Page 154 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

Focusing on Results 143

other the right questions. Then they were able to come up with a plan that
satisfied both and quickly produced incremental revenue for the product.

The leadership difference in achieving results

In summary, improving your organization’s business results doesn’t hap-
pen by itself or by random chance, and a focus on those results is not a
onetime set of activities. It takes hard work and courage and, most impor-
tantly, has to be done again and again to eventually create a culture of high
performance (see the box “Culture and results”). Without your leadership,
people will rest on their laurels, avoid dealing with difficult barriers, use
available measures instead of the right ones, and not confront each other
about the reality of how they are doing. So driving for significant results is
a never-ending process, and it’s up to you to make it happen. That’s what it
means to be a leader.

Culture and results

Most leaders want their organizations to have a high-performance cul-
ture. This means that the drive for results and improvement is an ongoing
norm, not a onetime event; that delivering on goals and commitments is
expected; and that people at all levels understand that achieving results
is a key criterion for personal success.
This kind of culture doesn’t take root or flourish unless leaders in-
tentionally move their teams in this direction through the steps we’ve
described in this chapter and reinforce them repeatedly. As we saw from
the XL case, Seraina Macia didn’t inherit a high-performance culture, but
had to create one by challenging her people, making them accountable
for delivering, and putting mechanisms in place to continually hold their
feet to the fire. Even then, it took Macia three years before the high-
performance culture was firmly established.
(continued)