FACT OR FICTION

PERFORMANCE CULTURE

You may have heard talk of creating a “performance culture” across our business. But what exactly does that mean? HR director Oli Gant explains and sorts the fact from the fiction

A performance culture empowers and supports colleagues

FACT: Our culture defines “how we do things here”, how we behave and what we expect from each other. In an organisation with a culture of high performance, colleagues are trusted and empowered to make decisions and hold each other to account. It’s about praising good practice but also calling things out that are not right. That’s done from a supportive place because you care about what you do, the people you work with, and providing the very best for customers and the communities we serve.

It’s just management speak for getting colleagues to work harder

FICTION: Not at all. It’s about creating a culture where we can share good ideas that help each other, teams and systems work better. For senior leaders, that means listening to colleagues and responding to what they tell us isn’t working so well. It’s also about providing the best opportunities for colleagues to develop their skills and get support for areas they need to improve.

We are focusing on this because we are not performing well

FICTION: We’re one of the top-performing railways in the country in terms of performance and service, but of course, we want to be better. Having a performance culture isn’t about us not doing it well or colleagues not performing as they should. It’s about everyone pulling together to get even better.

There’s not much frontline colleagues can do to improve performance culture

FICTION: We are proud that our frontline teams do a brilliant job every day, and our customers tell us that they appreciate it. A performance culture is about doing those things and being empowered to take action to make improvements where necessary. It’s also about asking for help when needed, whether that’s training, support, or if you come across recurring issues. It’s about asking how we get even better, faster, safer or more helpful.

High-performing businesses are often better places to work

FACT: High-performing businesses tend to have a high level of engagement, and if you have an engaged workforce, chances are they feel supported, valued and motivated. Our colleague survey and culture review said that people feel valued, but there is room for improvement and creating a culture where high performance is valued is part of that.