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The Holy Grail

By Andrew Mayo (November 2004 Issue)
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One of today’s most holy grails is to have a ‘high performance culture’. There is nothing new about seeking high performance, of course. Fifteen years (or so) ago this was firmly associated with ‘profits’, and for the public sector with ‘cost minimisation’. Then in the 1990s the buzzword became ‘value’, particularly return for shareholders. The unbalanced pursuit of a high share price led to some very questionable practices as we now know, but the word ‘value’ also spread into the non-profit domain.

Today, many are seeing performance in a broader sense, aided by the success of tools such as the balanced scorecard, the prevalence of ‘customer focus’ as a core value, and the emphasis on managing ‘talent’. New and pending regulatory moves on the reporting of ‘intangible assets’ will encourage this more complete picture, as investors recognise what truly builds long-term value.

Countless studies have tried to analyse what makes the difference between the high- and the low-performing organisation, and many find that culture in its broadest definition – as ‘the way we do things around here’ – is at the heart. We know from the dotcom collapse that having lots of fun and a great environment does not of itself lead to high performance.

One study by Osbourne and Cowen looked at a wide range of businesses to see what made the difference.1 They identified seven attributes of the culture. The first was an ‘emotion-packed vision’, followed by a ‘true-believer mentality’ (a strong sense of identity with the organisation’s vision). The third was ‘plain vanilla values’ (simple, often emotional and appealing). Simultaneous ‘pride and dissatisfaction’ came next (complacency is out). The last three were ‘peer respect’, ‘long-term relationships’ and ‘fun’. This culture is stimulated by a performance system that focuses on ‘precise expectations and constant feedback’, constant striving (‘performance is king’), and ‘the truth is told’ (open communication of news, good and bad).

The cynics have already recognised this as an American study – and perhaps seeing problems with transferability. What about a British study? Well, here we could quote Linda Holbeche of Roffey Park.2 Her ‘high performance organisation checklist’ utilises a six-point model with the following enablers:

* developing organisational change-ability
* creating a knowledge-rich context for innovation
* creating a boundary-less organisation
* stimulating people to sustainable levels of high performance
* becoming a great place to work, and
* becoming a values-based organisation.

At this point, readers may be sighing ‘if only’. If only you could see our problems, our leadership, our unions, our cultural heritage. It’s all very well for these organisations that have already got such a culture to be studied and to stand on platforms and tell the world. But ‘I just don’t know where to start’. How can we make the journey from where we are now to where we’d love to be?

Despite those who say ‘change can start from anywhere in the organisation’, determined and sustained change requires leadership. But great leaders are scarce. Enter Jim Collins and his solidly research-based best-selling business book of all time, From Good to Great.3 Collins studied how good companies, steady but unexciting, were transformed to become real high-performers. The high levels of charisma and the accompanying hype were found to be as much a potential liability as an asset. Vision is less important than facing up to the brutal facts, he said, and great results usually come in due course from finding what you can (and cannot) be best at – what he calls the ‘hedgehog concept’.

These are only a few of Collins’s conclusions. Interestingly enough, he hardly mentions culture and values, although he does emphasise (like Osbourne and Cowen) the importance of ‘a climate where truth is heard’. The consistent emphasis is on disciplines, processes and external benchmarking. That does not mean that the findings of others are wrong and that culture is unimportant. But one has to wonder if these great cultures are not the product of success rather than the driver of it.

This is a serious matter for anyone involved in leadership development. Leaders – or managers (since most are both) – must be able to relate their learning to their own situation. Awareness of their personal competencies, and an associated development plan, is always valuable – but the actual impact on organisations as a result is not proven. Illustrating great leadership through examples of charismatic behaviour, studying cases of the rescue of companies from disaster or seeing videos of Herb Kelleher, CEO of SouthWest Airlines, arm-wrestling with a rival are all fascinating and enjoyable. But will they help me to deal with the transformation of my company?

The high-performance culture – is it chicken or egg? Without learning and embedding the business disciplines so ably articulated by Collins, we could be wasting our time. That’s a real challenge for trainers and developers.

References
1. Richard L Osbourne and Scott S Cowen, ‘High-performance companies: the distinguishing profile’, Management Decision, vol 40, no. 3, 2002, pp. 227–231.
2. Linda Holbeche, The High-Performance Organisation Checklist, Roffey Park, 2003.
3. Jim Collins, From Good to Great, Random House, 2003.


Andrew Mayo is a consultant, speaker, writer and facilitator in international HR management, with specialisms in people and organisation development. He can be contacted on +44 (0) 1727 843424, at andrew@mliltd.com or visit www.mliltd.com

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