In many coaching sessions discussions about business performance usually center on topics like marketing, financial management, and productivity enhancements. While these factors are important, in my experience they are best leveraged when employees are engaged, aligned, and motivated to win.
In my early career leading many JV’s and organizational changes, I’ve learned that culture can be powerfully leveraged to enhance long-term success. Yet many leaders in organisations don’t make culture a priority.
Every individual on every team in a company can work together, to deliver beyond what is deemed possible. For employees to do that, they need to feel a powerful sense of purpose, reinforced by a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous learning.
These are some of the steps that help establish a high performance culture:
Set clear expectations
Show the path of the journey, communicate a clear vision, and get a mandate for change from the team, so they become ready to make the necessary sacrifices.
Role model positive attitudes and behaviours
Leaders, starting with the CEO, must consistently act with the same business authenticity that they want to see in their teams.
In all teams/companies I led, we published five or six ‘rules of the game’ we all expected of each other so that we could share, learn, innovate, and grow as individuals and as members of a team.
Build trust
Trust in the senior leadership team is an important indicator of organisational health. To build trust, CEOs must actively show employees that they make fair decisions, value people, and value good work.
Execute via a high-performance culture
A culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous learning leads to powerful execution. Organisational leaders should keep encouraging employees to take ownership of both the problems and the solutions.
In today’s era of accelerating change, culture can still lead to unexpectedly strong performance. The good news is that while it requires time, commitment, and a strong CEO leader, a high performance culture can be built into almost any business.
