New England Tech Wire

Achieving Organizational Excellence

Strategies for the "High Performance Organization" Model

By Jeff Parks and Ellen Gray, Performance Breakthrough, Inc.

Ask yourself: What’s the best organization I’ve ever been a part of? Why was it so good? What was done to build it and to sustain it? Most organizations focus on building pieces of organizational excellence, but few address it holistically and directly by simultaneously considering the needs of customers, staff and the organization’s mission and/or vision.

A high performance organization (HPO) framework involves six major levers that lead to organizational excellence by aligning customer needs and wants, mission/vision accomplishment, and ongoing staff commitment. Think of the framework as a means to grow and strengthen your organization, thus positioning it for desired ends related to mission, vision and values. Here is a more detailed overview of the HPO framework:

1. Vision/Strategic Planning
High performance organizations know where they are going. They have clearly defined their vision (picture of success for there to five years ahead), their mission (why they exist), and their strategies (levers for accomplishing the vision). They have also clearly articulated their core values (behavioral and social norms) and use those in their recruitment, screening, hiring, orientation and performance management systems.

2. Customers
Organizations need to know who their true customer is and those customers’ needs and wants. High performance organizations not only delight the customer for current needs and wants, but they also anticipate and deliver on future or unrealized needs.

3. Leadership
Leaders define the vision for the organization and the path to get there. Leaders also help shape the culture—by their words, their actions, what they choose to focus on and support, and what they avoid. Managers help execute the vision—through effectively balancing the accomplishment of projects/tasks and meeting the needs of the workforce.

4. Employee Commitment and Competence
Commitment is the “willingness.” Competence is the “ableness.” When you maximize both, you will maximize your workforce’s performance.

5. Performance Measures
Organizations measure so that they can manage better. If you really want to influence employee (and leader) performance, look at what your organization measures and rewards. We advocate creating a mix of measures that matter—including strategic and managerial—and “mapping” to the outcomes you identify in your vision/strategic plan.

6. Change Management and Implementation
This is all about winning hearts and minds for the “change effort.” The change might be the implementation of a major piece of software, a new policy or direction, or a change in organizational structure. Change efforts should leverage the driving forces already in place and minimize the resistance forces. When people find a WIIFM (What’s In It For Me?), they’ll usually buy-in and get on board. Leaders must be able to articulate how the change will improve the organization and how it will affect them before this can happen.

What’s Next?
Where is your organization right now? What are the potential gains that can come from committing to this journey? Imagine if your workforce was excited to come to work every day and brought their whole self to the table? Even if you can’t “fix” the overall organization, you can help your department or team become an “island of excellence.” We hope you find something in here to help your journey to organizational excellence.

Potential results of the HPO Framework
Describing HPO, or organizational excellence, in results-based terms should be one of your early steps, since it both increases the motivation levels and clarifies the picture of success. Here is a short list of potential HPO outcomes:

• The organization retains its “all stars” and they feel valued/equipped for excellence
• Our employees bring energy, commitment, and “their whole self” to the organization
• Those all-stars bring more all-stars into the organization
• Clients feel delighted (with the outcome and the experience) and they bring the organization new business (extending/expanding their contracts or giving referrals to others)
• The organization has a vision and strategic plan to guide its management and budgeting philosophy and decisions
• The core values drive the behavioral/social norms to achieving the desired culture
• The organization’s reputation and financial standing are solid and enduring

The second article in our four-part series will be on defining and developing a strategic direction.

Jeff Parks is founder and president of Performance Breakthroughs, Inc., a veteran-owned, Virginia-certified small business that helps organizations teams and individuals achieve excellence. Ellen Gray is a senior consultant at the firm. Contact them via e-mail at JParks@PerformanceBreakthroughs.com or EGray@PerformanceBreakthroughs.com. For more information, visit www.performancebreakthroughs.com.

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