On Wednesday 29th November Miramar Global Executive Search, in partnership with Elite Performance Partners, held a Leadership Forum in Soho, London to discuss ‘How Do Leaders Create A High Performance Organisation’.
With over one hundred senior leaders from the world of business and sport in attendance, the three inspirational leaders sharing their views were:
- Gordon Wilson – CEO at Advanced and techUK Board Member
- Jacqui Ferguson – NED at The Wood Group and Board Advisor at DocuSign
- Dave Reddin –Head of Strategy and Performance at The Football Association
The panel used their diverse blend of experience as a powerful catalyst to engage, influence and improve our audience’s approach to performance, culture and growth.
The key learns were that to create high performance, an organisation must focus on:
- People–THE most important factor
- Culture– must be engaging
- Purpose– people need a unifying purpose
- Vision– there has to be a clear vision
- Goals – working towards the same goals
- Leadership – best when cohesive and aligned
- Accountability– be clear who is individually responsible
- Actions– especially taking the tough decisions early
- Fun– having fun is essential!
People are THE most important factor, agreed the three panellists. However, a high performing organisation is more than a group of people who work together. To achieve high performance, people must share a common vision, goal and purpose. They have to collaborate, challenge and hold each other accountable to achieve outstanding results.
People need to be confident about their organisation’s strategy and the changes that are occurring to deliver shared outcomes. High performing organisations will always have strong, inspirational leaders with integrity who lead by example with honesty and sincerity, showing commitment, passion and accountability.
Creating a high performance culture is a journey, where all the people in your organisation must contribute to their fullest potential – or be exited, if they cannot be moved internally to play to their strengths. Leaders need to engage, align, motivate, and mobilise individuals and teams to create a high performance culture.
Our panellists recommended that leaders focus on excellence in whatever the organisation does, to stimulate people to achieve high performance; to enforce performance-driven behaviours, and establish clear and meaningful core values that must be widely shared. To perform at a high level, people will be asked to contribute at their maximum potential, being recognised and rewards for their individual, team and organisational success.
To stay ahead of the competition, now more than ever, an organisation must develop an adaptive culture to achieve long-term success. Shift the organisational behaviour towards driving entrepreneurship when resources are readily available, towards collaboration when they are scarce. Change and adaptability are central to innovation and growth. Organisations have to be agile and ready to reinvent jobs, processes, structures, and work practices. Ultimately, success in the future will depend on the ability to change, learn, and to grow, with everyone at leadership level and across the organisation demonstrating a change mindset.
As an international executive search and leadership development firm, Miramar work with public, private and private equity owned companies in TMT, Industrials and Life Sciences to advise on attracting, building and developing high performance in the workplace. We hosted the event to offer leaders from business and sport the tools to tackle their own organisational challenges, and to better translate business strategy into a powerful people strategy to realise the full potential of the organisation.
Thanks are due to our panellists and everyone that attended*. It is clear that ‘To Create A High Performing Organisation’ you must focus on your people. Build a culture and platform that enables strong leadership and collaborative teams to make work fun, satisfying and rewarding.
If you would like to learn more about developing effective strategies to create a high performance organisation, or want to be notified about our future events, please get in touch with Paul Marks.
(*thanks to Rikki Marr from Hawk and Mouse for visually translating the event)
