris' efforts, remarking that this presentation was perhaps one of the best given this year, and certainly the most interactive and thought provoking. In fact, discussion continued for almost 15 minutes after the presentation on some of the discussion topics Chris posted for reflection."