Success can be contagious.

• Author: Annunzio, Susan Lucia
• Position: Management & Careers

Every organization has its bright stars--one or more areas where everything seems to work efficiently and effectively and where innovation starts. How can an organization capture that success and spread it throughout the organization?

A study conducted few years ago, under the auspices of the Hudson Highland Center for High Performance, found some major factors that distinguish those high-performing workgroups.

To increase high performance, organizations need to focus on the single factor that is most critical to high performance--the environment of the workgroup. The major factors of success in driving high performance identified in the research included:

* valuing people

* optimizing critical thinking

* seizing opportunities.

1. Productivity Plus Innovation Drives High Performance

   There is an important difference between productivity and high performance, although the two concepts are often used interchangeably. In recent years, some economists have argued that relying on productivity numbers to measure performance can be misleading and potentially counterproductive. Based on an industrial model, productivity is still calculated as the number of units produced in a given period of time by a worker. In knowledge-based sectors, productivity is much more difficult to measure. In addition, the ubiquity of e-mail, cell phones, laptop computers, and other communication technology makes it possible for professional and managerial workers to work from their cars, their homes, and even the beach--and those hours are not captured when measuring productivity.

   Managers who solely emphasize productivity tend to drive out the capacity in their workers to engage in innovation and creativity. Forty percent of the respondents could point to a process improvement that their workgroup was responsible for; only 17 percent said their group had developed a new product or service. Innovation combined with productivity leads to high performance.

2. It's the Workgroup, Not the Individual

   Individual performance is important, but it is affected by the environment. You can put your very best workers in the wrong environment, and they will not do their best work.

   It is important for organizations to develop high-potential individuals by providing training and mentoring and by helping them plan a career path. But if you want to get the biggest return on your human capital investment, make sure these individuals are in a high-performing workgroup. This study showed that...