The document discusses six principles for achieving extraordinary organizational performance: 1) Set unreasonable performance standards that inspire employees to exceed their best. 2) Ensure all employees are united behind a common inspiring vision or goal. 3) Closely monitor day-to-day performance and provide real-time feedback and coaching. 4) Be constructively intolerant of any performance or behavior that does not meet standards, addressing issues immediately through coaching. 5) Give employees flexibility in how they do things that do not require disciplined execution. 6) Begin emulating the behaviors and thinking of the envisioned successful organization.

1. Mark W. Womack’s

2. I... Be unreasonable when setting
performance and behavioral standards and
expectations
II... Get everybody on the same page
III... Pay attention to how things are
being done in the day-to-day aspects of
organization performance
IV... Be constructively intolerant
about performance and behavior variances
related to disciplined execution – EVERY TIME
V... Be flexible about
everything that doesn’t require
disciplined execution
VI... Behave as-if

3. ©2007 J.W. Webb, Inc.
I... Be unreasonable when setting
performance and behavioral standards and
First, the organization needs to have a vision or overarching goal that
inspires the members of the organization to stretch well past their previous
best performance and behavior. Extraordinary organizations begin here.
The vision or goal must be audacious in its magnitude but also realistic in
that the members of the organization must believe that they are collectively
capable of achieving it if they realize their full potential.
A vision or goal well beyond an organization’s current state defies reason.
By definition, such a vision or goal is excessive. Reasonable leaders wouldn’t
have such thoughts. It follows that such a vision or goal requires organiza-
tion leaders to be unreasonable in setting standards and expectations that
relentlessly drive the performance and behavior of the organization toward
the vision or goal.
Performance standards and expectations are what must
be done. Behavior standards and expectations are
how organization members conduct themselves
while achieving the what. Once these are set,
they must be imperatives that define the organi-
zation as much as it’s products or services.

4. II... Get everybody on the same page
The performance and behavior of the entire organization must be inspired
and guided by the same vision or overarching goal. Every individual excep-
tion to this undermines the organization’s drive to realize its full potential
and negates some of the progress made by those team members who are unit-
ed behind a common purpose and ambition. The organization must be con-
stantly vigilant in ensuring the fewest possible exceptions and swiftly address
them when they may occur.
An organization that has an inspiring vision or goal and all members united
behind it is an extraordinarily powerful competitive force. The critical suc-
cess factors for achieving this are never-ending communication of the vision
and consistent role-modeling
of vision-centric performance
and behavior by the organiza-
tion’s leaders.

5. ©2007 J.W. Webb, Inc.
III... Pay attention to how things are
being done in the day-to-day aspects of
organization performance
Paying attention to day-to-day performance and behavior is the best per-
formance management tool a leader has. Setting unreasonable standards
and expectations and getting everybody on the same page behind a common
purpose and ambition is just the beginning. Organization leaders must then
continuously pay attention to how the organization is actually doing things
day-to-day vs. the standards and expectations.
It’s not enough to evaluate performance in review meetings. Too much is
missed or glossed over. Many of the most valuable opportunities to gauge
and refine the organization’s performance and behavior occur real-time in
the course of the day-to-day activities that are the lifeblood of the organiza-
tion. Real-time feedback and coaching on a day-to-day basis is the shortest
path to unprecedented performance, both individually and collectively.

6. IV... Be constructively intolerant
about performance and behavior variances
related to disciplined execution – EVERY TIME
In order to realize its full potential, an organization must be constructively
intolerant of performance and behavior that is counter to its aspirations. This
means that the organization must refuse to accept less than the performance
and behavior that is necessary. It’s crucial that this unwillingness be abso-
lutely consistent—NO EXCEPTIONS. This develops exceptional organiza-
tional integrity and confidence, which generates a profoundly positive effect
on the entire organization.
It’s imperative that this unwillingness be coupled with a constructive ap-
proach to identifying and refining any performance or behavior variances.
The critical success factors for such a constructive approach are that vari-
ances are addressed as soon as possible after they are discovered and that
coaching and teaching are the primary methods for refining the substandard
performance or behavior.
Organizations that are constructively intolerant develop a crystal-clear per-
formance and behavior identity—it becomes a huge part of who they are as
an organization and how they do what they do. It becomes a great source of
pride and a significant component of their organizational brand.
Michael Dell
Chairman CEO, Dell Inc.

7. ©2007 J.W. Webb, Inc.
V... Be flexible about everything that
doesn’t require disciplined execution
Organizations that are constructively intolerant of performance and behav-
ior that is counter to their aspirations also benefit greatly if they are
simultaneously quite flexible about everything that doesn’t require disciplined
execution.
Not everything organization members do requires disciplined execution.
Not everything needs to be done in a certain way for an organization to real-
ize its potential. Not all types of behavior need to align with standards for an
organization to live up to its highest ideals. In fact, there are many things
organization members do that are best left to each individual to determine
the best methods relative to their unique strengths, talents and style.
Being constructively intolerant about the things that require disciplined
execution AND otherwise greatly empowering organization members with
the freedom and latitude to execute their roles as they see fit…
That’s a force that no competitor wants to face.

8. VI... Behave as-if
The surest path for an organization to realize a vision of success is to begin
assuming the characteristics of the vision as soon as the organization commits
itself to it. To achieve total commitment to a vision, organizations need to
continuously answer four critical questions relative to the future image they
have of themselves:
What would we do if we were the organization we aspire to be?
What wouldn’t we do that we’re currently doing?
How would we think?
How would we behave?
The natural tendency of organizations that have aspirations well beyond
their current state is to unconsciously wait for the day when they realize their
vision of success so they can begin to behave commensurate with it. This ap-
proach creates a loop of self-limiting thinking and behavior because it never
allows the organization to break free from many of the things that hold it
back from realizing its aspirations. Organizations can only realize their po-
tential by consciously and continuously molding their thinking and behavior
to the future image they have of themselves—until they are one and the same.
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