Transformational leaders have high expectations. They set lofty goals for themselves and push to be different. Though not necessarily drivers in style, they are always looking to a higher level of performance. Moreover, they challenge the status quo, both in themselves and in others. This is a direct outgrowth of vision. Once the leader sees a new possibility, the next realization is that current types of activities will not achieve that possibility, and new thoughts and actions must prevail.
Here is a key area where transformational leaders differ from transactional leaders. In leading transformation, we must constantly support active and creative questioning of our core processes and practices. When we imagine the future, we only get clear about a very small fraction of what it will actually be like. Consequently, it can happen that people start trying to create a new future by constantly doing what they have always done. A transactional leader tends to focus on stability and predictability and effectively aligns this with people’s actions. A transformational leader supports people in aligning themselves with an indefinite picture of the future (although becoming more definite every day), in which they essentially rethink everything they are doing. The best way to find disconnects is to put a real stretch on the system through active goal setting.
A transformational leader spends time connecting people to the mission and vision of the organization. He connects actions and intentions within the organization with what is happening in the environment. A transformational leader will look at a goal, then ask how it can be accomplished in the peak manner. From there, he will work on helping others see these possibilities as well.
Why High Performance?
Perhaps the question is more like this: Why would you set low-performance goals or goals for mediocrity? There are countless proverbs and quotes with lofty language for aspiration, but this is meant to be far more specific than those. When we think about accomplishing a goal, we have to focus on the way that we get there. In life, the ends do not justify the means. This has been used as a license for many activities and actions that people might not ordinarily do. As a conscious leader, we realize that our desired state is not only “out there” in the future; it also is “right here” as we are living this moment. Not only do we want to accomplish goals that leave the world a better place, but we also want to live in such a way as to feel rewarded and fulfilled as we get there.
Years ago I consulted on high-performing organizations, during which time I studied a large body of workplace research on organizational performance. The research areas started with overall business success in terms of meeting its customer requirements and stakeholder requirements on profitability and return on investment (ROI) but also included safety, quality performance, and quality of work life. A startling finding was prevalent: people in high performing workplaces typically do not tend to work very hard—that’s right: not very hard. I say this with extreme caution, because most people who hear it immediately disagree. Some are outright offended. There is something in this statement that seems to shake the very foundation of our ideas about work, but if you put it in another context, people will immediately agree. Think about it like this: Imagine that you are driving down the highway and see two vehicles, side by side. One is a big Ford truck, and the other is a BMW two-seater. They are both cruising at the legal speed limit, but do you think that both vehicles are working equally hard? Obviously not, as the BMW is designed to be a high-performance vehicle. We can take that to a more human level. Imagine that you have two groups, each with ten people, each with the job of moving a four-ton boulder a distance of ten feet. One group is shoving against the rock widely, trying to position themselves to get the maximum number of shoulders against it. The other group finds some levers and positions them in a way to roll the boulder quickly. Which group worked harder? Which group would you expect had the most time available for thinking and problem-solving during the day? Which group would you expect to have sat down and thought about the best possible way to accomplish the task at hand before starting?
High-performance becomes something that people get accustomed to and actually becomes a way of thinking. If you look at very successful people, you will usually find that they are successful in all areas in which they choose to put their time. This is because they have built a habit of excellence and a worldview that they indeed can be outstanding. Demonstrated capacity in one area definitely transfers to another. Earlier in this work, we discussed the fundamentals of leadership as learning to follow a passion, then learning to put that into the world in a large way. We extend that to include the approach we take to the world and plan to build the habit of excellence and the habit of high-performance into our way of engaging the world.
When we take this into more service-focused work, it can become less obvious how one group of people may actually be more high-performance than another, except when we look at a series of process metrics. Even that can sometimes be deceiving or confusing. The best way is to determine high-performance is to check in with the people—it’s one of the quickest ways to get a pulse check. If you go back to our imaginary work groups of people moving boulders, what would you expect their physical state to have been, and how do you think they would have talked about their work? Simple questions will give you the answers you need: Are you frustrated on this project? How do you feel at the end of the day—exhausted, energized, tired but satisfied? This in itself will give you plenty of data. I saw a Kenyan runner after he had finished the Honolulu Marathon (26.2 miles) in two hours, eleven minutes. At the end of his day, how did he feel? He certainly felt as if he had done something and felt some tiredness, but he was beaming and healthy. That was certainly a high-performance accomplishment.
There is deep relevance in noticing the way people feel. If they are frustrated or anxious, they will use different mental resources than if they are enthusiastic and excited. The more the dark side of thinking creeps into any activity, the less satisfying the result will be. As a leader, we constantly look to inspire that part of people that helps them find the most optimism and reach levels of accomplishment they did not previously expect.
Inspirational leaders set big goals, then immediately look for the highest possible way to accomplish them. The aspiration is in the outcome as well as in the process. By putting our hearts into this expectation, we will train ourselves to be highly successful, positive, and optimistic on a daily basis. It is what we think about all day. We create an aspiration that gets lived out and generates a level of consciousness that allows us to expand in ways that will surprise and delight us.
If we are what we think about, then think big, and think high-performance. If we look at a goal and expect it to be hard or to take a long time to accomplish (or to barely get accomplished), that is what we will get. If we look at a goal and expect it to be accomplished the same way everything has always been done, that is precisely what will happen. Instead, choose to look at the world and see amazing results. Choose to experience processes that work smoothly and easily. Choose to see timelines that happen more quickly than you ever dreamed. Remember, the Law of Attraction, simply put, is that we get what we think about. Choose to think about living peak performance. The Law of Attraction is that: a law. We use it whether we know it or not—and whether we believe it or not.
