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<p class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><i>I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavour -</i></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">Henry David Thoreau</span></p>
<p class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">Did you ever wonder why certain companies do extremely well where as others are just surviving and keeping their heads above water? What are the secrets of a high performance organization? Why do these organisations accomplish what others fail to achieve? There can be many reasons why companies succeed and others don´t. However, I am going to share with you my secrets regarding a high performance organization. I will explain how they can be used to take on today´s business challenges. These secrets give a company direction, culture, values, planning and the communication process it needs to succeed and become the best in the modern business environment.</span></p>
<p class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">If an organization does not take this challenge on, it will soon become extinct or left far behind. There are too many competitors who are striving to become the best. They know that customers will not tolerate lackadaisical service. Those that are the best must continue to fight to stay the best or they will soon be overtaken. You need to strive to be the best in one or more areas such as the fastest, cheapest, or being customer oriented. For example, Lidl strives for cheap prices and Superquinn strives for excellent customer service.</span></p>
<p class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">Great companies who remain competitive in one or more areas do not sit around patting themselves on the back, for they know that there are dozens of others who want to take their place. They do, however, celebrate accomplishments and achievements. This celebration is important because it shows the employees what success looks like. When tough goals are met it is also important to celebrate - setting a difficult goal and not reaching it is far more important than meeting a mediocre goal. Difficult goals provide learning experiences that cannot be taught in training classes. They allow persons to learn through trial and error. And they provide opportunities for leaders to install new character into their employees.</span></p>
<p class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">Although most companies will never become the best at what they aim for, they must compete to do things better than their competitors. This not only allows their employees to grow, but also lets their customers know that they are willing to go out of their way to serve them in their area of expertise. If your employees would improve their performance with only one percent what kind of accumulative affect would this have on your company? Companies who want to strive to become the best work on the following points: -</span></p>
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<li class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><b>Mission and Vision</b></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">- A company needs to define its mission and visions as the reasons why it exists. This mission and vision are there for the employees of the company and their customer to identify with and to understand why the organisation is undertaking the actions it has taken. The</span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">Mission</span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">and Vision needs to be shared by all people. Your company´s mission and vision need to be regularly communicated in different ways (however the same message) to staff and customers and you should listen to feedback from both to make sure it is understood and progress is being made.</span></li>
<li class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><b>Values</b></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">- Values are important guidelines on what behaviour is expected to achieve the company´s mission and vision. They are guiding principles on how the company and each person will act when performing a task. To make company values a success an employee should understand them. Better still they should be involved and have input in setting up your values to get the commitment you need - No involvement - No commitment. If this is not possible employees should be given time to identify themselves with the values and translate them into their own daily behaviour.</span></li>
<li class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><b>Goals & Planning</b></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">- Successful companies have set clear goals that they want to achieve each year. These goals and plans need to be communicated to their staff members. Furthermore, you need to translate goals into plans for each department and you need to involve the employees of the department to make this successfully happen. Without your staff involvement, commitment and expertise it is very difficult to achieve a top result on your set goals. The departmental plans need to be translated by manager and employee to personal challenging goals and plans for each employee. As well pitched challenging goals motivate people to excel. At the end of the year the employee should be evaluated on what they achieved of their personal goals and plans.</span></li>
<li class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><b>Recognition and positive culture</b></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">- Working in a positive environment motivates people, makes them more creative and involved. Managers can create a positive working environment by giving recognition to those employees who have contributed to the company´s goals.</span><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">Recognition is the most important reward employees can get!</span></li>
<li class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><b>Communication</b></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">- All the secrets have, in common that you have to be able to communicate effectively in your organisation. Managers have to explain, involve, motivate, listen, clarify, give and receive feedback and keep a positive attitude during this sometimes tiring process. Good communications skills are the key to achieving a high performance organisation.</span></li>
<li class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><b>Giving and Receiving Constructive Feedback</b></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">- To be able to give constructive feedback to an employee is a most important skill in any relationship. The key word is constructive. Very often feedback is expressed so vague that the other party does not get the point or is expressed too direct so that it turns them off. You should also be able to receive constructive feedback and to listen to what has been said. This is difficult yet most important in any relationship. To listen is also one of the most powerful skills, as when a person knows they are understood, you then have a relationship with them on which you can build.</span></li>
<li class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE"><b>Coaching</b></span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">- Coaching is the art of facilitating the performance, learning and development of an employee. The essence of coaching in a work organisation is to explore and increase the potential of an employee and using this to mutual benefit of both company and employee. Coaching is a very effective way of developing your employees to become more resilient and able to handle more situations on their own. It requires an investment from managers to coach employees. However, the returns will be great once employees become more independent and able to handle difficult situations.</span><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span></li>
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<p class="msonormal"><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;" lang="EN-IE">These secrets of high performance organisations are self evident. It is something you already know deep down, yet you might not have acted on these points for various reasons. These points are not revolutionary; they are of universal knowledge for anyone who has studied modern management literature. However, the real secret of a high performance organisation is the ability of management to act, to use and execute these methods and put them into practise to the benefit of the company and all involved.</span> <span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span></p>
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<div><span style=" font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">Kenneth Buchholtz is Director of Campbell International, a Irish based human resource services provider to all business sectors irrespective of size. Call Kenneth at 00 353 65 7071933 or visit <a href="http://www.campbellinternational.net" target="_blank">www.campbellinternational.net</a></span></div>
