1. In what ways would a performance consultant be consistent with the concept of strategic human resource development? Describe at least three connections that you have identified.

Performance consulting, sometimes referred to as high-performance consulting, is a subdiscipline of consulting that seeks to understand and develop a holistic strategy to change performance (Rothwell, 2014). As such, performance consultants are enablers who specialize in enhancing employees' performance. The approach helps companies optimize the performance of their employees and the organization as a whole. Thus, when a performance consultant is consistent with the concept of SHRD, they (i) understand that the consulting process of identifying strategic opportunities, assessing business/performance needs, and implementing and measuring solutions should be integrated with the organizations strategy, (ii) outcomes should be long-term, and (iii) initiatives (e.g., training and development) are executed at both the macro (organization) and micro (individual) levels (Rothwell, 2014; Garavan et al., 2016). In agreement, Herd (2018) explained that while most SHRD-alignment work takes an organization-level approach, research on employee line of sight has suggested the need for additional consideration of SHRD alignment from the individual employees perspective.

2. In what ways would the role of a traditional trainer be consistent with the concept of strategic human resource development? In what ways might it be inconsistent with this concept?

At the macro level, the role of the traditional trainer and the concept of SHRD share the same goalperformance improvement, in turn, leads to organizational success. However, that is where the consistency ends. Alas, the concept of traditional training possesses a highly distinctive inconsistency to the concept of SHRD, and that is, much of the training delivered, according to Rothwell (2014), is not linked to other organizational initiatives.

3. Are these two roles mutually exclusive in an organization, or can they coexist? Base your answer on research and justify your response.

Yes, the roles are mutually exclusive, and yes, they can coexist. Rothwell (2014) explained that training's focus is on skill and knowledge acquisition, suggesting that a performance improvement challenge is related to a deficiency (of skills and knowledge) in the individual performer and that performance will improve once the individual acquires these skills or knowledge. Performance consulting, on the other hand, begins with no such assumption; rather, as its definition suggests, it seeks to understand the causes of a performance challenge and to then develop a holistic strategy to positively affect performance (Rothwell, 2014).

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