“If you want to retain those who are present, be loyal to those who are absent.” -- Dr. Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

“Learning cannot be disassociated from action.” -- Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline

“Just remember that it's a grand illusion - deep inside we're all the same. ” -- Styx, The Grand Illusion

“The most important measures are both unknown and unknowable.” -- W. Edwards Deming, Out of the Crisis

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The Ten Commandments of High Performance

by Kevin McManus February 2005

Like most company leaders, you probably are trying to improve your safety, quality, cost, and people performance on a regular basis. Unfortunately, many of the leaders I have met who have this desire are also struggling to do so consistently. They've tried implementing six sigma, lean thinking, and team-based philosophies, and while they may have experienced flashes of success, they have struggled to sustain these new levels of performance over time.

My experience has taught me that building a better organization is a lot like trying to build a house. In other words, there are certain rules that have to be followed if you want either the house or the organization to function as intended. If you're building a house, you have to follow the building codes. If you don't, your foundation might crack, your paint might peel, or your roof might wear out long before it is supposed to. Organizations are no different in this sense - if you don't follow the rules, your people will become demoralized or quit, your equipment will wear out too soon, and your performance will be erratic.

You can think of the ten commandments of high performance as a set of basic building codes for a high performance organization. The best companies follow these codes religiously. Others have yet to discover them, or at best, use only some of them. Systems give you the results that they are designed to give you. Systems create the organizational culture that you have in place, like it or not. The ten commandments of high performance will help you build great systems in those areas that are most critical to sustained, successful, and sane performance. Check them out, give them a try, and see what happens!

Commandment #1: Design your leadership development system around a regular measurement process that comes from 'bottom up' reviews and is based on defined behavior and task expectations for all formal leaders.

Commandment #2: Redesign the jobs of your managers and supervisors to eliminate existing non-value added time usage and to include more time for skill practice, additional learning, coaching, and project work.

Commandment #3: Measure and improve the cost and effectiveness of all group events, such as training courses and meetings, that occur in your company.

Commandment #4: Use formal decision making tools, such as a decision matrix, to prioritize and select improvement projects, instead of depending mostly on opinion.

Commandment #5: Use the majority of training time for skill practice and group interaction, as opposed to relying primarily on lecture as a means of teaching people how to do new things.

Commandment #6: Link pay to performance for all employees, and install systems that pay people according to the degree of value they personally provide to the organization on a daily basis.

Commandment #7: Use trend lines and control charts to understand and analyze all of your key processes, instead of using 'snapshot' tables of numbers as your primary process assessment tools.

Commandment #8: Define the owners, key requirements, and measures for all key processes, not just those that are performed in manufacturing or on the front lines.

Commandment #9: Use process analysis and improvement to provide exceptional service to both your internal and external customers in a measurable manner that is linked to the key product / service requirements that they have helped you define.

Commandment #10: Improve the systems that you use to help ensure that new technologies are identified and implemented as soon as they become cost effective.

What is Great Systems! all about?

My focus at Great Systems! is simple -- I help organizations design, analyze, and improve the key systems that are used each day to create results. In many cases, these systems are in place already - they just may not be designed or functioning very well. Since 1980, I have been searching for the best systems, and I believe that I have found some great ones. Send me an e-mail if you would like to learn more!!

Would You Like to Learn More?

Click on one of the following links to learn even more about Great Systems! and the types of systems improvements I can help you make:

	Performance Improvement Article Collection
	Systems Change: The Key to Getting Better Results
	Do You Need Great Systems!
	Types of Systems I Can Help You Improve

“The only thing I know is that I do not know it all.” -- Socrates