How to become a High Performance Organisation

Did you ever wonder why certain companies do well where as others are just surviving and keeping their heads above water? So what are the secrets of a high performance organisation? What do these organisations accomplish what others fail to achieve? There can be many reasons why companies succeed and others don’t. However, I am going to give you my secrets of a high performance organisation. I will explain how they can be used to take on today’s business challenges. These secrets give a company direction, culture, values, planning and a communication process it needs to succeed and become the best in the modern business environment.

Great companies who remain competitive in one or more areas do not sit around patting themselves on the back, for they know that there are dozens of others who want to take their place. They do, however, celebrate accomplishments and achievements. This celebration is important because it shows the employees what success looks like. When tough goals are met it is also important to celebrate - setting a difficult goal and not reaching it is far more important than meeting a mediocre goal. Difficult goals provide learning experiences that cannot be taught in training classes. They allow persons to learn through trial and error. And they provide opportunities for leaders to install new character into their employees.

Although most companies will never become the best at what they aim for, they must compete to do things better than their competitors. This not only allows their employees to grow, but also lets their customers know that they are willing to go out of their way to serve them in their area of expertise. If your employees would improve their performance with only one percent what kind of accumulative affect would this have on your company? Companies who want to strive to become the best work on the following points: -

1.    Mission and Vision – A company needs to define its mission and visions as the reasons why it exists. This mission and vision are there for the employees of the company and their customer to identify with and to understand why the organisation is undertaking the actions it has taken. The Mission and Vision needs to be shared by all people.

2.    Values – Values are important guidelines on what behaviour is expected to achieve the companies’ vision and mission. They are guiding principles on how the company and each person will act when performing a task.

3.    Planning – Successful companies have set goals what they want to achieve each year. These goals and plans need to be communicated to their staff members. Furthermore, you need to translate goals into plans for each department.

4.    Recognition and positive culture – In the modern business environment it is important to have a motivated creative workforce, who can adapt fast the ever changing business situations. Recognition is the most important reward employees can get!

5.    Communicate – all the secrets have in common that you have to be able to communicate effectively in your organisation. Managers have to explain, involve, motivate, listen, clarify, give and receive feedback and keep a positive attitude during this sometimes tiring process. Good communications skills are the key to achieving a high performance organisation.

6.    Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback – To be able to give constructive feedback to an employee is a most important skill in any relationship. The key word is constructive. Very often feedback is expressed so vague that the other party does not get the point or is expressed too direct so that it turns them off.

7.    Coaching – Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of another. The essence of coaching in a work organisation is to explore and increase the potential of an employee and using this to mutual benefit of both company and employee.

These secrets of high performance organisations are self evident. It is something you already deep down know, yet you might not have acted on these points for various reasons. These points are not revolutionary; they are of universal knowledge for anyone who has studied modern management literature.

However, the real secret of a high performance organisation is the ability of management to act, to use and execute these methods and put them into practise to the benefit of the company and all involved.