Managing a High Performance Environment
In workplaces all over the UK, there is a drive to improve performance – to obtain better quality and greater productivity. To do so is essential for national and international success in a highly competitive global market – for many, it’s simply a must for organisational survival.
But generating better quality and greater productivity is only possible when the workplace environment permits such improvement. Simply imploring the team to work harder or inducing them to perform to achieve a short-term gain will not guarantee lasting improvement.
Consider the High Performance Environment Wheel. The six spokes within the wheel provide the structure for building the environment. The three key focus areas around the rim provide the momentum to propel it.
A high performance environment is typified by:
- Teamwork – how well a group of people work together to achieve a common goal
- Production – how efficiently goods and services are produced and delivered – the overall effectiveness of getting things done
- Quality – a mutually agreed standard for the acceptability of goods & services
- Communication – the extent to which the people in an organisation can talk to each other and convey with clarity their expectations of performance and support
- Knowledge and skills – the recognition and appreciation of existing skills, the support for and desire to enhance and expand learning in the environment and improve the personal contribution to the team’s output
- Security – how secure employees feel when they are working and how well the organisation supports initiatives to improve well-being
If one of these ‘spokes’ is missing or not performing as it should be, the environment will not be as productive. And in driving or propelling a high performance environment, the essential ingredients are:
- Relationships and performance
- Commitment to security, learning and innovation
- Continuous improvement systems
Without one of these drivers, the environment will be held back.
Periodically apply the wheel to assessment how your teams are functioning to ensure that they are working to peak performance that has not succumbed to procrastination, miscommunication or a lack of focus.
For more information and to discuss how LMI UK can become a trusted partner in the business performance improvement of your people, please get in touch.
Michael Levy 0161 980 0780 / 07903 183931 / [email protected]