Perfection and other High-Performance Fantasies
Siân Jones
Earlier this year an Executive told me that having his teams deliver quickly, cheaply and to the best possible standard is what high performance is. My self-assured counter to this was, “No, that’s perfection and it’s a fantasy.”
My argument was based on the notion that if you try to do something quickly and cheaply, the quality will suffer. If you want to do something cheaply but to a high standard, then it takes time and if you want to something quickly and to a high standard, then it usually costs a lot of money. Dreaming of obtaining all three – well, you’re kidding yourself.
However, in the days and months that followed I kept going back to this conversation and asking myself, “was I right?” If achieving things quickly, cheaply and to a high standard isn’t high performance, then what is?
I’ve always espoused that high performance is about having psychological safety, being clear on goals, having empowerment, high accountability, and the willingness to take risks and change direction. But, on reflection I’ve realised that these are some of the important features of high performance, not the outcomes. When it comes to the question of what outcomes high performing teams deliver, then great work, done quickly and without high expense is up there as a winning answer. Add innovative in there too, and you may just hit the holy grail.
So, going back to the original conversation with the Executive, I’ve realised that we were both right.
He (like many of the leaders I work with) was focussing on the outcomes.
I was focussing on the features.
Now, we both might be right, but in the words of Frank Sinatra “You can’t have one without the other.” It’s the features of a high performing team that enable the holy grail of outcomes.
Having Psychological Safety
Author of the Fearless Organisation, Amy Edmondson describes Psych Safety as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking.” What this looks like in practise is a team that cares for one another, that makes generous assumptions about each other’s intentions and that has individuals who are willing to say and do things that are uncomfortable (such as giving feedback or sharing a radical idea) to move the team and business forward.
Key outcome: Speed (teams move faster because things are out in the open.)
Willingness to take Risks
While psych safety is about taking interpersonal risks, teams also need to be able to take considered business risks. Teams that have the confidence and know-how to experiment intelligently can achieve the ideal Quality, Cost and Speed ratio through rapid cycles of iteration. This approach is healthier than the ‘all or nothing’ approach that leads to expensive and slow to build high-fidelity prototypes. Instead, it focusses on small scale, safe to fail experiments that move ideas forward quickly with each iteration. At Neu21, we start with 'Small, Simple and Now' experiments and quickly kiss or kill based on the data we receive back.
Key outcome: Low cost (teams take informed risks quickly and cheaply)
Being Clear on Goals
One of the most influential leadership styles is the Visionary leader. The person who sets the direction and makes everyone in the team believe in it. Most high performing teams have a visionary leader at their helm, but within the collective, everyone also needs to be very clear on their own objectives and communicate them widely.
Key outcome: Quality (Clear objectives deliver clear outcomes, just as foggy objectives deliver foggy outcomes.)
High Accountability
Research shows that without accountability, teams can become too individualistic and comfortable, resulting in poor performance and a culture of complaining. In an accountable environment team members are obsessed with improving, both for themselves, and for each other. In a recent article about Mercedes' phenomenally successful Formula 1 team, Team Principal Toto Wolff said "It’s only when they lose that most people start to dig deep. But we have an ethos that we are upset about the small things we do wrong, and so we treat wins the same as losses.” In my mind, that's the epitome of accountability.
Key outcome: Quality (when everyone is committed to making the business better, great work ensues.)
Empowerment
Empowerment and willingness to change are deeply connected, with the ideal blend creating limitless potential for teams and organisations, whereas the lower ends of the scale results in the slow, expensive and/or poor quality outcomes
Empowerment is an offshoot of psych safety and clarity of goals, but much to many people’s disappointment, empowerment isn’t handed to you. While good leadership is an enabler, empowerment also needs to come from within. Individuals who consistently choose to stay small to stay safe, are too hard on themselves or who hide their greatness to allow others to shine will slow down a high performing team. It’s those who show self-compassion, have an optimistic outlook and share their beliefs and views (regardless of what others might think or do) who fly higher.
This matrix shows some of the ways that you can encourage greater empowerment and increase adaptability, the side benefit is that improvements here also support psych safety, connection to common goals, accountability and risk taking.
Key outcome: Speed (empowered people get Sh*t done.)
Willingness to Change Direction
Similar to being able to take risks, teams also need the confidence to be able to kill an idea and change course. Teams that are resistant to change and hold tightly to the status quo are likely to be slow, reactive and focus on what they will lose, rather than what they will gain. Teams that have a high willingness to change and learn have the capacity to pivot when disruption hits.
Key outcome: Low cost (Changing course might feel costly, but in the long term the budget usually looks rosier.)
It’s not often that I admit I’m wrong (my husband will tell you it only happens twice a year 😉) but in this instance it's true. High performance is about achieving great results at speed without breaking the budget – but it'll be a fantasy without getting the recipe right first.
