High performance isn’t hired – it’s built

A new report has pointed out key ways organisations can cultivate high performance, instead of relying on recruitment practices.

Culture Amp’s The Science of Sustainable High Performance report has called on Australian organisations to cultivate high performance by focusing on strategies that create high employee engagement.

According to the data obtained from over half a million employees from 1,500 companies, the report directly challenges the notion that high performance is an innate employee characteristic, thus increasing the importance of recruitment practices.

Instead, the report found that one in four employees will take more than 18 months in their role to reach ‘high performer’ status, supporting the view that high performance is not a fixed character trait, but is instead the outcome of leadership, adequate training, and a dynamic team environment.

The report stressed the importance of engagement and the strong connection it has with performance outcomes.

The data showed that organisations with strong engagement scores saw greater incidences of high performance. Companies in the top 25 per cent for engagement have more high-performing employees (14 per cent), compared to companies in the bottom 25 per cent for engagement, which have fewer high performers (10 per cent).

To reach these heights, feedback from leadership was a crucial tool, with high-performing employees reporting higher satisfaction with manager feedback (83 per cent, compared to their lower-performing peers (71 per cent).

“We’re excited to share this new research, highlighting the conditions under which high performance can be cultivated and sustained, as well as findings on how feedback, goal-setting, and leadership behaviors shape high performance,” said Justin Angsuwat, chief people officer at Culture Amp.

“Our data demonstrates that high performance is achievable with the right conditions – so organisations should be intentional about the way they design for high performance.”

The report claimed that sustaining high performance can be a challenge, highlighting “peaks and valleys” of performance.

“When we examined how long it takes employee to earn their first high performance rating after joining a company, we found one in four employees didn’t reach that milestone until after 18 months in their role and only two per cent of employees can sustain high performance over multiple evaluation cycles, proving that high performers have peaks and valleys,” Angsuwat said.