Every leader aspires to build a high performance culture, whilst (almost) every employee wants to work in one…and yet their existence remains the exception rather than the rule.
Leaders wring their hands and wonder why they can’t excite employees to be as passionate about the success of the business as they are…particularly as they scale headcount beyond the first few dozen, who are typically more mission driven.
And employees don’t feel as motivated (or supported) to produce their A-games by the system they’re working in, which can lead to a really negative cycle of underperformance, prompting the best to leave for better opportunities whilst encouraging those who are less bothered to stay, because there doesn’t seem to be any major repercussions.
An existential question
In a world where ‘Quiet Quitting’ has become a feared trend amongst employers, and the economic realities are forcing many bosses to ask their teams to achieve even more with no additional resources, this isn’t an academic question.
For large numbers of businesses, create a High Performance Culture is existential – they simply won’t survive without it.
Then there’s also the question of, how would you recognise a high performance culture if you had one?
One simple answer to that would be: “High expectations that are continuously exceeded.”
But there’s also a more measurable, scientific way to measure a HPC, which I’ll lay out below.
I’ll also dive into the ‘how’ of achieving a High Performance Culture, which aligns to the 3 pillars of motivation explored by Daniel Pink in his book called Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (tl;dr – it’s not just money!)
Measuring a High Performance Culture
The pillars that drive intrinsic motivation (which leads to higher performance over a more sustained period of time) are: Purpose; Mastery; Autonomy. More on these below.
The metrics you can use to show if you’re tracking towards a High Performance Culture are:
- Strategy comprehension: what % of the team understands your core strategy and playbooks?
- Operating Alignment: what % of your organisation believes their colleagues are aligning their actions to the strategy?
- Priority Alignment: what % of your team’s smart goals and activities are aligned to your top level business priorities?
- Feedback: what % of your people are providing feedback, and how much of that makes it way into your playbooks?
- Confidence: what % of the team are confident that the strategy laid out is effective in the realities of your market?
- Execution Velocity: what % of your employee’s priority work is being completed (to a high standard) each week?
- Impact on Results: how is activity translating into the completion of smart goals and business-level priorities?
Taken together, you can start to track a High Performance Culture score across your business.
So let’s dive into the ‘how’.
Below I’ve laid out the key principles from Drive, and broken them down further into simple actions you can take today, along with the metrics you can measure:
Purpose
In Drive, Daniel Pink talks about the importance of providing a purpose that people can use to bind their work to the wider organisation.
This is why many folks in highly paid corporate jobs leave to go and work for less money at startups where the mission is exciting and central to the daily conversation amongst colleagues.
“We leave lucrative jobs to take low-paying ones that provide a clearer sense of purpose.” – Daniel Pink, Drive
Here are three things you can do to help ensure your team is working with Purpose.
Clarity: Ask yourself, how easy is it for your team to navigate your purpose and overall strategy? Is it well documented and clearly laid out? Is it modularised and broken down into digestible chunks? Are they engaging in it, or is it laying there ignored and gathering dust?
Comprehension: How confident are you that your team has taken the time to understand your strategy? And that, even if they have read it, have they understood it? Are you tracking this or guessing? If it’s not been internalised, how can individuals be working towards a common purpose?
Alignment: Everyone gets frustrated when they feel as though they’re working at cross-purposes with their colleagues. It’s important to have a high level of transparency when it comes to alignment…and ensure it doesn’t erode over time as headcount grows. Are you checking in regularly across the company to track sentiment and see if folks are feeling aligned to one another and the overall purpose of your business?
To measure Purpose, you will need a way to track the following three metrics:
- Strategy comprehension: what % of the team understands your core strategy and playbooks?
- Operating Alignment: what % of your organisation believes their colleagues are aligning their actions to the strategy?
- Confidence: what % of the team are confident that the strategy laid out is effective in the realities of your market?
Mastery
“Why reach for something you can never fully attain? But it’s also a source of allure. Why not reach for it? The joy is in the pursuit more than the realization. In the end, mastery attracts precisely because mastery eludes.” – Daniel Pink, Drive
Are you creating an environment that encourages everyone to be their best? If not, you’re doing them a disservice.
Here are three simple ways to provide that encouragement.
Continuous improvement: One of the hallmarks of great performers is that they’re never satisfied with where they’re at, and continuously strive to get better. This is recognised as having a growth mindset. Have you created a system that encourages continuous improvement, and effectively asks…is that the best you can do? Are individuals prompted to self-evaluate on their performance, and the quality of their work?
Coaching moments: Top performers want constructive feedback…it ties back directly to the previous point. It’s why those at the peak of their game still have coaches…but are you encouraging your managers to acknowledge good work, but to also provide continuous feedback which leads to marginal gains?
Reward & recognise high performance: No matter how intrinsically motivated you are, it’s important to be recognised for your good work. Not only is it important to the individual, it also raises the flag for others to aspire to. Are you closing the loop on feedback, to publicly and privately acknowledge great work and contributions to the company? And is it done consistently across the board, or only in selective teams?
To keep a measurable eye on Mastery, these three metrics are essential:
- Execution Velocity: what % of your employee’s priority work is being completed (to a high standard) each week?
- Impact on Results: how is activity translating into the completion of smart goals and business-level priorities?
- Attainment: what % of your team are ultimately hitting the goals they set out to achieve?
Autonomy
“Human beings have an innate inner drive to be autonomous, self-determined, and connected to one another. And when that drive is liberated, people achieve more and live richer lives.” Daniel Pink, Drive
Giving employees enough autonomy can be a tricky balance for executive teams, who’s performance and career trajectory is generally tied to the work done by individuals who report to them. This often mean leaders want to keep tight control over what they’re doing…and yet it undermines motivation as it strips away their agency.
Here are 3 ways to provide more autonomy, without losing the sense of transparency and control that will keep many leaders up at night.
Ownership: If there’s one way to create a sense of autonomy, it’s to have people set their own goals. This is the ultimate exercise in ownership and autonomy. And if you approve strategic planning from a bottoms up perspective, with calibration flowing upwards, this can be easily achieved. This is much easier to do if you’ve certified that the team genuinely understand your strategy…and can easily visualise how well their goals and activities align to your overarching priorities.
Accountability: Let people mark their own homework…being accountable to themselves is such a strong way to build a high performance muscle in your organisation. It doesn’t mean you can’t sense-check the results, but you’ll be surprised by how self-aware and objective the vast majority of people can be, most of the time.
Strategic input. Give people the chance to contribute to your strategy and playbooks, and they’ll jump at the chance to play a part in shaping the future. It’s just the opportunity to do this is not present in many organisations, or it’s not obvious how to go about it. Make it a clear, simple process; and again provide recognition to individuals when their suggestions are incorporated into the future strategy. This closed loop approach creative a virtuous circle that will encourage big picture thinking and innovation.
To continuously measure and improve Autonomy, you’ll need to track:
- Execution Velocity: what % of your employee’s priority work is being completed (to a high standard) each week?
- Priority Alignment: what % of your team’s smart goals and activities are aligned to your top level business priorities?
- Feedback: what % of your people are providing feedback, and how much of that makes it way into your playbooks?
Winning mindset
If you can take the actions suggested above, and track their impact on the metrics that underpin a High Performance Culture…you’ll start to develop a winning mindset across the team.
It will become ingrained in your operating cadence and attract others who also have that winning mindset. As the cliche goes, A Players attract A Players.
A positive flywheel will be in motion, where other winners want to join your business.
Sound good?
Then let’s talk about how you can install a GTM Operating System into your organisation, which provides the structure to underpin tracking and operationalising a High Performance Culture.
Just book in some time with me for a free consultation!