How organizations can sustain excellent performance

Having become a highly successful organisation and maybe even achieved world class excellence, however admirable it may be, it is just the beginning of a never ending journey. In the relentless, head-snapping global competition, standing still is the quickest way to slip back. A truly world class excellence must be resilient, long-lasting, and can by definition stand the test of time.

How to sustain excellent performance

Admittedly, maintaining and sustaining world class excellence is a lot more challenging than achieving it. This is because organisations, after they have achieved leading positions, often lose their further directions and are unable to set the next target. At this stage, the conventional goal setting and organisational learning techniques may cease to be effective. What must be installed is an innovative learning and creative process.

How a leader can show people the future

In essence, the learning beyond world class is a process of creative evolution, a journey into the unchartered water. This calls for the leadership that can show people the future and can communicate the new purpose that is worthy of commitment, which will also continue to inspire everyone in the organisation. The journey ahead is to be primarily a lot more emotional rather than technical.

Even when a leadership is given and a renewed direction and development strategy is formulated, sustaining a world class status is still far from certain. The ‘law of diminishing returns’ prevails, and management is no exception.  If organisations follow the same orthodox and keep the same management approach unchanged, over time, the benefit and effectiveness of those approaches will begin to decline and eventually even diminish completely. To sustain the achieved world class excellence and go beyond the known standard, organisation must not only continue its pursuing, but also refresh its pursuit through changing and learning.

Why the ultimate source of creativity comes from the people

The only agent and active force in the changing and learning process is the people, and it is from the people that the ultimate source of creativity comes. Business author and speaker Tom Peters has suggested the Seven-Step Path to Sustaining Success. At every step, the only measure is excellence. The first and the leading step for all the rest is taking care of the people.

• You take care of people
• The people take care of service
• The service takes care of the customer
• The customer takes care of the profit
• The profit takes care of the investment
• The investment takes care of the re-investment
• The re-investment takes care of the future

What does the future hold for the world class excellence in the 21^st century? The accelerating pace of change will certainly test the resilience of every existing organisation including those who believe to be the world class ones. In the meantime, the turbulence in the global business environment continues to create unprecedented opportunities as well as challenges.