Building a high performance culture – an asset in the war for talent

What is a good cultural fit?

It is someone who is satisfied with the way a team works and collaborates to achieve personal and organisational success. The consensus here is in the way the common goals are achieved.

How can you recognise a high-performance culture?

High-performance team characteristics are, among others:

• They are goal-oriented and have a clear vision of how their work relates to the mission of the organisation. They have a clear vision of their personal goals as these are closely linked to the priorities of the team and the organisation. Consequently, they are also committed and focused on achieving their goals.
• They thrive under democratic leadership where roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. Team members are diverse so that their problem-solving skills complement each other so they learn continuously.
• They trust and respect each other, resulting in a work ethic that puts the team first. This promotes alignment of work and deadlines based on agreed priorities. They measure the quality of the outcome and celebrate success together by recognising each other’s contributions.
• They maintain a healthy relationship by communicating openly, clearly and respectfully. This enables them to deal successfully with conflicts and resolve them at an early stage.

How about building a high-performance culture?

Make sure you have the right composition of the team. It is good to have a small team that is diverse in its thinking and allows the different points of view to be managed. However, the team should not be too small, as it is necessary to use complementarity within the team as a problem-solving tool.

Next, it is about creating a common purpose. You give the team a collective bond and something to work towards together by making them aware of your organisation’s mission, vision and strategy and aligning the team’s key priorities with it. There are a variety of tools that support the translation and cascading of a corporate strategy to the grassroots level, such as the Balanced Scorecard, Hoshin Kanri or A3 Annual Planning.

Building a high-performance culture also means investing in people development. Growth opportunities help improve employee engagement and commitment, which in turn leads to high-quality team results. To meet the demands of change, employees need to be kept up to date through continuous learning and training. They acquire new knowledge and improve their skills. This continuous learning not only promotes growth, but is also an excellent motivator for teams to strive for better performance. A solid feedback and performance management process should support continuous learning and growth.

Finally, as a leader, you need to be trusted by building a positive relationship between the team and yourself. Make roles and responsibilities clear to all staff and streamline communication to avoid conflict and ensure that important information is shared with the right people. Be consistent in your actions and speech and stay true to your promise to staff.

Conclusion

Using the company’s culture and values in recruitment increases success and retention. If you manage to combine the right employees who share the cultural beliefs with effective and continuous training and development, you will achieve successful results. But it’s not only good for the company, it’s also good for the applicants. They will feel comfortable in an environment that matches their beliefs and values.