What Exactly IS This Thing Called a Performance Culture?

Even though many of us talk about it, we probably all have varying ideas about what a performance culture is.

So let’s not waste time grappling to define it. Let’s explore what it means to some of the world’s leading companies, via the signposts of their famous performance cultures.

Goal orientation

The United Nations Millennium Goals are a good example of results orientation. Big results, in their case. Read them at www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

Improvement ethic

Motorola, where the process improvement methodology Six Sigma was born, is a standout example of a company that knows how to innovate and continuously improve. Read more at www.motorola.com/motorolauniversity.jsp

True leadership

Can you do better than Richard Branson as the kind of leader who lives his vision? Just look at Virgin Galactic as a reminder of how his leadership and modeling makes dreams a reality: www.virgingalactic.com

Strong vision & purpose

Oxfam’s vision is crystal clear and compelling: ending poverty and injustice. It doesn’t waffle about like most visions. Read about it at www.oxfam.org/en/about

Shared values, beliefs & attitudes

Johnson & Johnson have a Credo—including a video version of it—that spells out in no uncertain terms what they believe in. See it at www.jnj.com/connect/about-jnj/jnj-credo/

Empowering people to contribute

Google knows how to provide the kind of workplaces that give their people inspiration and permission to contribute. Check out www.google.com/corporate/culture.html

Customer focus

Southwest Airlines are renowned for their unusually fabulous customer service. See an example here: http://tinyurl.com/pz5z3o

Measuring what matters

Netflix, the online movie rental service, has a culture of quantitative testing. They use metrics and analytics to constantly learn how to predict what movies their customers will like. Experience the result at www.netflix.com/

What else?

This is just a few of the ingredients that make a performance culture. What does a performance culture mean to you? How clearly can you articulate it? That’s the first step to starting the journey to nurture it.

So what defines a performance culture in YOUR mind? Leave a comment and let’s build on the idea.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stacey Barr is the Performance Measure Specialist, helping strategic planners, business analysts and performance measurement officers confidently facilitate their organisation to create and use meaningful performance measures with lots of buy-in. Sign up for Stacey’s free email tips at www.staceybarr.com/202tipsKPI.html and receive a complimentary copy of her renowned e-book “202 Tips for Performance Measurement”.