Performance

What does performance mean as a core value?

Performance as a core value means delivering at a consistently high level when it counts, tracking how you’re doing and using feedback to keep raising your own standard.

What does performance look like in practice?

• You rehearse the important pitch several times, out loud.
• You ask for specific feedback after a big piece of work, beyond whether it went OK.
• You keep an eye on your numbers, whether sales, race times or grades, and compare them with last time.
• You raise the bar for your team and tell them clearly what good looks like.
• You prepare for the charity 10k with the same seriousness as a board meeting.

When is performance overplayed?

When performance defines your worth, every off day feels like a verdict. You may struggle to rest, find it hard to celebrate anything short of outstanding, and put people under pressure that gets short-term results and long-term burnout. Learning suffers too, because trying something new means performing badly for a while. The steadier form holds high standards and still lets you be a beginner. One thing you could try is picking up something where nobody is measuring, and letting yourself be bad at it for a month.

Often confused with

Questions to sit with

1. What have you avoided trying because you wouldn’t be good at it straight away?
2. Whose standard are you really performing to, yours or someone else’s?
3. How do the people you lead feel on a day they fall short?