Elevate your leadership impact with traits that define high-performance leaders.
High-Performance Leader Assess whether or not you are one.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE leaders (HPLs) are a breed apart. They are distinguished from traditional, hierarchical leaders by five traits:
1. They are visionaries and architects.
Many business leaders are visionaries, but an HPL holds out a unique vision. To overcome immediate challenges and those that lie ahead, HPLs have scuttled the traditional hierarchy model and replaced it with a flat, horizontal one.
Cathy Burzik, CEO of Kinetic Concepts, notes, “Most organizations function on a hub-and-spoke model, with decisions radiating from a central base of power—not built for high performance and speed.”
But a leader needs to be more than a visionary. The question is: Can you lead your team and organization down from the mountaintop? Given the demands placed on leaders today, visions need to be operationalized, which is a unique strength of HPLs. They have an architect’s flair to see the whole game—the blueprint, not just the vision—for creating a great organization. And they know how to inspire in others the desire to make that blueprint a reality.
2. They know they can’t do it alone.
HPLs are not necessarily charismatic or heroic, though it takes guts and grit to be one. They are team players. Their notion of teamwork isn’t driven by ideological notions of shared decision-making or engagement but by utilitarian considerations. HPLs believe they are more powerful and effective—and their organizations create greater value—in the presence of high-performing teams that function horizontally.
Over the last 10 years, Burzik has learned that the only way to accelerate performance is by going horizontal: empowering teams to make the decisions formerly made at the top. In her words, “It enables you to multiply yourself.”
Like great architects, HPLs surround themselves with people who can bring their blueprint to life. They don’t hammer the wood; they hire people who can. They answer such questions as:
Who are the players?
What competencies must we develop or acquire to create a high-performance organization?
What role do I play in bringing this about?
3. They build authentic relationships.
To great leaders, authenticity has a special meaning: holding up a mirror to players to reflect, in real time, how well they measure up to the requirements of a high-performance environment.
Being a relationship builder doesn’t involve being a people person with natural interpersonal skills. Rather, it’s about building trust so that the team can openly discuss, assess, and confront one another on actual performance to raise the bar. This relationship-building process begins with the leader posing five tough questions:
What’s the business strategy, and how committed are we to achieving it?
What key operational goals flow from the strategy, and how do we ensure these goals drive decision-making?
Are we clear on roles and accountabilities?
What ground rules will we play by?
Will our business relationships be built on honesty and transparency?
By raising these questions and searching for answers, effective leaders lay the groundwork for solid, performance-oriented relationships. What emerges is a fully aligned and engaged team of players who think and act like a mini board of directors.
They model the behaviors they expect from their team. Leaders’ behavior sets the performance standard for others, often spawning an army of imitators.
One CEO posted a sign outside his office: “I practice HPTs (high-performing teams).” It reminded visitors they were entering a high-performance zone and reminded the CEO to practice what he preached: authenticity, transparency, delivering and receiving candid feedback, holding himself and others accountable, and focusing on results.
4. They change mindsets.
HPLs do not prioritize restructuring, reorganizing, or reengineering to change how results are achieved. Their first task is to change mindsets—starting with their own.
They command without commanding. They put aside ego and encourage team members to make decisions and produce results, holding them accountable for doing so. By redefining their role, HPLs see the net advantage of letting go, freeing them from the onerous aspects of traditional leadership, such as playing Solomon or acting as enforcer.
5. Assess Yourself.
With these traits in mind, candidly answer the following 10 questions:
Have you led an alignment effort to ensure everyone on your team is clear and committed to a common strategy, operational goals, roles, accountabilities, decision-making ground rules, and transparent business relationships?
Do you require your team to act as a mini board of directors, where each member puts aside functional self-interest and owns team results?
To what extent do you encourage team members to hold one another accountable for business success—and hold you accountable as well?
How attuned are you to the leader-player dynamic of each team member? Do you adjust your behaviors—directing, coaching, collaborating, delegating—based on player and situational needs?
Do you cling to the old belief that “As a leader, I get paid to make the decisions?”
Do team members view you as the answer man, night watchman, referee, enabler—or as a questioner/coach with a maestro’s baton?
Do you role-model effective leadership behavior in leading your team and managing upward, such as with your board of directors?
When a team member disagrees with you, do you:
a) Thank them and assess the contrarian position?
b) Use sarcasm, avoidance behavior, or seek rescuers?
c) Become unglued?
d) Press the eject button?
When did you last ask your team if you contribute to their ability to reach high-performance goals and expectations?
When you look behind you, do you see a team of leaders—or followers?
The Missing Question
What results have you and those you are leading achieved? Results tend to be derivative. If your answers reveal that you are an HPL, then high-performance results have likely followed.
Howard M. Guttman is the principal of Guttman Development Strategies and author of
Great Business Teams: Cracking the Code for Standout Performance (www.greatbusinessteams.com) and
Coach Yourself to Win (www.coachyourselftowin.com).
ACTION: Be a high-performance leader.