Throughout life we go through tons of jobs and different careers. The jobs can require a different set of tasks, different set of management and different sets of customers; however, all organizations have one common item: the spirit of the organization. The “spirit” consists of guidelines that everyone should follow in order to have a fulfilling company and a fulfilling work environment. It is the responsibility of managers to develop the organization’s “spirit” by following set practices, starting with high performance requirements.

Setting standards for high performance is critical not only to the organization’s survival, but to the well-being of the associates. In a hospital, the quality of care of patients. In government, the quality of policies and speed of which they are enacted. In business, hitting targets and quotas including investor estimates. High performance needs to be a “standard” of the job, the continuous stride to do better and execute stronger. Without high goals, associates become disengaged because there is nothing to strive for. Without high goals, associates and managers refuse to take risks as there is no reward. Without high goals, organizational performance as a whole suffers which turns into less bonuses, more layoffs and in the worst case re-structuring or bankruptcy. It is the responsibility of the managers to drive themselves and their associates to not only reach job objectives, but surpass them.

Responsibility regarding performance also comes consequences; positive or negative. The positives are obvious, engaged management, engaged staff, engaged customers, engaged investors and an engaged organization committing itself to excellence. The negatives are disastrous: complacency, lack of execution, de-motivated staff and management. The manager who continuously fails in performing needs to be removed from the role. Does this manager come to work to not perform? Definitely not. Underperformers are sometimes affected by changing job descriptions, changing economic environment, outside personal effects or lack of motivation due to performance standards not set for oneself. Removing one from their role in an organization does not mean to just let them go and fire all underperformers; it means that re-casting should be taken under consideration.

That great computer engineer that was promoted last year to management due to her computer expertise could step down to her engineer role again where she can perform. A manager who took a risk with a new position in the company could move back to his old one. The executive that leads a failing division within a corporation could lead a different one, or have a job description re-structure. All examples of different options to pursue because the organization is responsible for the individual and maintain that “spirit of the organization”. Associates do not promote themselves; a team is responsible for their promotion. It the manager’s duty to review all options whenever dealing with underperforming management and execute accordingly, ignoring the solution is passive destruction and is not doing what is best for the underperformer, as they come into work knowing they underperform consistently, which spreads to associates.

With standards of high performance, individuals can benchmark themselves on how to fulfill their role and become better than who they are today. Associates get promoted faster for the right reasons, there is less “office politics”, complacency is lowered, a sense of urgency towards objectives is in place and in the end the organization’s customer (associates and consumers) benefit from the effectiveness and positivity in the establishment.