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Weekly UpdatesEvery organization has its bright stars--one or more areas where everything seems to work efficiently and effectively and where innovation starts. How can an organization capture that success and spread it throughout the organization?
A study conducted few years ago, under the auspices of the Hudson Highland Center for High Performance, found some major factors that distinguish those high-performing workgroups.
To increase high performance, organizations need to focus on the single factor that is most critical to high performance--the environment of the workgroup. The major factors of success in driving high performance identified in the research included:
* valuing people
* optimizing critical thinking
* seizing opportunities.
1. Productivity Plus Innovation Drives High Performance
There is an important difference between productivity and high performance, although the two concepts are often used interchangeably. In recent years, some economists have argued that relying on productivity numbers to measure performance can be misleading and potentially counterproductive. Based on an industrial model, productivity is still calculated as the number of units produced in a given period of time by a worker. In knowledge-based sectors, productivity is much more difficult to measure. In addition, the ubiquity of e-mail, cell phones, laptop computers, and other communication technology makes it possible for professional and managerial workers to work from their cars, their homes, and even the beach--and those hours are not captured when measuring productivity.
Managers who solely emphasize productivity tend to drive out the capacity in their workers to engage in innovation and creativity. Forty percent of the respondents could point to a process improvement that their workgroup was responsible for; only 17 percent said their group had developed a new product or service. Innovation combined with productivity leads to high performance.
2. It's the Workgroup, Not the Individual
Individual performance is important, but it is affected by the environment. You can put your very best workers in the wrong environment, and they will not do their best work.
It is important for organizations to develop high-potential individuals by providing training and mentoring and by helping them plan a career path. But if you want to get the biggest return on your human capital investment, make sure these individuals are in a high-performing workgroup. This study showed that not only can the talented individual thrive in high-performance environments, but such environments also increase the likelihood of B players becoming A players.
If you have people who care more about looking good than helping the group look good; if they do only what will advance their own careers; if they define "winning" as beating their teammates, they will destroy the high-performance environment. High-performing workgroups accept that "we are in this together." They realize that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
To maximize performance, the leader needs to leverage the skills of group members by playing to their strengths--not only their functional skills but also their natural abilities. Who is the go-to person for evaluating downside risk? Who is best at seeing upside potential? Who is the one who knows the historical context of a current situation? Taking advantage of differing skills enhances the group's ability to collaborate effectively
3. It's the Environment, Not the Leader
The research showed that the workgroup environment, not the leader, is the most important factor in driving high performance. The key is to create an environment that values people (treating smart people as if they are smart), optimizes critical thinking (minimizing emotional responses by matching words and actions), and seizes opportunities (creating learning environments that turn challenges into opportunities). They create environments where people want to go to work every day
Too often, high performance is dependent on a leader who intuitively understands the need for this environment. This leaves high performance to chance. The problem is that when the leader leaves, the group loses its ability to achieve peak performance. Organizations can stop dependence on the leader by making the group responsible for creating a high-performance environment.
One way to do this is to conduct a 360-degree feedback process. The group should discuss what it can start, continue, or stop doing to drive results and make the workgroup something people really want to be a part of.
4. The Leader Protects the Group from Interference
One of the biggest differentiators between high-performing and nonperforming workgroups is that the leaders of high-performing groups protect the group. The research implies that the leader is forced to put time and energy into combating interference so that the workgroup "can do its work."
5. There Is Room to Grow
Even the highest-performing workgroups can do better. In fact, the easiest, most efficient way to increase the overall performance of the organization is to increase the performance of those groups already at the top by encouraging group members to speak the unspeakable, pass the ball to the right player, and practice respectful communication.
Another way to increase overall performance is by moving average-performing workgroups into the high-performing category By instituting a process for high- and average-performing groups to collaborate on solving problems and overcoming barriers, you can increase the overall performance of the organization.
6. Your Employees Can Solve Your Problems
The first thing organizations often do when they confront a serious challenge is to hire a team of consultants. While consultants can provide valuable insight from the viewpoint of outsiders, organizations should consult their own employees. Because employees know the organization best, they usually can figure out how to solve the problem.
For this to work, employees must be given "amnesty" for telling the truth about what needs to be done. Promise them that they will face no negative consequences for offering their ideas.
7. Short-term Thinking Kills Performance
The research indicated members of both high-performing and nonperforming groups felt overworked and at the mercy of short-term goals. Organizations sometimes attempt across-the-board cuts to meet budget requirements, but the research showed that if leaders engage members of high-performing workgroups, innovative approaches can be developed to set realistic targets and achieve them.
8. The "Dumb" Idea Could be the Next Paradigm Shift
The next time one of your workgroups comes to you with a "dumb" idea, ask yourself whether it's really a bad idea, or whether it represents a paradigm shift that you don't grasp. Looking for what's wrong with these ideas is a dangerous strategy; instead, look for what's smart about new ideas.
The workers coming into the workforce today see the world differently than their bosses. The new generation has never known life without a computer. While today's senior managers have the experience to take new ideas and make them work, they did not grow up speaking the language of new technology Consequently, the best they can do is translate. They think, "How can we use technology to do the same thing we used to do, but better, faster, and cheaper?" As a result, organizations are digitizing many processes they used to do manually. While this is necessary, it is not enough. The younger workers are fluent in the language of new technology and can use technology to invent new opportunities.
9. Workers Need More Information, Not Less
Organizations often don't give workers the information they need to do their best work. Senior managers sometimes hoard information or shield workers from information they believe will scare them.
In high-performing groups, workers have the information they need to do their jobs. They are told where the organization needs to go, the problems it faces, and what keeps senior leaders up at night. They are challenged to use this information to push the organization ahead. Most importantly, they trust their employees to use the information in the organization's best interest. When you treat people as though they are smart and trustworthy, most will prove you right.
10. Build It and They Will Come ... and Stay
High-performing groups are talent magnets. Perhaps your organization's reputation or your compensation plan, or the job description got talented employees in the door, but those factors won't necessarily keep them. The ability to work in a high-performance environment makes employees want to stay.
Top performers like to be challenged and given responsibility for results. They like to be told what the goal is, not how to achieve it. They don't want to work in an environment where information is withheld, or where leaders pursue a personal agenda.
CONCLUSION
Every government has high-performing workgroups that are the ones coming up with new ideas or processes to make government more efficient and better serve the citizens. It takes courage to trust that the people in your organization have the secrets to success and to allow them to share those secrets throughout the organization. And most importantly, it takes courage to listen, ask questions, allow failure, and keep learning.
SUSAN LUCIA ANNUNZIO is president and CEO of The Center for High Performance. Previously, She directed the research on high-performance for the Hudson Highland Group, Inc. She is the author of Contagious Success (Portfolio, 2004).
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