Leadership: Five 'Absolutes' for Getting High Performance

I HAVE the privilege of having one foot in the “real” world and one foot in the “academic” world. Since my primary job is to manage a variety of operations for Portland General Electric, I’m always looking for research that identifies what really works in the everyday work world. One of the most exhaustive and practical research projects I’ve come across was conducted by Clinton O. Logenbecker and Jack L. Simonetti and documented in their book entitled “Getting Results.” Their project included one survey of more than 5,000 managers across many industries, and a second survey and interview of more than 1,600 high-performing managers (as labeled by their organizations). When they analyzed the results they discovered that there were “Five Absolutes” for getting high performance and great results. Embedded in these Absolutes are the best practices of high-performing leaders.

I want to share these Five Absolutes with you and pass along some specific ideas that I have used to put them into practice.

Absolute 1. Get everyone on the same page: Focus on the purpose of the organization.

This absolute involves creating and maintaining a clear focus on desired results for yourself, your people and your operation as a whole—and create a means to measure progress and performance.

One key learning I have found can be summarized in the following saying: “You can choose to be mediocre,- or you can choose to strive for excellence...the choice is yours.”

I suggest that to become high-performance leaders we must intentionally choose to pursue excellence, and to make that choice a reality we must communicate this vision to everyone on our organizational team.

Some of my operations at Portland General have been blessed by receiving positive national recognition. The teams involved have worked hard and smart to make positive changes, and to create additional value for our company and its customers, both internal and external. One thing that I did was to articulate an intentional desire to excel. For example, here is a sample mission and values statement from one of my operations (Printing & Mail Services):

Mission:

Our mission is to be a “world class” provider of printing and mailing products and services. We desire to be recognized as a premier service provider that is comparable to any operation of similar size anywhere in the country.

Our purpose is to provide timely, high-quality products and services at a cost equal to or lower than any other potential provider. We desire to achieve a consistently high level of customer satisfaction, and to maintain a working environment that dignifies and motivates our staff.

Values:

We place a high importance on customer satisfaction. We want to meet, and even exceed, customer expectations. Quality of our products and services is a priority. We are results-oriented and will do what it takes to get the job done.

We believe our most important asset is our people, so we strive to treat each person respectfully and to train, develop and promote a positive work environment. We believe in being professional, empowering our employees and in having fun.

We believe in the TQM concept of “continuous improvement” and are constantly striving to improve all aspects of our operations. We also believe in “continuous learning” and are constantly striving to learn more about best practices, technology and ways to better meet our customers’ needs.

Absolute 2. Prepare for battle: Equip your operation with tools, talent and technology.

This absolute includes progressively staffing your operation with high-quality people, developing effective planning practices, providing ongoing training and education, and ensuring people have the tools they need to get the job done. (See sidebar for tips on justifying resources.)

The following “Three P’s” may prove helpful as keys to operational excellence. To excel in an operation, we must continuously learn and improve in these key areas:

Physical Assets & Technology (try to be “leading edge” but not “bleeding edge”)

People (the most valuable resource of any organization)

Practices (learn and apply best practices)

Absolute 3. Stoke the fire for performance: Create a climate for results.

To be effective leaders, we must create an operational climate that provides ongoing performance measurement and feedback, motivates people and removes barriers to performance in an ongoing and systematic fashion.

One essential ingredient to create the climate we desire is to remove the fear of making occasional, inconsequential mistakes. The reality is that we all make mistakes, and mistakes can actually be helpful if we learn from them and avoid similar mistakes in the future. The great philosopher Edward Phelps said, “the man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.”

Being a sports fan, I also like these quotes:

“Don’t let the fear of striking out hold you back.” —Babe Ruth.

“You miss every shot you don’t take.” —Wayne Gretzky.

As leaders, we want to promote calculated risk taking. One of my sayings is “the wise take calculated risks … fools take careless risks … the cowardly take no risks at all.” Let’s not be careless or cowardly, but master the art of taking calculated risks in striving for better results.

In terms of motivating employees, the following list is the most practical I have seen:

1) Personally thank employees for doing a good job—one on one, in writing, or both.

2) Be willing to take the time to meet with and listen to employees.

3) Provide specific feedback about performance of the person, the department and the organization.

4) Strive to create a work environment that is open, trusting and fun.

5) Provide employees with information.

6) Involve employees in decisions, especially those that affect them.

7) Provide employees with a sense of ownership in their work and their work environment.

8) Give people a chance to learn and grow new skills.

9) Celebrate successes—of the company, the department and of the individuals in it.

10) Recognize, reward and promote people based on their performance (not politics).

(For more motivational tips, read about Wes Friesen’s NGPA presentation on page 15.)

Absolute 4. Build bridges on the road to results: Nurture relationships with people.

This Absolute challenges us to identify, foster, nurture and sustain relationships, practice effective communication and foster cooperation through trustworthy leadership.

To build relationships we must focus on helping others. Jesus was quoted as saying, “It is better to give than to receive.” Giving our employees and other people in our lives our “BEST” will result in stronger relationships:

Believe in them

Encourage them

Support them

Trust them

Another tool that works is consistently using the three R’s when dealing with people:

Recognize (show appreciation for skills and good performance).

Reward (include both monetary and non-monetary rewards).

Respect (treat people positively like you would like to be treated).

Absolute 5. Keep the piano in tune: Practice continuous renewal.

As leaders, we constantly need to improve and renew ourselves, our processes and our people, and maintain balance in all facets of our lives for long-term success. I have been inspired by the following quotes:

“None will improve your lot, if you yourselves do not.” —Marcus Aurelius.

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.” —John Wooden.

“I may not be the man I want to be; I may not be the man I ought to be; I may not be the man I can be; but praise God, I’m not the man I once was.” —Martin Luther King.

There are two twin philosophies that can be applied to the operations we lead and also to our personal development:

Continuous Improvement: the philosophy that we need to constantly strive to get better at what we do. This includes the realization that none of us or the operations we lead are perfect, so there is always room to improve.

Continuous Learning: the philosophy that there is always something new to learn, so keep on learning until the day you cease to exist (i.e. be a life-long learner). A great example for me was my Aunt Tina, who was taking correspondence courses until she was 90—and the only reason she quit was that her eyesight went bad.

There are many sources to help us learn and improve. A few that I have found very helpful include participating in conferences like the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference; reading trade journals like In-Plant Graphics; being involved in professional and trade organizations like IPMA, XPLOR and the local Postal Customer Council; reading good books like the one I referenced early in this article; developing relationships and sharing information with peers; and just being on the lookout for new ideas and better ways to do things.

Good luck as you continue on your journey to become an even more effective and high performance leader. IPG

Wes Friesen is the manager of Revenue Collection & Community Offices for Portland General Electric, a utility in Portland, Ore., that serves more than 800,000 customers. He teaches university classes and is a featured speaker at national conferences like IPMA, NGPA, XPLOR, Mailcom and the National Postal Forum. Friesen manages the bill production and payment processing teams with the able assistance of supervisors Eric Houger, Barbara Byers, Gil Rodriguez and Elyssia Carlblom. He can be contacted at: Wes.Friesen@pgn.com.