HPOs, by definition, consistently excel at a range of different capabilities. But most organizations need to build toward that goal. “When I look at different companies, I see all of them doing some of the HPO components really well, but it’s hard to do all of them well, all the time,” Patton says. “And that’s okay. HPO is a state to aspire to. The thing that sets leaders apart is that they pay attention to measuring, taking action, and continuously improving.”
One of the most important steps leaders can take is to define their organization’s performance priorities and the investments that will most effectively help them reach their goals.
Our survey revealed a difficult truth: The organizational capabilities that leaders considered to be most important to high performance were also those they found hardest to master. Leaders said the three most important capabilities for a high-performing organization are effective managers who empower and develop their teams, effective communication and coordination across teams, and clear performance expectations. All three of these also appeared among the top five capabilities cited as being most difficult, along with understanding workers’ skills and supporting innovation, risk taking, and experimentation.
We placed the capabilities that impact progress toward HPO goals on a continuum that represents how important leaders believe each capability to be, as well as how difficult they find it to achieve. This helps provide guidance on which investments can have the most impact, and how you can use technology to help you focus your most important resources—your people—on the toughest, but most impactful efforts.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
Use technology to simplify easier tasks so you can focus on the performance drivers that are important but difficult to achieve
Transformation
Building the capabilities that leaders say are most important to achieving HPO goals and the most difficult to get right requires a transformational approach—and the greatest investment of resources, energy, and people power. In addition to manager effectiveness, effective team communication, and clear performance expectations, transformational capabilities include support for innovation and understanding the re-skilling and upskilling needs of workers. Focus on creating strategic alignment on these priorities. Invest in technologies that make these capabilities easier to achieve, allow you to measure your organization’s strengths and weaknesses, and enable you to track progress.
Amplification
Leaders noted that many factors they considered to be important to driving progress toward HPO aspirations were relatively less difficult to achieve than transformational factors. Capabilities in this category include building a culture that supports inclusion and wellbeing, ensuring clear alignment and ownership of mission-critical work, and making it easier for leaders to connect, inspire, and engage with their people. At many organizations, these practices may already be in place. Investigate opportunities to maximize impact and reduce effort. Where are you seeing progress? Where might you dial back your efforts? Invest in technology that can scale your best practices and improve leaders’ and managers’ visibility and communications.
Optimization
Leaders say that many capabilities are table stakes when it comes to performance, such as using data to guide decisions, providing employees with tools that empower them to do their best work, and creating efficient processes. Together, these capabilities create an environment that supports all the other conditions that leaders believe are important to high performance. Many organizations are already proficient in these areas and should focus on creating efficiencies. Use technology to augment human work, and automate whenever possible to enable your employees to focus on the capabilities that are more challenging and more closely linked with high performance.
Performance Is about More than Profits
The new performance dashboard shows that financial success isn’t the whole story.
Double Down on Deep Collaboration
Leaders say they frequently work together, but relatively few engage in the difficult work of real partnership.
Use AI as an Accelerant
AI can help organizations leapfrog the barriers that slow progress toward HPO goals.
