Fundamentals of Performance Technology: A Guide to Improving People, Process, and Performance

For many years , clients and practitioners in the field of workplace learning and performance improvement requested a credential to distinguish those practitioners who are accomplished in producing desired results in a systematic way. Prior to CPT, there was little guidance for clients to differentiate between the knowledgeable, skillful practitioner and one who claimed to be an expert in performance improvement but lacked the experience and knowledge to actually improve performance. Skilled practitioners proposing appropriate methods were losing work to those who claimed to be capable but proposed inappropriate approaches. PT practitioners felt the need for a credential to signify their capability. Hale (2003, p. 31) states that prior to CPT it was:

"difficult for clients to distinguish those who have, can, and will from those who'd like to, or perhaps did it once and think they can do it again. Clients want and deserve a way to distinguish those of us for whom improving human performance is a career of choice from the wannabes, transients, and dabblers. What certification promises and delivers is the recognition and confirmation that a person is a proficient practitioner, has committed to a code of ethics, and engages in efforts to improve his or her own performance."