My Success Mantra – Part II (High Performance)

A lot has been said and discussed about being a High Performer at work. Do you think they are super human beings or have some super skills that we all don’t? But yet they get the desired attention or more or that promotion or that increment/bonus that we all look up to. And then we console ourselves thinking that he/she must be the blue-eyed boy/girl of the management or more often we demean ourselves thinking maybe we didn’t deserve it, etc., etc. But is it really a fact that we didn’t deserve it or even more thinking we don’t have the traits or the skills to be right up there? Well the fact is that we all have the same abilities and skills and trust me most of this is not taught in business schools or colleges but it all comes from within yourself. The schools and colleges merely prepare us for the battle that we are about to face ahead in our lives with the power of knowledge but how to handle that and execute in the right way at the right time, no one teaches us; it comes from within. We all have the power to be GREAT but most of us just live to be either just OK or GOOD. Someone said, “Why do you want to settle at just being Good or the Best when you have the power to be GREAT”. Herein my articles below I have shared my personal experiences on this aspect of life and how I handled it.

1. There are 3 keys aspects to look at when using Performance as a matrix:

The Performance Matrix is a function of the requisite talent (based on which you chose the field you are in), along-with enormous self-motivation and the adequate support (right tools, information, technology, etc.) required to perform. To understand the matrix better let’s first understand who are the High Performers and their behavioral traits to be called such.

2. Here are a few absolute pointers of High Performers

a. They define the OBJECTIVE to start with. They are very clear on what they have to deliver.
b. They have the ability and the tenacity to create FOCUS for anything they do.
c. They have the ability to prepare themselves for the BATTLE (using tools, technology, planning, etc. necessary to get the work done).
d. They create a CLIMATE around them for high performance.
e. They create PEOPLE POWER (getting their work jointly done through colleagues).
f. They regularly SELF-RENEW their skills, process, technology, etc. to perform at the highest levels.
g. They ASSUME leadership and take up larger responsibilities without being asked for.
h. They are NOT WORKAHOLICS but focused people and live a balanced life (Work & Family).
i. They don’t OVERDO anything but will try to complete things within time.
j. They SEEK help if they need to and don’t wait for it to come to them.
k. They NEVER GIVE UP.
l. They make MISTAKES but LEARN from it and NEVER REPEAT them again.

So who are these high performers actually? Are they different people? No!! If you have read the pointers above you would notice that there is nothing in this that is a SPECIAL trait but something that all of us have; something that we all can do as well effortlessly but most of us just don’t. We are stuck in the 9 – 5 job and stick to basics on what comes to us on our offer letters or our job descriptions and the bigger jargons these days are KPI’s. The major difference between most of us and these high performers is just this aspect. Most of us stick to our basics and don’t take RISKS while the high performers are NOT AFRAID to TAKE CALCULATED RISKS. So then what should we do to be in that league? Take Risks? Well it’s easier said than done. To be a high performer we need to make some adjustments in our THINKING and then executing that thinking in the best-planned and effective way. Here are some pointers for you to ponder on:

A. STOP & think strategically every month. There are 5 key pointers to work on here.

a. STOP
b. SIT
c. THINK
d. OPTIMIZE
e. PERFORM

We need to take a strategic stop while at work (daily, weekly, monthly). It’s important for us to be on the same page, as our goals want us to be on and in line with our results. When people sit still and think many pathways open up. This helps in re-programming our brain and aligning towards the task at hand. What results am I looking at, what activities are going to get me there, who do I need to connect with, what resources or applications would I need to help me achieve the task, how will I measure the performance, who will help hold me accountable, etc., etc. are some of the questions we should ask ourselves when we take a strategic stop. The answers to these will lead us in the right direction and we will be much better aligned.

B. Craft a daily performance script. A performance script helps in identification of two most important aspects of our task at hand.

1. The other important aspect of the performance script is to break the activities that would lead us to the main goal into sub-activities and set a conservative time frame to each and analyze the same at the end of that time.
2. Create a Daily Stop of 15 Minutes at the start of the day, 5 minutes mid-day and 5 minutes at the end of the day (Remember point 8 in my last blog, this is it)
a. 15 minutes stop at the start of the day for a daily plan of sequence in which the activities needs to be completed during the day and how will the performance be measured
b. 5 minutes stop mid-day to analyze what has been achieved so far, what is pending and why..
c. 5 minutes stop at the end of the day to analyze what was achieved, what went well, what did not, what got achieved, what couldn’t and why. Also remember to check and analyze how much time was utilized, how much was wasted and on what.

The performance script helps analyze the daily routine and performance of self and helps us check and correct ourselves everyday pushing us to be more effective leading to a better performance.

When people take control of their day and time they can increase their productivity from 12 – 33%. Research has proven that while keeping all the above aspects in mind and controlling your day the average productivity of a person can be increased by an average of 22%.

Take charge of our own career development and control our own destiny. Check our own performance regularly and become self-directed.

At the same time don’t ever create an impression while doing this of being too busy. This undermines high performance. When we become too busy, effective communication is lost. It imbibes short-term thinking, relationships get damaged, step over problems are created, difficult conversations/situations are ignored and personal development is neglected.

To summarize, we all are born to excel and be great at whatever we do yet only some reach there and are rewarded but most of us just live an average day and life. We blame our destiny and almost everything around us that we can think of and relate it to our failures when the actual problem is within us and to be more blunt, “We ourselves are the problem”.

The failures we see are not because we aren’t competent enough but just because we aren’t up for the challenge and we give us too soon. Taking control of our everyday will help us control the outcome and ultimately our lives. Is it easy? Absolutely Not. But it’s not impossible to achieve. Dedication towards re-claiming and renewing our own self to be a better person everyday will help in making things easier.

So let’s step out there completely self motivated and determined with a promise to us of becoming high performers everyday.