The Attributes of High Performance

Regardless of your profession or position, employed or self employed, if you are a high performer, you are more likely to:

(1) be satisfied with your professional development

(2) have been promoted or recognized more often or faster in your environment.

If you aspire to be or are a high performer, the attributes and principles below shape high performance:

• Consistent hard work: There is no shortcut for good or high performance. First things first, and that’s why reliability and consistency in delivering on what you do are foundations to build upon.
• Integrity and work ethics: Those are also fundamental values that if lacking can bring down and destroy reputation and trust. This is as much about upholding moral and ethical values, as is about walking the talk regardless of your audience.
• Do your best and the best will get better over time: I grew up with my mom always pointing out the uselessness of starting something if I was not ready to give it the appropriate amount of attention and effort. In other words, go wholeheartedly about your work. Putting forth the best effort at a particular time doesn’t avoid mistakes, but you will persevere and your next best will be a forward progression.
• Positive attitude and energy: you can work really hard, but if you don’t project or have a positive attitude, your negativity will eventually turn your internal or external customers off. We all have bad days and good days, but strive to show up as a driven and passionate learner and contributor.
• Clarity in goals and execution: Not all projects and activities are equally important. Make sure you are spending enough time and resources on what matters the most. The Pareto principle suggests that 80% of our results come from 20% of our activities. Bernard Burchard, a high performance business coach, sees this as spending 60% of our time each day on needle moving activities. This requires time management skills but also the ability to figure out by ourselves or with help from others, what are key needs or projects that add value.
• Be patient: if you are doing all of the above but are still not being recognized, maybe all you need is some patience. We all know the saying: people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their bosses. Bad bosses may eventually move on, as not a good fit with the organization. Or new opportunities arise. Keep building your expertise and knowledge. Be it within your organization or a new one, high performance is like an iceberg. It will eventually surface, and once it does, you will be a force to be reckoned with. That’s when you will start being noticed and groomed for growth, or when your business will boom.

Regardless of where you are on the spectrum of performance, it’s never too late to start applying principles of high performance.

Give yourself a chance to see how your environment and opportunities change for the better when you put forth the best effort.