1. Newsletter – October 2013
Exploding the myth on high performance cultures
Earlier in the year I wrote an article called “Gotta get the Cultcha right!” After recently rubbing shoulders
with organisations who profess to have “high performance cultures” I thought it was a good idea to get back
on my hobby horse – so here goes!
Despite difficulties that companies often have in describing this unique but enigmatic concept we believe
that the easiest way to think of an organisation’s culture is to describe “how we do things here that help us
to succeed”. But as if culture wasn’t difficult enough to define, now we have to contend with “high
performance cultures”. In my view a high performance culture is evident in a company with a unique
personality and soul, and with a passion for performance—so that people make the right decisions and do
the right thing no matter what position they hold in the business. The value of a well‐planned and well‐
executed high performance culture can be transformational. However, we have found that the actions of
companies who boast “high performance cultures” are often inconsistent with their words. Loads of
rhetoric, words for the sake of words.
Before articulating your culture or jumping on the “high performance culture” bandwagon you need to
critically examine your strategy. In order for any business to be successful, it must have a clearly articulated
strategy. Let’s take a fictitious organisation which we will call Longwall Leaders. This company has a vision
of being amongst the largest underground thermal coal miners in Australia, safely producing 20 million
tonnes per annum, using sophisticated longwall technology and a very lean highly productive workforce.
Longwall Leaders’ mandate is to build a High Performance Culture. It’s on the mission statement,
emblazoned on the walls in their head office boardroom. It’s on the website, in all their brochures, in every
presentation. So they are off to a good start. The High Performance Culture terminology is disseminated
into the hearts and minds of the people. People flock to the company to join because it all sounds so good.
But this is a multi‐billion dollar project, currently not producing coal, so therefore no revenue. Hiring
commences, and they say, “hey, we can’t pay top market rates for people because we have no revenue
yet”. So they pitch their salaries down to about the 25th percentile of the industry. What do they say about
peanuts and monkeys? So already we have a company which pays lip service to the high performance
concept as their actions are inconsistent with their words.
It doesn’t stop there.
The hierarchical structure becomes more and more complex; layers are added to make up for the lack of
talent. The absence of senior leadership capability highlights lots of gaps, so more people of similar
mediocre credentials are recruited to bridge the gaps. Communication channels become unwieldy. The
open door policy that was meant to happen can’t – there are too many obstacles to overcome to talk to the
right person. Unions start to circle as the credibility of management starts to disappear. Training is at best
spasmodic because the funds to provide first class training in this “high performance culture” are simply not
there.
Then the industry starts to take a nose dive. Company leaders get nervous. More cost cutting occurs, people
are made redundant and lose privileges, offices are closed, suppliers and consultants get cut. People lower
down the hierarchy become critical and start to mock the so‐called High Performance concepts. They feel
betrayed. Their jobs become bigger than ever due to all the cuts. Morale plummets. Unions become
powerful as the workforce loses trust in management. Productivity declines. Turnover of staff increases.
Offices:
Email:
Level 2, 11 Lang Parade
MILTON QLD 4064
info@confiance.com.au
Tel:
Fax:
Website:
+ 61 (0) 7 3864 0500
+ 61 (0) 7 3864 0599
www.confiance.com.au

2. Newsletter – October 2013
So much for our high performance culture!
And it’s not just a reputational issue inside the company. Suppliers become wary as word spreads that life
inside the company is not fun. Suppliers are getting hammered for best pricing deals. A high performance
culture is not just about internal customs and practices. Suppliers forced into discounting start providing a
degraded service to Longwall Leaders. Others just refuse to bid on work.
So let’s wind back the clock for Longwall Leaders and see how the picture might have been quite different.
I’ve told you how they started off fine. They defined what they wanted to be and communicated their
strategy to their internal and external audiences. However they did nothing more than produce and
distribute a set of words. They didn’t behave like a high performing organisation – they didn’t live it. They
didn’t measure their success. They didn’t reward any behaviours that supported high performance
principles. Organisational dysfunction followed. Instead of Longwall Leaders, they became Longwall Losers!
Here are our twelve steps to building a high performance culture:
1.
2.
Clearly articulate your strategy and be prepared to make the decisions required to deliver it
Make sure your culture aligns with the strategy – measure it and be prepared to change it if there is
misalignment.
3. Ensure the leadership style of your top team is consistent with the strategy. If not, they will not deliver
it!
4. Design an organisation structure that supports the business strategy
5. Recruit and pay well – secure the best people by offering an appropriate and relevant reward scheme
(both extrinsic and intrinsic)
6. Identify performance indicators that will secure the desired level of high performance and cascade
these down the organisation
7. Include significant at risk rewards payable on the achievement of the performance indicators
8. Communicate constantly – regular, structured communications to inform and motivate – good, bad,
even no news
9. Measure everything – Productivity, Employee Engagement, Performance, Turnover
10. Provide great training and opportunities for development
11. Have the guts in bad times to invest in people
12. Develop positive and respectful partnerships with suppliers
Above all KEEP IT SIMPLE!!!
Don’t just grab the label of “High Performance Culture” and then ignore the many other initiatives needed
to support the label. And don’t buy “flavor of the month” consulting solutions ‐ tailor initiatives or
interventions to suit the uniqueness of your organisation.
Written by Joanne Westh
Offices:
Email:
Level 2, 11 Lang Parade
MILTON QLD 4064
info@confiance.com.au
Tel:
Fax:
Website:
+ 61 (0) 7 3864 0500
+ 61 (0) 7 3864 0599
www.confiance.com.au