Is Your Organisation A High Performer?

The business world will always be challenging. In many ways it’s those challenges that make it fun and rewarding. Many organisations strive to be high performing. We probably all have different views on what makes an organisation high performing and here are my thoughts.

A Compelling Vision

A high performing organisation is my experience very clear about where it is heading, the markets in which it operates and the customers and clients that it serves.

While many organisations might have the clarity, the best engage the hearts, minds and support of others to make it a reality.

Open Communication

Open communication for me is about freely sharing both the good and not so good news. Of equal and perhaps even greater importance is really listening to and encouraging ideas and insights from employees, customers and suppliers.

Strong Involvement

If you spend all of your time telling people what to do and how to think; sooner or later you de-motivate them. Once you start to de-motivate, you are on a downward spiral. People have things to contribute and the vast majority want to be part of creating success.

Customer Focus

It’s all too easy to lose sight of the fact that it is customers who buy the products or use the services that generate the money to pay for day to day expenses like salaries.

If you lose sight of the customers, then they will in many cases vote with their feet and take their business elsewhere.

Willing To Learn

Things move on days these days so standing still is no longer an option. You have to keep developing individuals and the organisation as a whole.

The Bottom Line: At the end of the day being a high performing organisation brings many benefits. The key question is, are you ready to grab those benefits?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers. You can sign up for his free audio e-course leadership success at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

About the Author Duncan Brodie

Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.

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18 comments
Iryl supangat says 14 April 2011

Focus,involvement and then performance are merely tools to realize the vision. It will become alive if the emloyee not only taking part in processes but also gaining the benefit of the result in an attractive way.In simple words, the organization dream is part of the employee dream.

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Connie McKnight says 17 April 2011

Duncan,

When you spoke about open communication, you hit the nail on the head. My son-in-law has very good business that’s growing faster than he is. There are some disgruntled employees that are not very happy that he’s not sharing his vision and plans for the company. I sure hope some of them can start the communication flowing. I don’t want this to de-motivate them.

Managers/leaders don’t know what they don’t know, so it takes listening to find out what they need to learn.

Thanks for post; I enjoyed it.

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