Cracking the Leadership Code

Chapter 11LEADING BY DESIGNThe Performance Needs

The highest levels of performance come to people who are centered, intuitive, creative, and reflective—people who know to see a problem as an opportunity.

—Deepak Chopra

One of the most viewed TED Talks of all time is Simon Sinek's “How Great Leaders Inspire Action.” In his talk, Sinek explains that although all organizations know what they do, and most of them know how they do it, only a very few organizations know why they do what they do. Sinek suggests that what separates great leaders from the rest is that great leaders start with why.

Having and communicating a clear why—a clear purpose—is a requisite for high performance. When people know why they do what they do, and believe in it, they operate at a whole new level of engagement. They know what they're doing matters and makes a difference.

When people act on purpose, they commit to what they're doing. This commitment helps them meet their next performance need: ownership. When what you do means something to you, it's yours. You do whatever it takes to get to your result.

People don't just come to work for a buck. They want these higher-level needs of purpose and ownership met. Knowing how to help your people meet these needs will influence their behavior and affect their performance.

PERFORMANCE NEED 1: PURPOSE

Purpose is the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. Some years ago, I got the chance to work with a company that produces ...