The failure of High Performance Leadership and hard driving corporate cultures has a simple fix, but it requires leaders to think differently about high “performance”.
Have you heard the term “Human Sustainability” before?
It’s the newest buzzword to describe an age-old concept and has important implications for your health, wellbeing, and success at work, and in life.
Even better, I’m happy to see that some leaders and companies are finally starting to embrace this concept and make significant changes to their leadership and company structure because of it. It’s only 4 years after the pandemic hit, but better late than never! However, we have A LONG way to go before the majority of companies are implementing and benefitting from these simple and powerful principles.
The Issue with “Performance”
The word “performance” is thrown around a lot, but depending on the context can have widely varying definitions, responses, and interpretations.
In the athletic world, it’s usually equated to results and outcomes of a competition or season and often accompanies the prefix “high” or “poor”. The same happens In the corporate world. Someone is referred to as a “high performer” or “A Player” while others need to be on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP).
Context Matters (for Human and Corporate Performance)
The problem I see is that most people fail to see the bigger picture of performance, particularly the environment in which the performance is being judged, and the way the level of performance is accomplished.
I believe these are important and often overlooked factors that matter most to how people, teams, and companies perform over the long term.
Sadly, some leaders still focus on the short term end results above all else. While results are extremely important and cannot be discounted, it’s important to step back and assess other relevant factors to the equation and determine WHAT FACTORS are impacting performance, and the long term IMPACT of how that performance is accomplished
I call this the COST of performance and it can be calculated on personal, psychological, physical, financial, social, team, organizational, and societal levels.
What is the Performance Environment You are Creating as a Leader?
In a coaching session today, a client who’s a senior leader at a Fortune 10 company was struggling to help elevate the performance of her team to the desired level of quality and output. She outlined the various tactical and project related frameworks and coaching she provided her team. These were thorough and very appropriate for the circumstances, but it became clear that she was neglecting the state of the people actually doing the work. After hearing her description of a few people on her team, there was a clear picture of people who were struggling not due to technical competencies or job knowledge, but with their own mental health, organization, and remote work challenges.
After discussing how the personal context of certain team members may have been a factor in their performance at work, we were able to create some strategies and action plans to help her team address some of the challenges, recover effectively, and get back on track with their focus, wellbeing, and performance at work (and home).
What is the COST of High Performance?
How a result is produced is a critical, yet overlooked factor in performance that has wide reaching implications for people, teams, and organizations.
If an athlete produces an exceptional performance, but the direct result is that it ends their career with an injury, is it worth it? Some people (even that athlete) may argue YES if it wins them a gold medal in the Olympics. But what about if it was just a regular practice on a Tuesday afternoon for a recreational team? That’s an entirely different article on the dark side of competition and athlete/parent mindsets in sport, but the concept is very applicable to work cultures.
In the corporate world, there are many people who make amazing contributions to the company bottom line (These are your traditional A Players and high performers), but we’ve all worked for or with employees that create these results “at all costs”.
Stress, Burnout, Turnover, and Mental Health Challenges
They often burn out, subject themselves to serious medical conditions (ie. the 40 year old lawyer who has a heart attack), and/or they leave a massive wake of social, psychological, and organizational devastation in their wake. This includes the leaders that blow their numbers out of the water every quarter, but have over 50% turnover in their team and department because of the toxic way they approach their role. Sadly, it’s far too common for organizations to reward this behaviour and a reason we have toxic leaders in too many senior roles. They get promoted for producing short term results, but at massive long term cost.
Individual leadership skills aside, this is where the concept of Sustainable High Performance (Human Sustainability) comes into play.
The Power and Benefits of Human Sustainability
The same (or better) results can be achieved, but through very different means. According to Dr. Miriam Baumgärtner, Sustainable Performance and Wellbeing Leader at PwC Switzerland, “Working sustainably is a skill everyone can learn.”
It simply requires approaching the journey from a different perspective.
Here’s a common example from the health and fitness industry. Let’s say someone wants to lose 20 pounds. There are many ways to accomplish that, but each has varying costs, benefits, and implications.
Overcoming the “Quick Fix” Mindset
The quickest way (minutes) is to simply cut off an appendage that weighs 20 pounds! This solves the problem, but has a very high cost.
Alternatively, we could put the person in a rubber suit and have them ride a bike in a sauna for several hours while severely restricting their calories for a day or two. This would help them drop 20 pounds in water weight and reach the goal, but it doesn’t really solve the problem.
Lastly, we could confirm with the person that it’s actually body fat they want to lose, plan in advance for 10-12 weeks and build a sustainable movement, nutrition, and lifestyle program that would help them reach their goal in a healthy, happy, sustainable way that actually sets them up for greater wellbeing and performance over the long term. Yes, it took longer, but the ROI and value is exponentially greater in this last example.
Three Essential Areas of Human Sustainability & High Performance
While this makes sense from a health and fitness standpoint, we still see many people using some version of the initial two examples (fast results with little thought about the long term costs).
In the corporate world, I believe this mindset is even more pervasive and the cost to humans and companies is exceptionally high.
Sustainable human performance is tackled on three levels:
- Individual
- Team/leadership
- Organizationally
Below is a short overview of how we can facilitate positive change in each area.
Individual Sustainable Performance
All change starts with YOU. The one thing humans have control over is choice. Choice about how to think, perceive, and act in any given situation.
From a sustainable performance perspective, our mindset, self-care routine, performance habits, and choice of how to show up each day are paramount.
Many people have forgotten how much autonomy and choice they have, and their actions are dictated by faulty belief systems and/or habits that aren’t serving them anymore.
The foundational level of individual sustainability starts with cultivating a growth mindset (choosing to see the world through a new and more effective lens). This is followed closely by strategic habits that will allow you to implement your new mindset.
YOU Have More Control Than You Realize!
Mindset and foundational success habits allow for proper hydration, sleep, movement, and nutrition which cultivate the energy, enthusiasm, and focus needed to perform at at high level
The next layer of individual sustainable performance is social connection, owning your authentic self, and learning. This layer builds joy, connects you to your purpose (established in the mindset portion), and increases your chances of flourishing in all areas of life.
None of this is rocket science, yet few people put in the work needed to build this foundation of health and vitality that are necessary for healthy high performance. These are also the first things to get dropped when life gets busy or stressful.
Sustainable high performers know that this foundation is what allows them to keep performing under even the most challenging conditions. They may modify their foundational activities, but rarely if ever drop them completely. If they do it’s done strategically and only over a very short time period.
Team/Leadership Sustainable Performance
Every leader is the catalyst for performance in their team, whether they realize it or not. Sustainable high performance leaders consciously lead by example. They model and reinforce the behaviours that lead to sustainable high performance, even when it’s challenging, goes against the status quo, and creates uncomfortable conversations.
Leading from a sustainable performance perspective requires flipping the traditional leadership script on its head. By leading with a focus on BOTH people and performance, a sustainable high performance leader remembers that the traditional performance numbers (revenue/output/profitability) matter less in the short term, and different performance numbers may need to be tracked during the implementation phase (compliance with foundational individual performance skills, team morale/cohesiveness, etc.).
Sustainable high performance leaders remind themselves regularly that healthy, happy, engaged, and inspired people produce higher results. Their dashboard is tracking these metrics ALONG WITH the traditional business performance metrics.
Organizational Sustainable Performance
There are many great leaders out there that build strong, resilient, high performing teams. However, often these are oases of positivity and growth in a barren desert of organizational disengagement and languishing.
This rarely happens due to lack of caring. The large majority of executives care about their people and the organization. However, rarely (if ever) step back to assess their human sustainability strategy and how the organization is helping or hindering progress. I’m not talking about asking HR spin up a “wellness program”. I’m talking about the ability for C-suite and VP level leaders to create and implement a high level organizational strategy that’s designed to produce positive and clearly measurable outcomes from strategically focussed human sustainability initiatives.
C-Suite and Executive Buy-in is Essential for Change
Organizational change in Human Sustainability must come from the C-suite…or even better, from the board in large organizations. The board and C-Suite set the tone for the organization. Whether they are aware of it or not (many are still oblivious to this), they determine what gets recognized, rewarded, and reinforced by leaders throughout the organization. This happens through policies, procedures, SOPs, compensation structure, hiring/recruiting practices, communications, and pretty much everything else that happens on a daily basis in the organization.
The reason this usually fails to happen is because each of the C-suite leaders already have an overloaded plate running the business. This is where a fractional or full-time CWO (Chief Wellbeing Officer, or Chief Performance Officer) can be invaluable. It’s a newly developed role that looks at the entire organization through the lens of human sustainability and works with other C-suite leaders to optimize human sustainability and performance across their departments.
Mission, Vision, and Values…Done PROPERLY!
Change begins when the organization establishes a clear mission, vision, values, and behavioural guidelines for how the MVV are to be LIVED each day. Then it’s reinforced by daily adherence to this code, by shining a light on the “bright spots” (examples of people living into the values), and discouraging behaviors that go against the values. A Chief Wellbeing Officer can be invaluable in gaining the traction needed to make this happen.
Most leaders aren’t looking for a CWO role because there aren’t too many out there, particularly in Canada. However, virtually every company I’ve met is struggling with massive people and organizational challenges that are directly related to human sustainability, wellbeing, leadership, and performance. This is the wheelhouse of a Chief Wellbeing Officer.
Would You and Your Team Benefit From:
- Reduce turnover
- Lower absenteeism
- Lower presenteeism
- Greater resilience
- Ability to attract and retain top talent
- Improved workplace culture
- Better leaders
- Manageable stress and workloads
- Elevated health, happiness, and performance
If your team or organization would benefit from any (or all) of these, let’s chat.
The ROI on improving even ONE of these areas can result in millions of dollars in annual savings for companies. For example, turnover can cost a company up to $160,000 to replace ONE middle manager. In a company of 500 people, this can mean several million dollars annually in unnecessary turnover costs that traditional “wellness” and employee retention strategies fail to address.
What’s your turnover rate?
What would you save by reducing it by 10%? 25%? 50%? This is possible and I’ve worked with companies to do it. Let’s chat about the savings for your business and team.
Just reach out here to contact me and set up a time.
