How to build a High-performing organizational culture | Alexander Peter | Sr.Vice President HR | BukuKas Tokko

People fuel business and business fuels people. For a company to be a path paver and build something that lasts, we need people who are resilient, smart and come with a never say never attitude. And for that to happen, we need to build and drive high performance. Building a high-performance organisation starts at the core – HIRING WELL and HIRING RIGHT.

If you hire right, you don’t need to BUILD a high-performance culture instead you need to DRIVE culture. Some of the things that are highly recommended for building and driving high performance culture.

# 1 – Clearly define who you are as a company

This sets the tone for time to come. Normally, this is based on certain values. Some of the coolest companies go one step further by actually talking about expected behaviours that support defined values. You must define what sort of actions are rewarded and what are less tolerated.

#2 – “CULTURE Alignment”

It is truly necessary to define this right at the beginning; even better, one should know this before they join in

#3 – Create means for employees to rise to the occasion

It is alright to be demanding. Push the employees a bit harder and you will see that they will bring out the best from within. But there is a fine line between good demanding, which can give an adrenaline boost to the company, and bad ones, which can dampen morale

#4 – The big picture

Most people join companies with an intention to stay for a foreseeable future. In the process, they want to excel and push the envelope. For targets to be meaningful and effective in motivating employees, they must be tied to larger organisational ambitions. Employees who don’t understand the roles they play in company success are more likely to become disengaged. No matter what level the employee is at, he should be able to articulate exactly how his efforts feed into the broader company strategy

#5 – OWNERSHIP (no brainer)

Autonomy creates ownership. When you showcase where we are as a company and what we need to achieve, it creates a sense of clarity and understanding which in turn leads to a strong sense of ownership.

#6 – TRANSPARENCY

Free-flowing communication – Bidirectional free-flowing communication and feedback is the backbone of a successful organisation. Feedback and communication have to be instant and truthful. Creating an agile performance management process will take care of this and help develop trusting, skilled, and high performing teams.

#7 – People ENGAGEMENT

It is a no-brainer to understand that happy employees create a happy atmosphere. Employees who are engaged put their heart and soul into their job and have the energy and excitement to give more than is required of the job.

#8 – STORYTELLING

Storytelling can be a powerful tool when you want to drive organisational change and performance improvement. The leaders must be able use stories to motivate their employees to achieve more than they thought possible

#9 – Make rewards count

It is important to celebrate wins no matter how big or small because it acknowledges people’s hard work, boosts morale and keeps up the momentum. Money is good but in-kind is better

#10 – Invest in technology to develop people

Technology helps effectively drive both employee and organisational growth. So, invest in the right performance management tools and processes that create an agile environment for people to grow in. This will make it easy to quantify results

Truth bomb:

There is a famous Peter Drucker quote that says that “culture eats strategy for breakfast”.