Building a positive high-performance culture. Part 2

In my last blog, I talked about how Organizational Culture is a collection of underlying beliefs, values, expectations, and practices that guide the behavior and actions of all team members.

And also about how much of an important factor it is for an organization’s success.

So, in this blog, I will talk about how you can build an Organizational Culture that can help you achieve the targets and goals of your organization on a sustainable basis i.e. Positive High-Performance Culture.

What is a High-Performance Culture?

According to the IRL School at Cornell University, High-performance Culture is a culture that enables the company to achieve better financial and non-financial results (such as customer satisfaction, employee retention, etc.) than those of its peers over a long period of time.

In other words in a High-Performance Culture, the behaviors and norms of everybody in the organization are aligned with organizational goals, customer needs, and employee priorities. This not only helps the organization to achieve superior financial results and other benefits, such as retaining and engaging employees but also helps the organization get stronger during tough and changing times.

Organizations with high-performance cultures tend to be great places to work.

Qualities of a High-Performance Culture

Now that you know the basic definition of High-Performance Culture we can talk about

Certain common behaviors and qualities that are demonstrated in it.

1 Innovation: Innovation thrives in a high-performance culture because individuals openly and fearlessly generate, share, and move their ideas through the organization.

2 Agility:Organization swiftly adapts to changing needs and is more likely to find

opportunities in adversities.

3 Ownership: Employees have a strong sense of ownership and sense of belonging which inspires them to even go out of their way to contribute to achieving organizational goals and targets.

4 Communication: Employees send, receive, and understand the necessary information.

5 Performance Focus: Employees know what determines success in their role, and they are rewarded or recognized for achievements.

6 Collaboration: Employees cooperate, share, and work well together.

The kind of culture you can build in your organization largely depends on your organization’s  size and industry but these qualities are common for most High-Performance Culture Companies, so they can provide guidance for you to assess your organization’s culture.

Benefits of High-Performance Cultures

In a high-performance culture, employees are highly productive and motivated to meet goals, feel engaged and aligned with the company’s values and mission, and teams trust each other  and leadership.

The three main benefits

1. They’re more profitable

In a high-performing culture, the engaged employees have a strong sense of ownership which makes them more effective, productive, and innovative. They also go out of their way in achieving the company’s objectives, which, in turn, results in organizational growth and achieving superior results on a sustainable basis.

2. They encourage idea generation.

In a high-performing culture, employees are motivated, productive, and engaged. Due to the trust and respect inherent in high-performance cultures, employees feel empowered to take calculated risks which helps them in openly taking decisions and freely sharing ideas, and feedback.

3. Their employee retention rate is much better

The motivating culture boosts the morale of the entire workforce. Once the employees are happy and experience more job satisfaction at their workplaces, they stick with the companies, and mutual trust and loyalty are built between the employers and employees.

How to create a high-performance culture

While creating a high-performance culture may sound like a difficult task it’s not. It is doable but requires strategy, investment, leadership buy-in, patience, and probably the most important thing it requires is trust which can’t be built without integrity and authenticity on a leader’s part.

Here’s how you can do it.

1. Define values and communicate them every day

Value-added to your activities can make a company a better place to work and more profitable. Your values will drive your behavior day in and day out. The values you define for your company actually contribute to the overall success of your company. But one which you need to understand here is that these values can’t be imposed upon your team, they need to flow smoothly from you to them and that can only happen if you yourself live up to those values

2. Reinforce positive behavior

Develop a positive can-do attitude in your team and push negative thoughts out of your employees’ minds to add value to your company. You can also reward individuals who represent the values of your organization to increase the likelihood of them doing the job well again. The success of your business relies on the shoulders of your employee. To reinforce successfully, you should motivate them to work more productively thereby increasing the self-esteem of employees.

3. Encourage open communications

The organizations encouraging open communication in the workplace are the ones with the most vibrant atmosphere. But that does not always mean that all the employees in the workplace feel comfortable speaking up. For that to happen a workplace needs psychological safety in place for each of its employees. Only then there can be a fluid line of communicationwith an unbiased and open conversation no matter what the topic of discussion is.

4. Employee empowerment

As a leader, your employees will trust you that your decisions will positively impact them. But at times they expect to feel empowered to make those important decisions that are directly or indirectly related to them. The most successful leaders work towards enabling employees to reach their full potential. Here’s how you can foster growth among them:

• Show them your trust
• Provide the required training
• Communicate the vision clearly
• Don’t avoid small talk
• Allow freedom within the limit

5. Invite feedback

A feedback-rich culture is a key ingredient for a positive culture. Give your employees a chance to give feedback while they are working and not just when they are gone like employees turn to handles like Glassdoor to provide their opinion. Transparent feedback will help you find out how employees are feeling about your culture and if there is anything that needs improving.

Wrapping Up

Creating a high-performance culture requires firm dedication and perseverance from a leader. It’s about the leadership capability one possesses to bring everyone together so that long-term goals and objectives are achieved.

Like any new or ongoing initiative, it can feel overwhelming. But by focusing on communication, company values, performance management, and employee growth and development, you can bolster company culture and set your team up for success.