Don Yeager said “Great teams are connected to a great purpose.” It is only when an organisation displays this level of connectivity that it can be called high performing. This connectivity leads to high sustainable achievements and generally it does great things.

High performing organisations (HPOs) rely on their team architectures to achieve excellence. Such organisational teams embrace and live certain elements of business and exude these as part of their working culture. HPOs have clearly defined “whys” of business. Teams that understand this precept of a business perform exceedingly. Quite often this is an aspect of business that is often misunderstood to be meaning a company’s mission statement or code of ethics. An organisational “why” needs to come before anything else hence the adage, "People don’t buy what you do, and they buy why someone does it. When teams understand the philosophy and purpose behind the why of an organisation, they will have made it. Understanding the ‘why’ helps an organisation to directly tap into the pulse of key stakeholders. When this is enculturated in the business, organisations create a powerful sense of duty and purpose in their teams because they are in it together.

HPOs start this intent from their recruitment processes. This organisational culture shapes their recruitment. They recruit the best talent that fits into the organisational purpose. In HPOs hiring managers do not just end with impressive candidate curriculum vitae before them. They must demonstrate a job fit, thriving within the established team culture adding value to it. HPOs are cognisant that a candidate may thrive in one environment but not the other hence they offer support through mentoring and coaching instilling their core principles. For HPOs, the talent of the employee is important, but fit trumps all. It therefore follows that over and above being wowed by a decorated resume, organisations need to work on developing the coherence of their team.   Promoting a spirit of camaraderie and a sense of collective direction is one of their doctrines.

HPOs promote a performance culture that is supported by a fair and consistent recognition system. Employees are clear of they role in a team and organisation. They therefore, have autonomy to operate within their scope and ultimately will take ownership of choices made as they do their work.

HPOs use positive communication that inspires, motivates and encourages which is a very important tenet to greatness. Not only do they use open communication as means to high performance but also it is a tool to reinforce and enhance organisational values. Some of their endeavours are to thrive in a win –win environment. Organisations being considered high performing the likes of Wal-Mart and Starbuck have embraced this criteria for effectives which has apparently seen them rise sharply in recent years. They communicate openly with their employees that they need employees who think constantly and creatively about the needs of the organisations, employees with as much intrinsic motivation and a deep sense of organisational stewardship as any company executive.

Such organisations have and develop great leaders. They have developed leaders with the agility to move from strategic intent to corporate purpose. Think of Ryoichi Kawai who succeeded his father as president of Komatsu, he had a clear corporate purpose which he articulated and shared with his team, ‘to catch up with and surpass Caterpillar’. Being part of the imperatives for high performance  yearly Kawai would define clear and specific operating priorities which would be translated into detailed action plans through the PDCA (plan, do, check, act). Additional to defining clear action plans, Komatsu worked on capturing its employee’s attention and interest. It defined the business objectives so that they had a personal meaning where every individual extracted their most basic sense of purpose even for their personal fulfilment which they derived from being part of an organisation. Komatsu was mindful that institutions like churches, communities and even families that once provided individuals with identity, meaning, affiliation and support were eroding. They then provided a platform that substituted these social institutions, not by just viewing employees as workers but as belonging to the organisation. This was buttressed by the leadership that established and maintained links with each employee giving meaning to their lives. To Komatsu employees were not a cost to be controlled but an asset to be developed, hence they won their commitment.

Other key deliverables for HPOs is embracing and adapting to change, and strong, flexible and user-friendly ICT systems. They are cognisant that they have to constantly innovate otherwise they fall behind. The impetus for change is not just about leadership, it’s for all. Leaders build this sense of readiness to meet challenges in their employees. Everyone is made a change champion with change starting with each one.

Underpinning these principles and practices are also the supportive foundations they have made integral to their business e.g. processes, assets and all the soft stuff. They all matter in their organisations.

HPOs ensure they sustain their earned names simply by behaving like great athletes; they continually strive to improve and work on their game.

Emmanuel Jinda is the Managing Consultant of PROSERVE Consulting Group, a leading supplier of Professional Human Resources and Management services locally, regionally and internationally. He can be contacted at Tel: 263 773004143 or 263 242 772778 or visit our website at www.proservehr.com