Delivering Sustainable High Performance

Hi there, I'm Ben Morton and welcome to another episode of the Leaders Kit Bag. It's the weekly micro edition of my podcast. Each episode is just six minutes long and is designed to provide you with tips, tools and tactics around specific aspects of leadership and management. It addresses some of the most common, common challenges you will face as a leader or manager. They are all recorded unscripted whilst I'm out walking in the countryside. So you'll probably hear birds tweeting in the background or just ambient noise as the people around me are going about their day to day life. That's all I'm going to say by way of an introduction, so let's dive straight in to this week's episode.

We've all heard the phrase that high performance comes at a cost. But is that actually true or is it an outdated way of thinking that's actually preventing us from reaching a level of high performance? The truth is, I believe that sustained high performance doesn't come by simply working longer, harder and faster. Rather it comes from working smarter. And yes, I know that's also a work smarter, not harder. And yes, I know, perhaps for you that might be quite triggering, especially if you feel as though you are really under the pump right now and sort of paddling, kicking really hard below the water like the proverbial swan just to keep things on an even keel. But there's real truth in the analogy, or the cliche rather, of working smarter, not harder. I know, I've been there.

I've been in that situation where you're.

Just desperately trying to get things done and when someone says, hey, I've got this great idea, you just need to work a little bit smarter, how frustrating that can be. But it's very true that as leaders, when we are trying to scale a business, help our team or department hit some really ambitious target, or trying to have a significant impact in the communities within which we live and serve. It's critically important for leaders to focus on sustainable high performance, for us to model balance and good working practices. Because if we don't, we as leaders will burn out and will lead our teams or entire organizations into burnout as well.

So Stephen Covey, Author of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, taught us many years ago when he wrote that infamous book that simply working harder and faster isn't the formula for success. He tells the story of two lumberjacks in a forest cutting down trees. One just works relentlessly all day, working as hard as he can, soaring as fast as he possibly can, and the other take some Regular breaks and pauses throughout the day to stop and sharpen the saw that he's using. And then at the end of each day, which of the two lumberjacks has felled the most trees? It's the one who paused to sharpen the saw.

Right?

That lumberjack is ready to get up and deliver the same output the very next day. As opposed to the one who worked frantically really hard all day long, who finished that day absolutely exhausted. So we need to focus on the things that will enable us to perform a high level sustainably. And that's all we mean when we talk about working smarter, not harder. It's not to suggest the way we're currently working is dumb. It's just about finding different ways that are more effective. And that's also key. Great leaders, high performing individuals focus on being effective, not efficient. Again, back to our lumberjack story. We can very efficiently spend time doing the wrong things. Being effective is about making sure we're doing the right things. So sustainable high performance really is a leadership issue. And burnout isn't an individual issue, it's a leadership issue. And really, to be blunt, it often comes about as a result of some leadership failures. So it's a leadership failure when we reward effort exhaustion, even over effectiveness. It's a leadership failure when we ourselves model working all hours as opposed to balance and recovery. And it's a leadership failure when we focus on presenteeism instead of impact and output. So my challenge for you as a result of today's episode of the Leaders Kit Bag is to think about those three areas I've just mentioned, what we reward, what we model and sort of what we focus on. And just ask yourself, how well am I doing against those three areas? Am I creating the right environment, setting the right example, putting the focus in the right areas? And if not, if there's room for improvement. What is one small thing that I can focus on for the next 30 days and I can also get my team focused on to help make a small shift and take you and your team to sustainable high performance.

And just before I go, if you are leading a scale up or organization.

Or trying to scale a division, business unit or product line within a much larger organization, and you want to get a snapshot benchmark of where your leadership capability is and the gaps that might exist and prevent you from reaching sustainable high performance, then you can complete my new free leadership capability scorecard by following the link wherever you are watching or listening to this episode of the Leaders Kit Bag. That's it for this episode. As always hope it's been useful. Look after yourself and look after those you've got the privilege and responsibility to lead until next time. Lead on.