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Find out what high performance means, what it takes to achieve it, and how to get there.
Discover a structured approach to moving forward on the path to high performance, collaboratively developed by leaders who have walked the talk. Find out what high performance means and how to achieve it. Collect board, executive leadership, and staff perspectives on your organization, analyze feedback to identify strengths and gaps, and learn and improve together. Do it again to assess progress.
The Performance Imperative helps nonprofits and public agencies understand and assess performance by sharing a common definition of high performance and providing a framework of seven organizational disciplines to achieve it.
Our Common Definition of ‘High Performance’
high performance
adjective
: the ability to deliver – over a prolonged period of time – meaningful, measurable, and financially sustainable results for the people or causes the organization is in existence to serve.
Courageous, Adaptive Executive And Board Leadership
Executives and boards embrace their responsibility to deliver meaningful, measurable, and financially sustainable results.
Disciplined, People-Focused Management
Managers translate leaders’ drive for excellence into clear work plans and incentives to carry out the work effectively and efficiently.
Well-Designed And Well-Implemented Programs And Strategies
Leaders and managers who run programs that are intended to produce meaningful life changes hold themselves accountable for helping participants achieve desired outcomes.
Financial Health And Sustainability
The board and senior management take charge of their organization’s financial destiny.
A Culture That Values Learning
The board, management, and staff understand the organization’s mission and desired results and review them periodically to ensure that they are still relevant.
Internal Monitoring For Continuous Improvement
The board, management, and staff understand the organization’s mission and desired results and review them periodically to ensure that they are still relevant.
External Evaluation For Mission Effectiveness
Leaders complement internal monitoring with external evaluations conducted by highly skilled, independent experts.
The Behaviors
Put the framework into action with the Performance Practice
Discover a structured approach to moving forward on the path to high performance, collaboratively developed by leaders who have walked the talk. Find out what high performance means and how to achieve it. Collect board, executive leadership, and staff perspectives on your organization, analyze feedback to identify strengths and gaps, and learn and improve together. Do it again to assess progress.
Learn More
