High Performance Foundations
A systematic approach to delivering
sustainable high performance
‘High performance foundations’ are the underpinning principles and methods for achieving ‘high performance with ease’. After all, any great building needs good foundations. This is our view on what is the minimum ‘structure’ needed to begin to establish a ‘high performance with ease’ environment.
A whole system approach
“Many good … companies have respect for individuals, and practice Kaizen and other TPS (Toyota Production System) tools. But what is important is having all of the elements together as a system. It must be practiced every day in a very consistent manner – not in spurts – in a concrete way on the shop floor.”
Fujio Cho, former President, Toyota
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A look at the history of the deployment of approaches such as TQM, lean or Operational Excellence suggests that many organisations treat the as a set of ‘bolt–on’ tools and techniques applied to limited parts of the organisation. Improvement activities are often tacked as ‘projects’, while the rest of the organisation carries on as before.
In contrast, those that achieve sustainable success see the need to transform the way the whole organisation thinks and acts, based on a new set of beliefs that trigger a whole new way of working where everyone has two parts to the role – doing their job and improving their job.
While many argue that such a transformation can only be driven by some sort of crisis, we have come to believe that it can also be driven by a strong desire to create a different kind of organisation. What is less disputed is that a sense of urgency and a recognition of the challenge ahead.
Such a broad scope could suggest that such a transformation is hugely complex and are defeated before they start. Diving into the vast array of resources available might lead you to that conclusion.
However, thinking back into his own personal journey, our founder believes there is a much simpler ‘core system’ that can be readily understood and applied. That’s not to say it is easy. Some of the steps require significant thinking and effort but, in line with our philosophy of ‘high performance with ease’, it doesn’t have to be so difficult.
Watch the video for an introduction
Core ideas
“Begin with the end in mind”
Stephen R. Covey, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
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Sustainable successful organisations take a long–term view, driven by a vision for the type of organisation they seek to create. This can seem at odds with contemporary Western culture, driven by the need for short term ‘shareholder value’. However, the best organisations manage this tension creatively and derive short–term goals that deliver results while remaining aligned to the long term direction. It’s a case of thinking ‘both…and…’ rather than ‘either…or…’
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Many organisations seem to be driven by reacting to changing circumstances and emerging difficulties. The best are proactive, seeking to anticipate what lies ahead and acting to prevent themselves getting into difficulty.
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Many organisations treat profit as THE goal of the organisation. However, while profit is important, should it really be the key driver of a business?
One well–respected business leader even went as far as to say ‘profit is excrement!”
Behind this strange remark is the idea that profit is the output of a healthy organisation, one that focusses on a more significant view of their purpose. ‘Who are we here to serve?’ and ‘What are we providing?’ become the key drivers.
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The best organisations recognise the value of all of their people at a deeper level. Not resources to be consumed or assets to be exploited, rather a treasure to be valued and nurtured, based on a fundamental belief in the uniqueness and intrinsic value of every individual.
Such ‘people first’ thinking may seem counter–intuitive at first, even ‘soft’, yet only by tapping into the full creative potential of everyone in the organisation can the level of improvement necessary to achieve ‘high performance with ease’ be achieved.
The best organisation recognise that only by focussing on both task and people can sustainable high performance be achieved.
Foundational building blocks
Underpinned by these fundamental principles, we have developed a set of core ‘building blocks’ that provide the foundation for ‘high performance with ease’.
There are two key strands:
Team Performance: This strand focusses on a clear framework within which teams can manage and improve their own performance, defining the necessary thinking, principles, methods and tools required.
Too often organisations focus primarily on this area of activity and wonder why initial success is not sustained or that the results fail to live up to expectations.
A second key area is required.
Leadership Climate: Leaders create the environment for ‘high performance with ease’ to really take hold. From what they talk about, the way they behave, how they interact with others in the organisation and the support they make available to their people to work on improvement – all of these contribute to ensuring that teams are inspired, encouraged and equipped to be the best versions of themselves.
These are supported by Team Development activity the equips everyone with the knowledge and skills they need to execute the above well.
Team performance
To be successful, and team needs a system that works in a joined–up way to deliver great performance every time. We have identified four key elements.
“If you don’t know where you’re going,
you’ll end up somewhere else!”
Every team needs to be clear on its purpose and goals, and also where these fit into the overall purpose and goals of the organization.
Put simply, each person needs to know:
What is needed
Why it matters
How success is measured
Goals and targets must be aligned across the organisation to ensure that every individual and team plays its part in achieving the overall outcome desired.
Once clear goals and targets are established, a system is required to manage their delivery
Team information centres: information on goals, targets and day–by–day (even hour–by–hour) performance is visible to everyone.
Daily “stand–up” meeting: a short daily meeting to connect with the team and highlight any issues that may inhibit performance establishes a rhythm ands ensure everyone is connected.
Owned by the team: such a system leaves ownership for delivery clearly with the team.
At the start, both methods and results can be highly variable. Applying the above approach with a focus on developing more consistency of method will delivery more consistency of results.
Agreed, achievable plans: for success, plans must recognise the current capacity and capability of the team.
Well–organised workplace (5S): organising the workplace such that everyone has easy access to what they need facilitates doing the job and also makes it easier to spot when something is not as it should be.
Standard work: consistency on how work is done is fundamental to create results. Documenting and sticking to ‘the best method we currently know’ gives more consistent results and also provides the foundation for improvement.
Great results won’t be achieved immediately. As the parts of the system above are applied, difficulties will become apparent and opportunities to improve will be identified.
Problem solving (reactive): Rather than simply treat the symptoms – essentially solving the same problem over and over – a good approach to problem solving identifies and removes root causes such that problems do not recur.
Improvement (proactive): By contrast, opportunities will be identified that need to be addressed proactively to deliver an improvement.
Leadership climate
Leaders create the environment for ‘high performance with ease’ to really take hold. From what they talk about, the way they behave, how they interact with others in the organisation and the support they make available to their people to work on improvement – all of these contribute to ensuring that teams are inspired, encouraged and equipped to be the best versions of themselves.
We have identified four key areas of leadership practice needed for the above team performance system to deliver its potential.
Great vision establishes direction and inspires people. With a clear and consistent direction, clear short, medium and long–term goals can be set at organisation, function, team and individual level.
Align company vision and goals with team and personal goals: it’s important that all goals are aligned to the overall organisational goal. Focus on functional priorities can create tension.
Customer focus for all: encouraging everyone to think about the ‘customer’ – whether that be the organisation’s customers (end users, shareholders etc) or the team’s ‘internal customer’ is a great enabler for alignment.
It’s important that the process of developing goals and targets is two–way, involving everyone – ‘top–down’ and ‘bottom up. In this way the realities of the current situation – both people and task related – are understood in setting goals, thus maximising engagement and the chances of success.
People respond to what they experience far more than what they are told. Thus, where leadership behaviour is not aligned to stated intention, it’s clear which ‘message’ will be listened to. Leaders must therefore work to ensure that their behaviour is consistent with the vision created.
Focus on developing themselves and others: Acquiring new knowledge and skills is just as important for leaders as it is for everyone else in the organisation.
Manage Activity (People and Process) not Outcomes: Great results are achieved by skilled people applying great processes. Managing by outcomes is like driving by looking in the rear view mirror. Take care of the inputs and the outputs will take care of themselves.
Go to Gemba with purpose: ‘Gemba’ is a Japanese word for ‘where things take place’. Only by going to where the work is done will leaders understand the challenge and needs of the people.
Coaching leadership style: A coaching style, grounded in a belief that leaders don’t (need to) have all the answers, encourages thinking and greater contribution from everyone. Be curious, ask questions, listen deeply.
We propose two key goals for engagement.
Turn “have to” into “want to”: this engages everyone’s discretionary effort rather than have them doing just what they need to do to get the incentive or avoid the negative consequence of non-compliance.
Create an environment for people to perform and become the best versions of themselves. This has three components:
Meaning: Everyone wants significance, so connect into those things that really matter to people.
Psychological Safety: Engaging with new ways of working has to be a positive experience. In particular, what response to people get when the highlight a problem or an apparent failure? How do you remove the fear of a negative consequence of so doing. We suggest two simple first responses:
- “Thank to for bringing this to our attention”
- “How can we support you to fix it?”
Capacity (Time & Energy): Creating space in their schedule for the work of engaging with everyone in the organisation in appropriate depth and frequency becomes and essential part of a leader’s work.
Allied to the above, leaders need to provide the necessary support for people to succeed.
Establish good systems/processes: great results come more from there being good systems of work and processes. Parts of the leader’s role is to establish those systems, involving those who will work in them as much as possible.
Time for Kaizen: To work on problems and improvements people need time free from the pressure of day-to-day work. It is the leader’s responsibility to protect time in the schedule for this.
Team development: Finally, everyone needs the knowledge and skills necessary to do their best work. Investment in the development of individuals and teams enables everyone to fulfil their potential and is a clear sign of leadership commitment to the journey to ‘high performance with ease’.
There are two primary areas of focus for team development in the early days that apply to everyone. More specialist knowledge and skill may be required later, but these two are foundational.
Versatility (multi–skilled): growing the number of team members who can perform specific tasks both builds organisational resilience and supports the flourishing of everyone in the organisation.
Problem solving and improvement methods: A structured approach to problem solving and making improvements is a key skill for everyone. ‘Improving your job’ becomes a core part of everyone’s job description.
Want to learn more?
The above is a brief introduction to our ‘high performance foundations’. If you’d like to find out more, either book a call with Harvey or complete our contact form using the relevant buttons below.