An innovative approach to driving maximum performance at all levels of an organization
Peak Performance Culture: The Five Metrics of Operational Excellence is a step-by-step roadmap to achieving optimal organizational development in your company or association. This practical guide helps you accurately evaluate the current state of your company and create a strategy that maximizes its future success. Author Dave Mitchell, building upon concepts introduced in his bestselling books The Power of Understanding People and The Power of Understanding, provides new applications, effective real-world tactics, powerful organizational assessment tools, and much more.
The book addresses the five critical factors for organizational success: vertical alignment, horizontal alignment, leadership ideology and corporate culture, employee experience, and customer experience. Each comprehensive chapter introduces a key component to peak performance culture - containing a detailed definition of the component, illustrative examples, expert insights, and practical considerations relevant to a diverse range of real-world situations. This must-have guide:
- Features exercises and assessments to identify organizational metrics drawn from 25 years of work with client organizations such as Allstate Insurance, Bank of America, Universal Studios, Hilton Worldwide, Walt Disney World, and hundreds more
- Explores best practices for implementing policies, procedures, and philosophies that align with an organization's mission, values, and strategy
- Discusses individual characteristics of high performers, how to enhance teamwork, the relationships between functional units within an organization, and employee recruitment, selection, and onboarding
- Addresses issues surrounding how employees responsible for customer satisfaction are experiencing their organizations
- Provides tools for continually evaluating and improving customer experience, including a pragmatic model that can be applied to any organization
Whether your company needs to correct performance problems, or is already successful but seeking even higher levels of success, Peak Performance Culture: The Five Metrics of Operational Excellence will prove to be an invaluable resource for any organization.
Table of Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction 1
“Fat Enough, Happy Enough” Isn’t Enough 3
What You’ll Find in the Book 6
The Plan Requires Work 8
Chapter 1: A Foundation of Passion 11
True Passion is Rare 11
Desire Versus Passion 13
The Importance of Joy 14
Leading with Passion 16
Chapter 2: Horizontal Alignment 19
Success Scoreboard 20
Market Environment 29
Why Me? The Core Ideology 31
How Do You Identify Your Core Ideology? 37
The First Step of Alignment is Done 52
Chapter 3: Vertical Alignment 55
Vertical Alignment Shouldn’t Be an Afterthought 58
The Incredible Value of a Well-Designed Job Description 60
A Misaligned Brand 62
Digging Deeper into Alignment 64
The Misaligned Sales Process 66
Brand Statement and Vertical Alignment 69
The Fallacy of “Disruption” 70
Small Changes in Horizontal Alignment Create Big Changes in Vertical Alignment 71
Vertical Alignment at the Divisional/ Departmental Level 75
Passion is the Foundation, Alignment is the Infrastructure 79
Chapter 4: Leadership Ideology 81
The Problem with Values 82
The Importance of Behaviors 84
Internal Locus of Control 88
An Empowerment Culture 91
Intrinsic Needs Fulfillment 94
Dialectical Thinking 96
Zero-Based Thinking 101
Coaching and Counseling to Shift Responsibility 104
People Preventative Maintenance System 109
Seamwork 113
Leadership Toxicity 116
The Great Eight of Benevolent Accountability and Pragmatic Creativity 118
Chapter 5: The Customer Experience 121
Not All Customers are Alike 123
The Heart and Art of Service Excellence 126
Service Excellence and Organizational Ergonomics 128
Service Recovery 132
Customer Journey Mapping and the Power of Expectations 134
Chapter 6: The Employee Experience 155
Recruiting and Selection 158
New Hire Onboarding/Orientation 165
Skills Training 169
Continuous Coaching and Performance Feedback 170
Career Pathing 177
The Employee/Customer Link 178
Chapter 7: It’s Go Time! 181
Appendix: Peak Performance Culture: The Five Metrics of Organizational Excellence 185
Peak Performance Culture Assessment 186
Ongoing Enhancement 190
Horizontal Alignment Assessment 191
Vertical Alignment Assessment 193
Leadership Ideology Assessment 194
Customer Experience Assessment 195
Employee Experience Assessment 197
About the Author 199
Index 201
