Accelerating Performance

Accelerating Performance

by Colin Price, Sharon Toye
Released January 2017
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119147497

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Book description

Transform your organization into a dynamic catalyst for success

Accelerating Performance is not just another “warm and fuzzy” change management book—it's a practical, comprehensive, data-driven action plan for picking up the pace and achieving more. Co-written by one of the authors of Beyond Performance, this book draws on a combination of empirical research and decades of experience advising global companies to show you how to reduce time to value by building and changing momentum more quickly than your competitors.

The META framework (short for Mobilize, Execute, and Transform with Agility) offers advice for leading change at four levels: strategy, the organization, teams, and individuals. In addition to step-by-step guidance toward assessment, planning, and implementation, the book offers:

  • A diagnostic tool for leaders, teams, and organizations to assess their starting place, and highlight the specific areas needed to improve the ability to accelerate performance.
  • A detailed look at the factors proven to create drag—and drive—at each of the four levels: strategy, organizations, teams, and individuals.
  • An exploration of the 39 differentiating actions that organizations can combine as dictated by their strategy and context into a winning recipe.
  • A closer look at the practices of 23 “superaccelerators,” a global (and perhaps unexpected) mix of companies that have demonstrated a consistent ability to accelerate performance.

A single taste of success is all it takes to spark change, but the hard work of following through requires constant vigilance—and a plan. Learn how to capture that drive, bottle it, and use it to sustain motivation, inspiration, and achievement. Deliver at the highest level, and then turn around and do even better next time. Accelerating Performance gives leaders a step-by-step framework for taking action and transforming their organizations, teams, and even themselves—starting today.

Table of contents

  1. Foreword
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. About the Authors
  4. Introduction
  5. Section I move fast or die faster
    1. Chapter 1 The Soft Stuff Really Is the Hard Stuff
    2. Chapter 2 How to Increase Your METAbolic Rate
      1. The Need for Speed
      2. Disruption
      3. META
    3. Chapter 3 A Learning Laboratory
      1. Atento
      2. Nets Holding
      3. NXP
    4. Chapter 4 Our Journey to META
      1. The 23 Superaccelerators
      2. The Journey
    5. Chapter 5 What’s Your Current Pace?: A Diagnostic
  6. Section II The acceleration imperative
    1. Chapter 6 Accelerating Strategy: Less Plan, More Planning
      1. Mobilize: Embrace Uncertainty
      2. Mobilize: Pressure-Tested Decision Making
      3. Mobilize: Shared Vision
      4. Execute: Future Core Competencies
      5. Execute: Adaptive Playbook
      6. Transform: Balanced Portfolio
      7. Transform: Fail Fast
      8. Transform: Rapid Response
      9. Agility: Foresight
      10. Agility: Learning
      11. Agility: Adaptability
      12. Agility: Resilience
    2. Chapter 7 Accelerating Organizations: Turning Drag into Drive
      1. The 13 Drag and Drive Factors
      2. The 39 Differentiating Actions
    3. Chapter 8 Accelerating Teams: Capability Equals Ability Minus Ego
      1. Mobilize
      2. Execute
      3. Transform
      4. Agility
      5. Caution for Senior Teams
      6. Final Insights from Nationwide
    4. Chapter 9 Accelerating Leaders: The Leader Sets the Pace
      1. How to Accelerate a Leader’s Performance
      2. Execution Rhythms
      3. Core Mind-Sets
      4. Shifting Mind-Sets
  7. Section III How to start
    1. Chapter 10 Finding the Right Recipe
      1. What the Right Recipe Can Produce
      2. What a Confused Recipe Can Produce
      3. How to Find the Right Recipe
      4. A Journey in More Detail
    2. Chapter 11 The ABC of Behavior Change
      1. The “Any Behavior Change” (ABC) Model
      2. The ABC Model in Action
    3. Chapter 12 Change the People or Change the People
      1. When You Can’t Change the People, You Have to Change the People
      2. Hiring the Right CEO
      3. What Makes a CEO Successful
      4. Getting the Best out of Your New CEO
      5. Shaping the Executive Team
      6. Facing the Ugly Task
      7. How to Ensure That You Don’t Have to Exit Executives (As Often)
    4. Chapter 13 The Board as Catalyst
      1. The Emerging Research
      2. Four Types of Boards That Drive Acceleration
      3. How to Accelerate Board Performance
      4. If You Do Nothing Else, Do These Five Things
  8. Section IV The four key skills
    1. Chapter 14 Ripple Intelligence: Join the Dots
      1. Develop a 35,000-Foot View
      2. Embrace the Power of Doubt
      3. Train, Train, Train
      4. Form the Right Teams
      5. Test and Learn
    2. Chapter 15 Resource Fluidity: Match Resources to Opportunities
      1. Fluid Reallocation of Capital Resources
      2. People Mobility
      3. Resource Sharing and Reuse
    3. Chapter 16 Dissolving Paradox: Reframe the Issue
      1. The Four Levels of Thinking
      2. An Application
      3. Five Actions
    4. Chapter 17 Liquid Leadership: Connect Beyond Hierarchy
      1. Leading Across Boundaries
      2. A Focus on the New Workforce
      3. How Liquid Leadership Looks in Practice
    5. Chapter 18 Conclusion: It’s More than a Program
      1. The Five Steps to Acceleration
      2. Lessons Learned
  9. Research Appendix
    1. 1. Strategy Acceleration
    2. 2. Organizational Acceleration
    3. 3. Team Acceleration
    4. 4. Individual-Leader Acceleration
    5. 5. Board Acceleration
    6. 6. Superaccelerators Interviewed for This Book
    7. 7. The 23 Superaccelerators
  10. Index
  11. EULA

Product information

  • Title: Accelerating Performance
  • Author(s): Colin Price, Sharon Toye
  • Release date: January 2017
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119147497