Beyond Performance - How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage

The pace of change in all aspects of our lives is increasing faster than ever. In order to just stay even, businesses, governments and non-profits must become more agile, more adaptable - in short they must accomplish one of the more difficult feats for large organizations - change.

Most change initiatives do not achieve the lofty goals they set out to accomplish. According to the authors, "When change programs fail, it's more often than not down to unproductive management behavior, unhelpful employee attitudes, or both."

But as Scott Keller and Colin Price, the authors, point out, it is not just change in operational efficiency which matters. Change focused on some narrow segment of performance only works in the short term and generally at a very high cost in terms of employee morale.

The authors based on very extensive research carried out over a multi-year period have developed a blue print for change that really works. There is equal emphasis on operational performance and the soft-side of business or what they call health. According to their research, "roughly 50 percent of performance variation between companies is accounted for by differences in organizational health."

In Part I of the book the authors advance the overall premise of the book. That sustained excellence is achieved by paying close attention to performance and health. When seeking to bring about change in any organization, you must focus on both performance and health. The authors have identified five questions which must be answered to bring about desired change.

They have grouped the questions under the following headings:
Aspire: Where do we want to go?
Assess: How ready are we to go there?
Architect: What do we need to do to get there?
Act: How do we manage the journey?
Advance: How do we keep moving forward?

They then break this down further by asking more detailed questions under the same heading for performance and for health.

Part II of the book deals with the five frames in much greater detail. They give examples of each frame in action, showing how various companies put these concepts into action.

Part III of the book ties all the information together.

The book is well written and full of very helpful examples of real life companies. There is plenty of research to back up the concepts they advance.

It is most applicable to larger organizations. While it is easy to understand the theory, I suspect that most companies would do well to seek assistance in trying to implement the study and measurement of the health of their organization. But based on the case studies in the book, the cost of such help is insignificant in relation to the payback.

The information in this book is very compelling. Many books have proclaimed the old command and control management is outdated. But this book takes the soft skills of management - the health of organizations - and shows clearly how it affects the bottom line.

A very important book which should be read and studied and the concepts implemented if you want your organization to be on the leading edge.