Who doesn’t want to perform well? Who doesn’t want to succeed?
Aren’t Performance or Success or Striving for better motherhood values?
Their place as the 2nd most popular “Corporate Value” is interesting.
Perhaps the need to focus on “Performance” betrays a frustration that not everyone in organizations are equally committed to the same results as the owners or top executives?
Anyone who has worked in a normal organization knows this to be true, but is it what you think?
Having “Performance” as a “Value” is a leader’s best friend.
Not because a good leader needs reminding that achievement is important, but because it gives a chance for another conversation about the key partner that makes a Performance culture work – Standards.
Like the other Values, “Performance” means little by itself, only in combination does it help achieve success. The key decision that needs to be made when considering Achievement is – “Achievement of What?”
You see beauty really does lie in the eye of the beholder, and a quick survey of your own team should quickly reveal that there are very diverse views of success, even among leaders.
So just pushing for “results” will likely result in lots of different results that may not coalesce into the overall result that’s needed. Worse it might end up in confusion and frustration and non-achievement.
Even worse if leaders drive for performance but keep changing their minds on priorities. Confusion, frustration and disillusionment follow – too often the same confusing leaders then berate their teams for not being committed to high Performance….
In BalancedKaizen we emphasize Standards, not just Targets. Standards are broader than targets and include Priorities and ways of achieving results. Whilst targets definitely need to be aligned, Priorities and Methods also need to be, to make success more likely.
The key decision that needs to be made when considering Achievement is – “Achievement of What?”
As a leader you need to make sure that key objectives and priorities are clear, and aligned, to ensure that all the team will be celebrating the same achievements.
Standards matter.
So the frustration that leads so many top leaders to wish for a stronger “Performance” culture might not always be because people don’t want to achieve success, it may simply be because their people all have different views on what success means.
How is the “Performance culture” in your team?
Are you investing as much energy into clarifying your team’s objectives as you do judging their performance?
