Top 10 Key Elements in Creating a High Performance Culture

Top 10 Key Elements in Creating a High Performance Culture

#1 Clearly Define What Winning Looks Like
Look across the entire organization and define what it looks like from a variety of perspectives

• Sales
• Marketing
• Customer service
• Procurement
• Finance

#2 Spell out Your Preferred Culture
In the same way that leaders shape and communicate a vision, they also spell out a picture of the culture they are striving for:

This can often be just a set of guiding principles or values, but the best seem to go further by establishing preferred behaviors what support these values: Which aspects of our current culture are we happy/unhappy with with? What preferred behaviors do we need to create the culture we want? What behaviors actually get rewarded round here? which unacceptable behaviors are actually tolerated here? How do we measure up against each of our preferred behaviors?

#3 Set Stretch Targets
Employees tend to rise to the standard set for them. The more you expect, the more they will achieve. But there is a fine line between good stretch targets, which can energize an organization and bad ones, which can dampen morale

#4 Connect to a Big Picture
The majority of employees want to be part of a compelling future, want to know what is most important at work and what excellence looks like.

For targets to be meaningful and effective in motivating employees, they must be tied to larger organizational ambitions. Employees who don’t understand the roles they play in company success are more likely to become disengaged. No matter what level the the employee is at, he should be articulate exactly how his efforts feed into the broader company strategy.

#5 Develop Ownership Mentality
When individuals understand the boundaries in which they can operate, as well as where the company wants to go, they feel empowered with a freedom to decide and act, and most often make the right choices. They begin to think and act like an “owner”

#6 Improving Performance Through Transparency
By sharing numbers with employees, you can increase employees’ sense of ownership.

However, being open is not enough. You need to be sure your employees are trained to understand financial statements and have enough insight into their own jobs to know how to effect the numbers. Focus on additional metrics besides the financial ones. Employees who are not in the financial world will be able to relate better to the results and will feel more included in the progress

#7 Increase Performance Through Employee Engagement 
Employees who are engaged put their heart and soul into their job and have energy excitement to give more than is required of the job. Engaged employees are committed and loyal to the organization

#8 Story Telling 
Story telling can be a powerful tool when you want to drive organizational change and performance improvement. The leaders must be able to use stories to motivate their employees to achieve than they thought possible.

#9 Internal Communication
Internal communication need to be on the top of the agenda -Have they heard the message? Do they know what it means? Have they internalized it?

#10 Taking Time to Celebrate
Do remember to celebrate milestones once they have been reached. Taking the time to celebrate is important because it acknowledge people’s hard work, boosts morale and keeps up the momentum. If you want something to grow, pour champagne on it