Leadership for High Performance

It has already been talked a lot about the winds of changing, the impacts on the entrepreneurial environment and the exponentiation of competition worldwide. Their effects on a great variety of segments have also been shown through lists of companies that succumbed to bad weather in a market under continuous mutation. Whichever the sector analyzed, we will find a consolidation process and increasing difficulties to create value for all parts involved. But if on one hand we see many funerals, on the other extreme and not at reduced proportions we find some oasis of high performance, which at first sight seem immune to the corporate black holes. Management Elements Based on a research done in 20041 about the management elements that would lead a company to high performance, it has been noted the existence of a way founded on General Administration Theories and formed from management elements brought to light from the subjects of Business Administration, which require knowledge and discipline of application and execution. There have been found eleven management elements that are present in Figure I as shown here and they are related among them by being mutually supported.
by Luiz Otavio da Silva Nascimento

NASCIMENTO, Luiz Otavio da Silva. Management Elements for High Performance, 2

nd

part of the book

Figure I Management Elements for High Performance They drive companies to high performance and they have been researched on a marketing case study held in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, having been identified those of higher impact on results achieved. Upon trying seeking for the origins of these management elements, it has been found the space where all these elements would be contained. Three big axes define such space, namely: Culture, People and Managerial Systems. This idea is demonstrated in Figure II. Therefore, these axes have been named Roots for High Performance. The way of matching and dealing with them is what will generate fruits as being the management elements, which, then, together might offer the nectar for high performance. The metaphor of a fruitful tree can be used in this case.

Figure II The Three Big Axes The Roots for High Performance
2

The axis of the Managerial Systems comes from the Classical Administration Theory and from the Scientific Administration. The basic functions of the Administrator are contained in it, as Fayol said, even the current processes as Strategic Planning, for instance, including Partnerships and Organizational Learning. The People axis covers the entire People/Staff Management / Human Resources, Human Capital Management and Competences, whereas the Culture axis refers to social knowledge systems, ideology, value, law, daily rituals, beliefs and company practices. The management elements for high performance can own co-ordinates on each axis at rates which change according to the company, being consisting and mutually related.

Figure III The Alignment Among The Three Axes and The Management Elements Cowen and Osborne (2002)2 refer to such conclusion. Guild et. al. (2001, p.10)3 believe that the ability to generate high performance is an organizational competence which can be learned. Learning to align the roots, the big axes, with the management elements are what may make high performance, as seen in Figure III. However, alignment
2 COWEN, Scott S.; OSBORNE, Richard L.; High-Performance Companies: The Distinguishing Profile;
Management Decision Volume 40 Number 3; MCB University Press, 2002.
3

GUILD, Robert; GUILD, Will; MUNDY, Ron; OWEN, Keith; Creating and Sustaining the High Performance

Organization; Managing Service Quality, Volume 11 Number 1; MCB University Press, 2001, pp 10 -21.

is a dynamic management activity, as the entrepreneurial scenery is daily modified upon demanding that the companys leaders check their management elements and the consistency among them by also watching the three big axes and defining priority importance for high performance. Leadership Among the elements put, it must be emphasized Leadership. In companies with high-performance characteristics, leaders have two basic functions: 1) to achieve results through happy people; and 2) to build the future of their companies without letting to do today, because there will not be tomorrow if their companies do not have lunch every day. In many companies, leaders are complacent and they become like excuse performers on presenting negative outcomes blaming the market or the government action or its absence. But, they have not been hired to do that. Successful companies are the ones that have executives, who use their intelligence and capacity to change reality so that they may get bigger and better achievements. In brief, the true leader must say why he came. In order to better explain that, it has been built the following anagram: I CAME

The letter C stands for Communication, which is the main tool of a leader. In general, leaders of companies with high-performance characteristics are excellent communicators and they use this instrument to develop a robust inner channel to spread 5 important concepts. When someone talks about communication what usually comes from his or her mind is that concept of communication companies adopt to conquer customers. That one, generally, is brief, well designed, original and attractive, being repeated thoroughly to enter into their customers minds. But, these companies make their inner communication

amateurishly; it is very often in the corridor. The leader passes on an important message only once, en passant, and he believes it is totally understood by all his/her co-workers. Leaders of companies with high-performance characteristics devote time to build inner communication and they do it professionally. The first concept that leaders communicate is, in fact, the practice of Principles & Values of their companies by offering their own personal examples and thus, forming apostles to disseminate them. Understanding the organization Principles & Values the company beliefs frees his/her co-workers to act. The second concept to be transmitted is what to do, that is, the strategy. Everyone in a company must know the strategic orientation, which must be summarized, to be broadly and repeatedly informed. Co-workers must know where the company is being oriented to and how they can engage. The next concept is how to do it, that is, the processes. The processes have the capacity of simplifying a company. They make possible knowledge and development abilities by allowing co-workers training and also on enterprising programs of continuous improvement. Companies with high-performance characteristics have processes for everything. They seek ceaseless for the best existing practices in marketplace. They apply solutions, which incorporate these practices and which are always up-to-date, by searching for differential competitive advantages. The fourth concept to be communicated is the coaching work, which starts with a personal example, upon adopting a model that spread the companys culture through the apostles. The leader acts demonstrating clear understanding and respect for the co- workers, being available to guide them professionally and personally, presenting tools and not imposing them solutions. It is worth remembering an English saying: walk what you talk! Finally, communication must be used to make people evolve throughout a system of constant feedback. All co-workers must know how their outcomes are perceived and confronted in order to keep them and improve them. There is not anything more powerful than a positive feedback and nothing is more destructive than a negative feedback.

The letter A from our anagram means Alignment. Because, to achieve their company goals, the leaders will need to align different management elements, specially; strategy, structure and culture. One of the main tools they own is management for competences, which based on the necessary competence analysis to succeed in their markets leaders might choose either developing such competences internally or acquiring them from the market to speed up the experience curve. The following letter is M of Metrics. Deming has asserted: You cant manage what you cant measure, you cant measure what cant be defined, you cant define what you cant understand, and there is no success in what cant be managed. At medium level companies, usually, co-workers do not have indicators and they refer to their goal reaching by using adjectives. How are sales doing? Theyre good! But what is good for these co-workers and their companies? Companies with high-performance characteristics have indicators for every activity and every process. The indicators give a clear visualization of the goals achieved or not, they allow a fast action to eliminate any eventual non-conformity. The other letter of the anagram is E of Execution. About it, Theodore Levitt has said: Many people with good ideas have a particular notion that their tasks end when the assignments are presented; they believe it concerns someone else to elaborate the unpleasant details and after they will improve the purposes. Considering that business is an institution where you must HAVE THINGS DONE, creativity without an oriented feedback to action is a non-productive way of behavior. To execute is the true work of a companys Leader and not only elaborate a vision and let the others do the task by making it come true. In a company, nothing happens spontaneously. Either you make them happen or things simply remain the way they are! High performance leaders follow personally the execution. The sentence they say the most is: let me see it!

The last letter of the anagram is I of Innovation. In a marketplace in continuous mutation, risk and innovation are known as needs by companies with high- performance characteristics. These companies do not use technology as the main road to drive a change. They do not incorporate the latest entrepreneurial fashions, but on the contrary they are pioneers in applying technologies that are carefully selected. Innovation must be pragmatic, i.e., it must create value for the customers and results for the company. About it Drucker has mentioned: Innovation is not invention neither discovery. It may require either of them very often it does, but its main focus is not knowledge, but performance at a company that means economic performance. One example that illustrates it comes from the auto industry where occurred a launching of a new car whose doors opened for the upside, alluding to the wings of a butterfly. Such innovation was a failure from the companys opinion, which launched it, and from the customers point of view as well. Whereas, the innovation of cars made with flex engines, that is; which work ethanol and gasoline and or gas, is a success from any perspective. Together with the anagram mentioned, the study has demonstrated that the leaders profile from high performance companies is a non charismatic executive, though, an assertive one, who gives his/her personal example, owning systemic vision and constancy of purposes. He/she has emotional intelligence. He/she is reliable, visionary, he/she motives people through his/her clarifications and he/she provides feedbacks of performance. The success patterns are clear for everybody as well as the rewards. He/she maximizes commitments towards the companys objectives and strategies. He/she fits the individual task within a big vision. He/she determines the end; however he/she gives people space enough for action so that they may develop their own means. He/she gives them freedom to innovate, experiment and take measured risks. The leaders main role is to build up an organization and for that he/she uses the communication to transmit its principles & values, strategies, processes, planning and results by guiding and developing people, and promoting an innovation culture.

As previous mentioned here, the leader of a high performance company has two fundamental functions: to get results through happy people and to build his companys future, but always remembering that it wont exist future if his organization dont have lunch every day.

Luiz Otavio da Silva Nascimento. Master in Business Administration (UFRGS - Brazil), specialization in Marketing (FGV - Brazil) and General Management (Emerging Leader Program - Darden Business School of the University of Virginia USA and Lcole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales HEC of Paris - France). He has a 25 year professional experience in management retail and consumer good companies, like Perrier, Owens-Illinois, Lojas Renner and Diadora. Currentley, he is consultant and counselor. Author of the books Gestor Eficaz prticas para se destacar num ambiente empresarial competitive (Effective Manager practices to be succeeded in a competitive business environment), xodo da Viso Ao Uma Proposta para o Varejo Brasileiro (Exodus From Vision to Action A Proposal for the Brazilian Retailing Market) and co-author of the book Administrao de Empresas Comerciais (Administration of Commercial Companies). Professor of MBA courses at Laureate Universities in Brazil (Anhembi-Morumbi and Business School So Paulo).