The Vitality of a High-Performance Culture and the Necessity of Shared Ownership

Many leaders today speak about culture within their companies only when forced to, and others aren’t there to listen. However, the high-performance culture is not just a buzzword. It’s the internal force that drives all your processes, practices, and ethics. It is not a choice but a necessity in today’s business environment and must be a priority in your planning.

Corporate culture should remain the same across geographical regions and empower people to be high performers. You will have a high-performance company if you have the right high-performance culture. It would be best to have a noticeable “Company Way” of doing things, which can be recognized by employees, management, and customers regardless of where the company is located.

ONE COMPANY — ONE CULTURE should be your mantra. This means that your company should strive for a consistent, unified culture across all offices and departments. However, many leaders dilute the culture by needing more fortitude to infuse the whole nature of a high-performance culture into their company’s DNA. Many offices have no unity of decoration. Logo guidelines are not enforced, color palettes are ignored, communication methods are loosely driven programs that lack focus and respect, and employees have no ownership.

There are many basic elements necessary for a sustainable high-performance culture:

1. A Dream that allows you to hire people who want to be the best in class, are inspired by what they do regularly and are willing to own the results. People who understand that there are still failures they can learn from in striving for excellence.

2. The people you attract align with the company’s vision and mission. You provide growth opportunities to people who deliver, are cultural ambassadors, and are willing to take on new responsibilities. This does not mean robots, but human beings who understand and support the vision and mission instead of just staying in step with an autocratic leader.

3. Ensure you generate an environment that encourages people to feel invested in your company and plan to stay around for a long time. Invest in commitment to long-term employment with the right people so they stay calm when times are tough. Make sure they treat the company like it is theirs because owners make better decisions.

4. Leadership in action is the crucial role of high-performance Leaders in upholding company Values. A company's values are not just words on a wall; they are the guiding principles that shape the culture. If leadership does not embody these values with the same level of excitement, confidence, and transparency, then no employees will follow. The responsibility of upholding these values lies on the shoulders of the leadership.

5. The Key to upholding high-performance standards and motivating your team is to have dynamic, fair, and respectful methods of recognizing growth, innovation, and compassion. These methods are not just perks, they are essential tools in maintaining a high-performance culture.

6. Focus on balancing expectations. If people are too relaxed and not focused, quality suffers. When there is too much pressure, people become filled with anxiety and fear, which causes quality to suffer. No one can produce their best when they feel ignored, bored, or threatened. Be very clear with expectations.

7. Consensus in today’s business environment is possible if people are authentic. In this context, consensus refers to a shared agreement or understanding among team members. Alignment is more important than consensus, which needs to be framed with a healthy dose of honest discussion and commitment. Allow people to speak up without fear. Innovation can be painful and time-consuming, so be patient and forgiving. Truth MUST be Valued.

Finally, always maintain who you are as a company. Adapt and improve, but never compromise so that someone else can claim to be the de facto leader. Run your company as a well-groomed sports team; results matter, and everyone contributes to wins. Reward your contributors. Find and keep people who genuinely care about the company and keep them engaged. Ensure they feel they have opportunities within the organization.

Takeaway: Remember: The customer is the Ultimate Judge; always remember who pays for your products or services. The rest of this is only useful if the customer is happy.

Leadership Questions: How do you empower people to share ownership with your employees, customers, or suppliers? If not, why not?