Company culture heavily impacts profitability; in fact, one study has shown that companies that develop a strong internal culture can expect up to a 4x increase in revenue growth.
One of the main factors that impacts company culture is employee mindset. To develop a positive company culture, you must begin by working with your employees to improve their morale and make changes to their mindsets. In this article, we’re specifically highlighting the benefits of cultivating a high-performance mindset among members of your team.
If you’re grappling with employee disengagement and low morale, read on to learn how fostering a high-performance mindset can help you create a positive, productive, and thriving company culture for your team.
What Is a High-Performance Mindset?
Employees with a high-performance mindset typically appear focused, determined, resilient, and goal-oriented. These employees are more likely to set goals in the first place, aren’t afraid to reach for ambitious goals, aren’t deterred by setbacks, and are always improving upon their existing skills and abilities.
Alone, these individuals can achieve peak performance and exceed expectations. In groups, they’re even more powerful.
To foster a high-performance mindset among members of your team, use leadership strategies that promote goal setting, accountability, and feedback — and recognize (and praise) the key characteristics of a high-performance mindset when you witness your team members displaying them.
Key Characteristics of a High-Performance Mindset
Employees with a well-rounded, high-performance, high-achieving mindset typically embody certain characteristics:
Proactivity
A proactive individual doesn’t just wait around for problems to emerge within a project to fix them accordingly. A proactive employee takes initiative and responsibility, actively working toward improvements while negating problems before they appear.
Teamwork
When a high-performance individual is on a team, they’re not just focused on their own wins. They view a team win as an individual win, and they work for the good of the team’s mission at all times.
Prioritization
A high-performance employee knows how to prioritize appropriately. They’re always thinking about what tasks or goals are most pressing in the moment, and they know how to pivot as needed.
Grit
If there’s one characteristic you want to promote among your employees, it’s grit, or perseverance. A “gritty” employee isn’t about to quit when things get tough.
Courage
Similarly, a courageous employee won’t be afraid of taking risks or taking on new challenges as necessary to meet company goals.
The Ability to Listen
A team member who can really listen to teammates, clients, and others around them is a more knowledgeable and well-prepared team member.
Integrity
An employee who displays integrity will stick to their core beliefs and values, no matter what, and hold themselves accountable to those values regardless of the obstacles they encounter on their path to success.
Passion
A passionate employee will show enthusiasm, excitement, and dedication to their work and goals. This passion can drive them forward even when circumstances are tough.
Focus
But passion without focus will hardly get you anywhere. Team members should combine their passion with focus in order to actually get things done and meet their goals.
Crisitunity
Of course, even with all the grit, proactivity, and perseverance in the world, problems will still arise. A team member with a high sense of crisitunity will see opportunities in the crises they encounter and learn to make the best out of even the worst circumstances.
By promoting these 10 traits among your employees, you’ll be well on your way to building a high-performance company culture.
Techniques for Cultivating a High-Performance Mindset
If you find that your team lacks the high-performance traits or attributes listed above, you may need to take more comprehensive steps to foster this mentality among your employees.
Here are three key action items to consider:
1. Gain Clarity Around Your Goals
Begin by developing insight into the traits your team lacks in any or all of the aforementioned high-performance mindset attributes. Do some internal reflection and identify where top-down change is needed. Set SMART goals that allow you to focus on both short-term and long-term objectives. Then, determine the immediate steps your company needs to take in order to reach those goals. Communicate these goals to your team along with a strategy everyone can use to track progress toward those goals.
2. Develop a High-Performance Strategy
Once you’ve established company-wide goals to support building a high-performance culture, it’s time to develop a strategy that aligns with those objectives and facilitates the cultivation of it. This strategy should include project plans that guide your team’s actions and therefore individual employees’ actions. It should also encompass initiatives designed to foster continuous learning, collaboration, and open communication, as well as methods for recognizing and rewarding high performance.
3. Hold Teams and Individuals Accountable
After setting goals and building a strategy to achieve them, ensure that everyone is held accountable for their progress towards them. Establish clear expectations and responsibilities for each team member to ensure you’re holding them accountable for their actions; encourage open communication and collaboration among team members to foster a sense of shared responsibility; and implement regular check-ins and performance reviews to hold employees accountable for their progress and identify areas for improvement.
The Bottom Line
A strong company culture means increased productivity and profits, and a high-performance mindset among employees can help your company create a culture in which you are more productive (and profitable) than ever. By using the techniques above, and focusing on those key, high-performance attributes, you can develop a disciplined and productivity-oriented workforce.
Looking for additional insights for fostering collective growth and development? Take our quick leadership assessment to get a pulse check on accountability, motivation, and momentum within your organization.