About TPS
A people approach to change
Targeted Performance Solutions is a management consulting firm of senior practitioners. We help organizations improve performance and build the culture they want, at the individual, team and organizational level.
How we work
Grounded in psychology, focused on results
Our approach grew out of training in psychology and clinical settings. We pay as much attention to how people experience a change as to the plan itself.
We understand before we recommend
Every organization has its own goals, capabilities, constraints, history and culture. We learn them first, so the solution fits.
We work with your leaders
We work closely with senior decision makers to choose the right intervention, and to help them lead and sponsor the change.
We bring your people in
Employees take part throughout. Involving them early lowers anxiety and makes them part of the solution.
We measure what changes
We agree on goals and measures up front, and track them, so you can see the results and keep them after we leave.
Leadership
Stuart M. Smith, Ph.D., MPH
TPS is led by Stuart M. Smith, who brings more than forty years of experience as a management consultant, senior human resources executive and executive coach. That includes ten years with Ernst & Young (and its predecessor, Arthur Young) as a business effectiveness consultant and change management expert, and serving as associate national director of human resources for Laventhol & Horwath, a 50-office professional services firm. As an Executive Consultant in IBM’s internal consulting practice, he received IBM’s extraordinary teaming award.
His career began in psychology and clinical settings, including a children’s hospital behavioral science department and work as a clinical therapist. He holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, a Master of Public Health in health planning and evaluation, and a master’s degree in individual and group psychodynamics, all from the University of Pittsburgh, and is trained in Lean Six Sigma.
- Teaching
- Graduate faculty at La Salle University since 2013. Thirty years as an adjunct professor in Villanova University’s graduate Human Resource Development program. Affiliated faculty in the University of Pennsylvania’s Organizational Dynamics program and the Wharton Leadership Development Program.
- Service
- Officer, chair or board roles with the United Way, National Adoption Center, University of Pennsylvania, Accountants in the Public Interest, SHRM and the American Society for Training & Development.
Who you work with
You work directly with Stu
Stu leads every engagement, from the first conversation to the last. You get forty years of experience at firms like Ernst & Young and IBM, with no handoff to junior staff.
When a project calls for expertise outside our own, Stu brings in trusted advisors who have worked on the same issues in settings like yours: project management, legal, technology, finance, nonprofit leadership and more.
They handle the specialist work. Stu stays the lead, and focuses on what it means for your organization: what has to adjust, and how big a shift it is for your managers and staff.
In their words
What clients and colleagues say
Stu is an active listener, able to re-frame challenges into opportunities, and provides tools for success.
Dr. Smith demonstrated an ability to carefully listen and understand performance objectives, and to analyze the factors that would most influence the achievement of these objectives.
Stu’s outstanding qualities include that he is context-mission directed; his expertise in his academic domain is at the highest level; and he is a teacher/coach – encouraging learning by inquiry and challenging assumptions.
He focused our team 100% on the outcomes of the project rather than getting distracted by the overwhelming amount of information. This was critical to our delivery of the project both on time and on budget!
- 2026Leveraging Technology to Reinvent Your Organization: With Commensurate Changes in Culture and Process. Article, forthcoming.
- 2025“Building a High-Performance Ethical Culture.” Haztek Safety Management senior team meeting, Philadelphia.
- 2010“The Critical Role of Human Resources in Technology Implementation.” Delaware Valley Human Resources Partnership Summit, Philadelphia.
- 2010“Finding the Right Fit: How to Leverage Culture to Drive Project Team Success.” The National Provisioner.
- 2009“Conducting a ‘Health Check’ of Your Organization.” The National Provisioner.
- 2007“Conducting a Health Check of Your Organization,” with E. Santos. American Society for Quality, Quality Management Division Conference, Dallas.
- 1997“Architecting Successful Mergers and Acquisitions: The Human Dimension,” with D. W. Danner and D. Z. Frustaci. American Society for Healthcare Human Resources Administration, Boston.
- 1997“Shared Corporate Vision Among HR Managers: Awareness, Commitment, and Perceived Needs,” with D. F. Bush and D. W. Danner. Human Resources Planning Society Research Symposium, Cornell University.
- 1991“Managing Your Meetings for a ‘Bottom Line’ Payoff.” In Innovative Meeting Management, 3M Meeting Management Institute.
Start a conversation
Facing something like this?
Tell us what’s going on. If TPS is a good fit, we’ll suggest a sensible first step.