Beyond Performance 2.0, 2nd Edition

Introduction

Excellence Found

What is the greatest invention of all time? In our view, it isn't the wheel, it is the organization: people working together toward a common goal. Organizations can achieve feats that go far beyond anything that individuals can accomplish alone. As each successive generation finds better ways of working together, it performs at levels that could barely have been imagined a few decades earlier. And when there are improvements in the effectiveness of our organizations—whether they be private enterprises, governments, public agencies, charities, community groups, political parties, or religious bodies—these gains translate into benefits for society as a whole. Innovations such as mass production, public transport, space travel, the internet, and the mapping of the human genome are all products of human organizations.

When we wrote the first edition of Beyond Performance almost a decade ago, we emphasized what it takes to lead and manage an effective organization (a “healthy organization”). We then outlined the change management needed to get there (the “Five Frames of Performance and Health”). In this, the second edition, we've chosen to flip the emphasis. Why? Well, quite frankly, because you—our readers who lead organizations—told us to! We've received countless e-mails, phone calls, and personal outreaches indicating that struggling change programs had been unlocked by applying the Five Frames of Performance and Health. Further, new change programs ...