What Does It Mean to Be a High-Performing Organization?
I am fascinated about how each of us influences and contributes to organizational cultures, what I like to call “how we roll.” I’m equally interested in what it means to be “high-performing” organization (HiPO). So, when I was asked for my next Free Agent assignment to work on a cool project that involved HiPO’s, I was all over it!
What’s The Cool #BCFedLeaders Project?
In partnership with the British Columbia Federal Council (BCFC), departments in British Columbia (BC) will unite all BC public servants under #BCFedLeaders. There are amazing public servants in BC doing impactful work and #BCFedLeaders will provide the opportunity for their stories to be shared.
I am fortunate to be working with Dr. Judi Beck, with Natural Resources Canada, to launch the #BCFedLeaders campaign. The launch has been framed around high performing organizations, continuous learning, systems thinking and the pillars from Beyond 2020; Agile, Inclusive and Equipped. That’s a lot to tackle for a launch, but we are up for the challenge! The key deliverables for the launch are 8 – 10 podcasts (which I will host) with BC Federal leaders as well as contributions of their stories via blog posts. Social media will be the vehicle used to share these stories. Given this project is inviting folks to share their thoughts on all things related to HiPO’s, learning and building workplaces that are agile, inclusive and equipped, I want to share the characteristics of high performing organizations that have shown up for me in my career as one of the #BCFedLeaders. But first I’m thinking it would be good to define a HiPO.
What’s the high performing organization (HiPO)?
The high performance organization (HiPO) is a framework for organizations, that if adopted, can lead to improved and sustainable organizational performance. There is a plethora of theories and ideas out there on what it means to be a HiPO, often described as characteristics, factors or elements. Broad characteristics include leadership, teamwork, culture and organizational structure. Factors can include long-term orientation, continuous improvement & renewal, action orientation, and quality of management & employees. To be honest, I’m still trying to figure out what the difference is between describing HiPO’s under “characteristics” and “factors.” Regardless, as you have probably ascertained, there are many layers to both. There Centre for High Performance, in my view has some really great information on factors impacting a HiPO. Eight in total are described and three are key to the #BCFedLeaders campaign. According to de Waal (2010) below are the 8 factors:
(4) Organizational Structure: Organizational Design, Strategy, Processes and Technology
(3) Organizational Culture: Leadership, Individuals & Roles (People), and Culture
(1) Behaviours of organizational members
The three factors that we are focussing on for the #BCFedLeaders launch are leadership, individuals & roles (people) and culture. When I think of HiPO’s, and under my systems lens I’ve created a bit of a mind map that helps me to connect the dots. I’ve also described five concepts that really hit home for me when I think of HiPO’s and my #BCFedLeaders public service experience.
Figure 1: Systems map of an HiPO (Jodi’s mind map)
The HiPO Characteristics that Jodi Digs
Shared Information and Communication – for any organization to be high performing information sharing and communication is integral. How and how often the information is shared is just as important. Since Blueprint 2020 there have been big strides in this regard with the creation of platforms such as GCcollab and the insurgence of social media use including Twitter and LinkedIn. If one looks at the PSES 2017 & 2018 results you may see positive and negative responses to information sharing and communication within you department. What I wonder is what more can and should be done in cases where there are negative responses?
Compelling Vision – this concept keeps making it onto lists because it’s really is that important. A solid idea of what you, your team, your organization is working towards creates unity. A sense of belonging and purpose is often what gets us out of bed and keeps us going. I have my own personal vision of workplaces being empathetically impactful. I have also been employed in departments where I was jazzed about its’ vision. In my 16 years with the government, I’m still shocked that I’ve only belonged to one team where we created a team vision, mission and values. I would love to see more visioning happening for individuals and teams.
Continuous improvement – living and breathing mastery, leveraging what’s going well, focussing on strengths is what sets HPO’s apart from the rest of the crowd. In our world, PS Renewal has been around for a long time and I hope it sticks around forever. I can’t remember any organization that I was a part of where we didn’t talk about what we could do differently or better. Trending is “innovation”, but in the end it is part of our human essence to continue to strive, some of us find strategies to do this sooner than others, but eventually we all get there. It’s part of our DNA to evolve. In my view learning fits with continuous improvement and ties in beautifully with concepts like growth mindsets.
Energizing Structures – now this one is interesting as it relates to organizational structures. In the GOC we typically see only hierarchical structures. HiPO’s opt to be as flat as possible. There are lots of options to how we work even if the formal reporting structure is a hierarchy. The idea is (where possible) get rid of barriers and the bureaucracy. Matrix structures for example are seen in pockets within organizations that have direct line reporting structures. We have lots of examples where functional reporting exists. In the end, working cross-functionally is the way to go if you want to be a HiPO.
Teamwork is an oldie but a goodie. HiPO’s hold teamwork and collaboration in very high regard. Teams in HiPO’s are self-directing, thrive off of information sharing, and have complimentary skills. The autonomy that exists provides for a high level of job satisfaction and commitment to each other and the work.
Health & Safety - The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the Standard) was launched in January 2013. The first of its kind, the GOC has done a really great job in bringing mental health awareness to the forefront of our workplaces. In my view the most critical factor determining whether your organization is high performing is to gage and ensure it is a psychologically healthy and safe. The 13 Factors addressing mental health in the workplace list many of the characteristics of a HiPO, such as culture, involvement & influence and employee engagement. The 13 Factors go further to include concepts such as balance, civility & respect, and psychological & social support. So to me in the end a HiPO can stand tall if and when it has its employees back and ensures they are healthy and safe.
I look forward to hearing from #BCFedLeaders to see what they are doing and who they are inspiring to shape our workplaces into HiPO’s. Connect with me via Twitter @heyhumantis or on the #BCFedLeaders GCcollab page.
