7 Business Habits That Drive High Performance

7 Business Habits That Drive High Performance Plot Summary

Introduction

Imagine walking into two different organizations. In one, employees seem energized, focused, and genuinely enthusiastic about their work. In the other, people appear disengaged, merely going through the motions with little passion or commitment. What creates this stark difference? The answer lies in organizational habits – those deeply ingrained practices that become "the way we do things around here." The path to sustainable high performance isn't about quick fixes or the latest management fad. It's about developing and embedding specific organizational habits that become part of your company's DNA. These seven interdependent habits, supported by research involving over 100,000 employees across 200 organizations, form the foundation for creating a workplace where people want to contribute their best efforts, customers become loyal advocates, and long-term success becomes not just possible but inevitable.

Chapter 1: Live an Inspiring Vision

An inspiring vision serves as a powerful magnet that draws people toward a compelling future. More than just pointing the way, it energizes employees and gets them out of bed in the morning with purpose and enthusiasm. Among all seven habits, living an inspiring vision stands as the single greatest differentiator between high and low-performing organizations. Nicholas Barnett shares how one organization with global aspirations communicated their vision with tremendous passion and commitment. The leadership team consistently reminded each other of this vision as they encountered obstacles. Over several years, they overcame numerous problems, setbacks, and struggles because their vision provided a strong foundation during challenging times. The CEO remained steadfastly focused, and the team truly learned to live their vision. Today, they're well on their journey to high performance despite the many hurdles they faced. The research reveals a crucial insight: employees don't want to come to work simply to earn money for their boss or shareholders. They crave meaning and purpose – to be part of something special and worthwhile. This is why a well-crafted vision must be within the organization's control, appropriately aspirational, and able to connect with both hearts and minds. To create and embed an inspiring vision, first engage your employees in the development process. Their input and subsequent buy-in will make implementation much more effective. Second, ensure your vision evokes emotion, not just rational understanding. As one senior executive noted: "People will go to great lengths, make extra effort, endure hardships, dismiss distractions and retain full focus for something they believe in as they are emotionally invested in the outcome." Third, regularly reference your vision and link it to strategies, goals, projects, and actions to bring it to life. Remember that a united leadership team is essential. If there's even a small crack in the solidarity of the leadership team regarding the vision, that crack can become a major chasm further down the organization's structure. A minor speck of negativity can become contagious, undermining the efforts of the entire team.

Chapter 2: Communicate Clear Strategies and Goals

Clarity about where your organization is headed is as essential as having goal posts in a sporting match. Imagine Australian Rules football without goal posts – players wouldn't know where to aim, and chaos would ensue. Similarly, when strategies and goals are unclear, employees become confused about priorities and direction. A striking example comes from an organization that carefully developed its overall goals and then created team goals for every department. Individual goals were also established for every position. These goals were measured monthly at organization, team, and individual levels, then discussed at leadership team meetings and communicated quarterly to all staff and the board. This comprehensive goal-setting and communication process significantly increased both staff alignment and engagement. The research shows this impact clearly: 69% of employees in high-performance organizations say their organization's strategies have been clearly communicated to them, compared to only 36% in low-performance organizations. This dramatic difference illustrates why clear communication of strategy is essential for employees to understand what the organization is trying to achieve and how their efforts contribute. To implement this habit effectively, ensure your strategy addresses key questions about what makes your organization different from competitors and how that differentiation can be sustained. Develop a "strategy on a page" that summarizes your vision, strategies, and main metrics on a single document. This discipline forces clarity and focus on what's truly important. Remember the old saying: "If everything is important, then nothing is important." Consider developing a tagline or slogan that sends a clear message about what's special about your organization. For example, Insync Surveys uses "Inspiring change" as its tagline, integral to its methodology for measuring and improving organizational performance. Finally, cascade your goals throughout the organization and develop a scorecard with appropriate leading and lag indicators to measure progress toward implementing your strategic plan.

Chapter 3: Develop Your People

People development in high-performance organizations resembles the way Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, approached his musicians. He once said, "I set as a goal the maximum capacity that people have. I settle for no less. I make myself the relentless architect of the possibility of human beings." This captures the essence of Habit 3 – taking full responsibility for developing your people. One organization discovered that selecting, recruiting, coaching and supporting the right people wasn't enough – they needed to unleash the potential within their employees. They implemented a comprehensive development approach that included challenging special assignments, inter-office transfers, job rotation, and overseas postings. These additional challenges stretched participants and ensured they grew at a faster pace than they would otherwise. The organization also created well-structured career paths for employees, carefully mapping out the competencies and skills each person needed before moving to the next level. The impact was transformative. Their investment in development led to significantly improved retention rates, as employees felt valued and saw clear growth opportunities. This contrasted sharply with competitors who focused primarily on selection and recruitment but neglected development, coaching, and support components. To develop your people effectively, start by ensuring your leadership team forms a common view on the importance of people development. Ask some of your leaders to champion the cause and become your organization's "Benjamin Zanders." Begin by investing in developing your leaders, focusing particularly on the behavioral competencies required for great leadership, not just technical skills. Continue finding new ways to develop your people, recognizing that at least 70% of development occurs on the job. Build a culture of mentoring and coaching by implementing specific programs that ensure emerging leaders are guided by appropriate internal or external mentors. Some organizations have found success by seconding staff to clients during quieter times or sending employees to gain experience with non-profit organizations, providing valuable new insights. Remember that the concern should not be "What if we develop our people and they leave?" but rather "What if we don't develop them and they stay?" As one senior executive noted, "In today's competitive business environment, organizations need to do more than just survive, they need to thrive and compete. Developing their people is key to this success."

Chapter 4: Recognize and Celebrate Achievements

Imagine receiving a fresh batch of achievement awards daily and making it your mission to distribute as many as possible to your team. This metaphor captures the essence of Habit 4 – going out of your way to recognize your people. We all remember how proud our children were when showing us their school awards. Many managers have lost this art of recognition that brings such pride and joy to their employees. One organization discovered through an employee survey that despite achieving many challenging goals, staff perceived they weren't appropriately thanked or recognized. The organization began an important change program to help their hard-driving and competitive leaders better connect emotionally with employees and express thanks and appreciation more consistently. They learned there is simply no substitute for genuinely thanking and recognizing your people. Another organization decided to recognize their CFO for significant extra work undertaken over an extended period. To show appreciation, they sent him and his wife to a health retreat for a four-day weekend. Even five years later, the CFO and others regularly referenced this thoughtful gesture, which had become almost legendary within the company. This demonstrates how one-off recognition events can provide one of the best returns on investment an organization can make – the value derived typically far exceeds the monetary value involved. To implement this habit, start by counting how many times you acknowledge and thank different employees for their contributions in a normal week, both privately and publicly. Consciously plan to significantly increase this number and notice the positive impact. Sustain that increase until it becomes a habit, then champion this approach with your leadership team and encourage them to do the same. Institutionalize systems, communications, and events that acknowledge people for their efforts, achievements, and exemplifying organizational values. Create a rhythm around regular staff celebrations and recognition events scheduled weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. Remember that recognizing teams is another powerful way to celebrate individuals while emphasizing the importance of collaboration across functions and divisions. Don't use regular recognition events as an excuse to avoid spontaneous acknowledgment. The recognition will have more impact when it's unexpected and not part of a regular program. As one executive noted, "Very few people have ever been accused of giving too much acknowledgment or thanks to their employees."

Chapter 5: Genuinely Care for Your People

Genuinely caring for your people is like a marble statue that stands up to the heat test. In Roman times, sculptors would fill mistakes in marble with wax, creating beautiful but flawed sculptures. Buyers learned to require sculptures to be "put under fire" to determine if they were genuine or contained hidden wax that would melt away. Similarly, employees can easily assess whether their leaders' concern is genuine or fake. One powerful example involves two workers from different organizations who suffered almost identical injuries. The first worker received numerous phone calls and expressions of care from his boss and colleagues – attention that cost very little time or money. This injured worker returned to work within two weeks. The second worker received no care or attention from his employer and never returned to work. The financial compensation eventually paid to this second worker exceeded $500,000. This stark contrast demonstrates how genuine care manifests in tangible outcomes. In another case, a senior female executive experienced bullying and harassment. She reported it through appropriate channels, but nothing was done to support her or address the perpetrator. After months of suffering, she took a significant break and never returned. It became clear that her employers didn't truly care for her or other employees since they were aware of the situation but chose to do nothing. This inaction proved costly for the organization and damaging to the employee. To demonstrate genuine care, focus first on authenticity – employees assess not only your actions but your motives and intentions. They quickly detect whether care is genuine or merely performative. Create a culture where individuals genuinely care for individuals by taking interest in employees' development, engagement, and personal circumstances. Actively listen to your people and value their opinions, providing regular constructive feedback. Ensure your organization doesn't tolerate bullying or harassment and that all employees are treated with dignity and respect. Consider how flexible working arrangements can accommodate employees' home-life requirements while maximizing productivity. Most importantly, manage the psychological contract well – the unwritten expectations employees have toward their employer. High-performance organizations excel at this, with 59% of their employees perceiving their organization as caring and committed to them, compared to just one-third in low-performance organizations. Remember that it takes years to build trust and demonstrate care, but only a moment to lose it. Be especially careful how you handle difficult situations like restructuring or employee terminations, as these can undo years of consistent positive work.

Chapter 6: Listen and Adapt to Customer Needs

Imagine an organization with ears everywhere – constantly listening, learning, and adapting to what customers are saying. This is the essence of Habit 6. Too many organizations focus excessively inward, failing to gather sufficient feedback about the external environment, competitors, and customers. Many startups exhaust their capital building systems and processes without adequately understanding their potential customers' needs. One high-performance organization demonstrated this habit by systematically investing time and resources to understand both current and future needs of existing and prospective customers. They built intimate customer understanding and deep relationships through every interaction. They systematically requested feedback and used this knowledge to improve operating practices and introduce new offerings. They nurtured a committed workforce where employees got to know customers personally, kept commitments, and took ownership of resolving issues. Most importantly, they invested in systems that made it easy for customers to do business with them, deliberately taking customers on a journey from satisfaction to loyalty to advocacy. The results were impressive – more than three-quarters of employees in this and other high-performance organizations believed their organization consistently showed commitment to achieving long-term customer loyalty, compared to less than half of employees in low-performance organizations. This deeper customer focus translated directly into better financial performance through stronger customer relationships, higher retention, and valuable word-of-mouth referrals. To implement this habit effectively, first determine which segment of your customers and which products and services are most profitable, then leverage this knowledge strategically. Develop actionable customer-related metrics and efficient processes for gathering, analyzing, and acting on customer feedback. Many high-performance organizations use measures like Net Promoter Score, satisfaction, retention, share of spend, and achievement of service standards. Build your organization's service capabilities by recruiting front-line employees with strong customer service attitudes, providing them with appropriate systems and resources, training them thoroughly, and delegating authority so they can solve customer problems efficiently. Make it easy for customers to do business with you by defining value from their perspective, mapping your organizational processes, and eliminating any processes that don't add value. Remember that while many organizations claim "customers come first," high-performance organizations understand that engaged employees are essential to creating engaged customers. As one CEO noted during interviews, "a key determinant of customer satisfaction is the extent to which their organization empowers and engages their employees."

Chapter 7: Continually Improve Your Systems

A performance by Cirque du Soleil represents the perfect metaphor for this habit – systems and people working beautifully together, constantly refined to delight and amaze customers. Organizations that have invested heavily in the other six habits but neglected this one will find that inadequate systems undermine their performance and employee engagement. One organization discovered this the hard way when they implemented a new system without effectively integrating it with existing processes. Despite substantial investment, the system was removed a few years later – an extremely costly mistake not only in terms of the system's cost but also lost productivity and wasted employee time. They learned that installing a new system is only step one; for a system to work efficiently, processes, workflows, and human behaviors must also change. The research reveals that almost three-quarters of employees in high-performance organizations agree their organization is committed to continually improving its systems, compared to only 41% in low-performance organizations. Furthermore, 59% of employees in high-performance organizations agree that their systems perform well together, compared to only 28% in low-performance organizations. These dramatic differences highlight why system improvement is so critical. To implement this habit effectively, ensure your IT investments align with the organization's strategic priorities by establishing processes for enterprise-wide collaboration between business and IT. Give users, front-line staff, and customers an adequate voice in raising issues and ensuring system enhancements address their concerns. Benchmark your systems against high-performing organizations to ensure they're appropriate for your industry, business strategy, and lifecycle stage. When considering improvements, some organizations take an incremental approach, while others use the opportunity to leapfrog competitors in efficiency and functionality. Clear strategic thinking determines the most appropriate path. Ask yourself what improvements you would implement if you weren't constrained by existing systems. New market entrants aren't limited by legacy thinking or infrastructure, so executives must stay attuned to emerging technologies and business models. Organizations heavily invested in the status quo often delay investing in new technologies until it's too late – as happened with Encyclopaedia Britannica, Kodak, and many print newspaper companies. Remember that investing adequately in training and support following system implementation is essential, not an optional expense. Changing workflows, processes, and employee behaviors takes time, as does getting the most from new systems.

Summary

The seven habits presented throughout this book work together as an interdependent system that differentiates high-performance organizations from their competitors. They cannot be treated as a menu from which to select favorites, nor can they be implemented temporarily. As Nicholas Barnett emphasizes, "The 7 Business Habits are inter-related and indispensable to the delivery of sustainable high performance." Only by embedding all seven habits and continually improving how they're lived can organizations expect to achieve lasting success. Your journey toward implementing these habits starts with a simple question: What kind of organization do you want to create? The path requires authenticity, commitment, and persistence. There will be challenges and resistance along the way, but the rewards are substantial – not just financially, but in creating a workplace where people thrive and contribute their best efforts every day. Begin today by assessing where you stand with each habit, then take one concrete step toward improvement. Remember that high performance is a journey, not a destination, and these seven habits will guide your way.

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Nicholas S. Barnett

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