Welcome back!  Culture is important.  It’s what many of you will consider when making your employment decisions.  When you’re a fit, you’re happy and that can lead to a higher level of productivity.  When you’re not a fit, you know what can happen.  We’ve all been there, right?  Last week, I introduced culture as a topic for discussion and promised to break it down for you.  Click here for a link to the original post.

The next segment is all about performance (and yes, that does relate to culture.)  Here’s how “We Are Performance Driven” breaks down:

• Competitive and display a strong desire to be the best at what we do

Does this define you?  Competition drives innovation in everything.  Having the desire and drive to be the very best in what you do can help you in so many ways!  For one, it helps you stay ahead of your competition.  Like the US Army’s past slogan says, Be All You Can Be.  Don’t be a typical Millennial either.  We’re not all getting trophies for participating.  Compete for the trophy!

• Set aggressive performance targets and measure our progress

Goal-setting is extremely important if you’re going to hit your target.  Like my boss says often, goal should be “inspirational, yet realistic.”  Do you know what your goals are?  What if you don’t have goals set for you?  Set them yourself!  The other piece of the puzzle is to remember to set goals that can be measured.  Being the best is a goal, but how to you measure?  Set goals like “increase sales by 30% by January 1^st, 2012,” etc.   This way, you’ll know when you hit them, exceed them, or when you really need to kick it into high-gear!

• Eliminate activities that don’t achieve results or don’t advance our strategic objectives

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.  Einstein had it right!  Yet, so many people and organizations continue to do the same thing over and over again.  For some, it works.  They survive.  For most, it doesn’t.  Why?  People and times change.  Take a look at your strategic objectives.  What is the goal?  Is what you’re doing now advancing those objectives?  Is it achieving a positive result?  If the answer is no, stop doing it!  Note: You have to know your goals/strategic objectives first to know whether or not you should stop doing something.

• Recognize, celebrate and reward success

This is my favorite piece of the segment.  Recognizing, celebrating and rewarding success sounds simple, yet it’s far from it.  Everyone has a different rewards system.  The parking space up front might mean the world to one employee, while meaning nothing to another.  Don’t dwell on that.  Instead, focus on recognizing success with your team.  Tell them thank you.  Those two words are very powerful.  When someone goes above and beyond the call of duty, let them know you notice.  If you’re a champion for your people, they’ll be a champion for you.  It’s just good karma.

All four points relate to a person’s career.  For my HR friends, a performance-driven culture is the key to your organization’s success.  Click here for an excellent article that lays it all out.

For my readers who are job seekers or new to their career, I hope this information is helpful to you.  What does culture mean to you?  Has this article helped you?  Was it completely worthless?  I want to know – good or bad.  Please leave a comment below and let’s help as many people as possible!  As always, thanks for reading.