Question
Ask what makes the better behavior hard
A behavior gap may be a skill, tool, priority or system gap.
When it fits
- The desired behavior is clear but repeatedly does not happen.
When to avoid it
- Do not convert every performance problem into a systems excuse; inspect both behavior and environment.
A question to ask
Do you know how to do it? · Do you have the information and tools? · Is another goal rewarded more strongly? · Is the role or decision right unclear? · What would make the behavior easier to repeat?
Why it matters
After agreeing on the target, ask what competes with it: missing skill, ambiguous role, time pressure, poor tooling, conflicting goals, missing authority or a broken handoff. Fix the constraint when the environment makes the requested behavior unusually expensive.
An example
Repeated late escalation turns out to come from a rule that engineers may not contact the external owner directly; the workflow changes.
Check your result
The plan contains either a behavior change or a system change matched to the actual barrier.
Keep this limit in mind
- Do not convert every performance problem into a systems excuse; inspect both behavior and environment.
Evidence and sources
CP-FIT synthesizes feedback as a cycle in which feedback must be accepted, translated into intentions and supported into behavior; failure at one stage can stop improvement.
The theory was developed from health-care feedback interventions and transfer to other work is inferential.
Clinical Performance Feedback Intervention Theory · Results and feedback cycle
Longitudinal organizational research suggests job and personal resources are related to future feedback-seeking behavior, while the direction and performance effects still require more study.
Associations do not establish that simply asking for more feedback causes better performance.