Gilbert's six cells before you train

What this lesson covers

1. 01

   Worthy performance is engineered

   Thomas Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model (Human Competence, 1978) is a two-by-three grid. The top row is the environment: data (expectations and feedback), instruments (tools, time, processes) and incentives. The bottom row is the person: knowledge, capacity and motives. Gilbert's practical claim is that the environment row usually gives more leverage, at lower cost, than sending people to a course.

2. 02

   The six cells

   Title The six cells

   Data (environment): Clear expectations, standards and timely, specific feedback. If people cannot see the standard, training will not invent it.

   Instruments (environment): Tools, time, materials and processes that make the work possible. A broken CRM is not a CRM skills problem.

   Incentives (environment): Consequences that support the behaviour. If the bonus pays for speed and the course preaches quality, the bonus wins.

   Knowledge (person): Skills and information the person does not have yet. The only cell where a course, job aid or coaching is the main fix.

   Capacity (person): Whether the person can do the work with reasonable support. A selection and assignment question.

   Motives (person): Fit between the person and the work. Motivation training rarely lasts while the other five cells are broken.

3. 03

   One question per cell for the kickoff

   Cell | Ask the supervisor

   Data | How does an agent know, during the shift, that a call went well or badly?

   Instruments | Show me the screen they use at that moment. How long does it take?

   Incentives | What happens to an agent who does it right but slower?

   Knowledge | If I paid them to do it perfectly tomorrow, could they?

   Capacity | Are the people who struggle in a particular role, shift or language group?

   Motives | Do people who do it well describe the work differently?

4. 04

   Six Boxes and the three levels

   Two later models build on Gilbert. Carl Binder's Six Boxes keeps the six cells but uses plain names (expectations and feedback, tools and resources, consequences and incentives, skills and knowledge, selection and assignment, motives and preferences) so managers can use it without a consultant. Rummler and Brache add levels: a performance problem can sit in the organisation (strategy, structure), the process (handoffs between teams) or the job. A handover failure between two departments looks like a skills gap in each of them. Check the process level before you diagnose the person.

5. 05

   Terms to keep distinct

   Behavior Engineering Model (BEM): Gilbert's 1978 six-cell diagnostic.

   Six Boxes: Binder's later plain-language model built on Gilbert. Not the same model.

   Performance consulting: Partnering with the business to improve results. Training is one possible intervention.

   Job aid: Information used in the flow of work, such as a checklist or decision tree. Often cheaper and more reliable than memory.

6. 06

   Run the six questions

   Ask one supervisor the six questions from slide 3 about your request. Mark each cell as likely, possible or unlikely to be a cause. Add the grid to your performance brief.