Performance Driven Leadership

Navigating the Road from Management to Leadership Through Performance

BOBBY KIPPER AND SHARON CAUGHLIN

Contents

Executive Summary 3

Five Myths of Todays Leadership 4

Establishing a Performance Driven Leadership Model 6

Performance Driven Thinking: The Core Value of

Performance Driven Leadership 7

The Five Core Values of Performance Driven Leadership 8

Conclusion 9

About the Authors 10

2
Executive Summary
With the rise of a new, more creative workforce, organizational leadership expectations are embracing an emphasis
on performance. In order for organizations and corporations to bring the best out of todays workforce, individuals in
management positions must be driven to perform. In the past, leadership circles generally relied strictly on
management principles. A new model is quickly replacing the former barking orders, top-down, management
mentality. What many once viewed as a style of authority is being replaced with a new trend of leadership in which
performance is evaluated through ones on-the-job performance of tasks, and his ability to be trusted by those he is
leading.

The objective is to replace the term leadership as it implies an established position, to leadership as it exhibits a
level of task-oriented performance. To examine this issue we need to establish how organizations in our society are
typically run. In most organizations, policy and procedure systems are in place for those who contribute their time
and energy to the organization daily. These systems typically include the use of a less than functional evaluation
process. In addition, too many organizations are quick to promote and maintain individuals in key positions without
regard to proven performance. This dilemma has created a world of too many managers and not enough leaders. It is
clear that in order for organizations to achieve their highest levels of success, they must embrace a new style of
performance driven leadership.

In this white paper, we will outline the difference between management and leadership as well as performance driven
leadership principles to ensure that individuals whom are called to lead are prepared to follow a performance driven
model. We will also identify obstacles that create roadblocks to performance driven leadership in most organizations;
and finally, address these obstacles by providing workable solutions on the pathway to developing performance
driven leaders.

3
Five Myths of Todays Leadership
In an attempt to provide a solutions-based path to performance driven leadership, we will first examine several
obstacles that exist within organizations that hinder their move toward improving their operations through
performance.

1. Myth: Position Equals Performance

In many organizations, the rise to the top is associated with unspoken performance dynamics, which lends itself to
helping people assume that their position or title in and of itself equals performance. This dynamic has historically
been responsible for creating a separation between leadership and line personnel as well as creating morale issues
within the organization.

2. Myth: Position Has its Privileges

A major issue in leadership has traditionally been the unspoken separation between those in positions of authority
within organizations and their alignment with the base workers they lead. In certain organizations to include military
and paramilitary organizations, individuals that are called to lead tend to dress or represent themselves differently in
appearance. There has been a long-standing practice in most companies and organizations that the higher you are
within the organization, the more you receive a pass not to perform or serve as an active model. With the rise of the
new creative workforce, this philosophy is a thing of the past. The new generation of employees is quick to question
not only the lack of performance by co-workers, but also their leadership.

3. Myth: Good Managers Make the Best Leaders

With the demand for performance in leadership comes a defining moment where organizations must determine the
clear difference between management and leadership. The core principle of providing performance-based leadership
exhibits itself in the ability to distinguish our definition and purpose of leadership positions. Traditionally, these
definitions created a gray area in organizations. Specifically, the idea of management was based on the status quo
application of everyday systems within the organization. Those individuals who cling to the management perspective
are generally locked into a going through the motions application of managing the organizations daily
requirements without a vision to sustain a higher level of performance. In contrast, individuals who aspire to be true
leaders will focus on raising the performance level of all employees. The vision of true leadership is to increase
productivity by forming personal relationships in an effort to motivate results. This productivity is the result of a clear
vision and specific goals of the organization and its employees.

4. Myth: Performance Driven Leadership is an Inherent Quality

It has long been a myth that all leaders were born with the qualities and instincts of leadership. There are a large
number of examples in organizations across the country where individuals have been promoted without a clear vision
on how to lead others to a higher level of performance. A major issue in an organizations promotional process is to
clearly base their decision to promote on mechanical devices such as tests, assessment centers and other acts of a
process without a clear measure and consideration of overall historical performance.

The past collective performance of an employee will serve as the cornerstone for their ability to assume greater
responsibility and direction within an organization. While we realize that there has to be a measurement of separation
of candidates, it appears that in many organizations that issue is based on how well an individual is scoring
mechanically and not by clear performance. This, of course, is not to discredit individuals with higher academic goals
and standards, but simply put, true performance is based on a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities.

5. Myth: Top Performers Do Not Require Leadership

Another myth that has tended to exist in organizations, large and small, is that our top-performing employees do not
require leadership to develop and sustain their peak performance. In many organizations the majority of the time

4
spent by management and leadership is dealing with marginal and problem employees. The clear message within
every organization has to be that performance is a key element of success in all employees. With a vision and goal of
the organizational leadership, promoting performance becomes the essential element toward motivating and
sustaining success. This success is a shared mission of everyone within the organization and the role of leadership is
to model and motivate this sustainability with all employees. Your top performers are always looking for the next
challenge. The proper performance driven leadership skills will allow for those challenges to become a reality.

5
Establishing a Performance Driven Leadership
Model
Performance driven leadership is defined as leading and managing people and organizational systems to achieve
and sustain high levels of effectiveness by optimizing goals, design, and management at the individual, process, and
organizational level. This model is intended to serve as a foundation to establish the difference between the
principles of management and leadership. The clear difference of these critical areas within an organization can be
established in the process of establishing organizational goals.

Managerial Performance Goals are goals that are set for employees and the organization to meet a specific target of
achievement that is expected.

Leadership Performance Goals are goals that are set for employees and the organization that have the intention to
exceed a specific expected target.

In these key areas it is essential to point out that a managers goal is to meet a specific target while a leaders goal is
to exceed a specific target. An individuals ability to lead employees to exceed in their performance is a clear,
defining trait of performance driven leadership.

6
Performance Driven Thinking: The Core Value of
Performance Driven Leadership
The establishment of thinking performance first was best represented in the book Performance Driven Thinking by
David L. Hancock and Bobby Kipper, published by Morgan James Publishing in 2014. In this manuscript, Hancock
and Kipper defined the core values of performance driven thinking and how this aspect leads to greater individual and
collective performance. The definition of performance driven thinking is the thought process that connects the desire
to perform with the will to perform a specific task or goal. When we consider the establishment of leadership, a clear
vision for any individual leader is to orchestrate a desired outcome by motivating actions toward a specific task. In
the article entitled, When Work Ethic and Entitlement Collide written by Bobby Kipper and Sharon Caughlin and
published by Police Chief Magazine in October 2013, establishes that the core of performance and the attitude that is
associated with it stems directly from five specific, essential areas of an organization:

1. Performance driven thinking begins with the recruitment and hiring process of individuals into the
organization;
2. Training toward performance has to be established by challenging an individuals critical thinking skills while
providing an opportunity to perform toward the organizations mission;
3. Traditional methods of evaluation must be changed to handle coaching toward performance for all
employees;
4. Organizational promotional processes should be based on a higher degree of performance recognition
toward the organizations mission and not simply during the process itself; and
5. Performance driven thinking will be at the core of an organizations culture when it is applied from the
highest-ranking officer to the newest recruit.

Performance driven thinking, at its very core, separates the idea of employee management and transforms it to the
identification of employee leadership. Simply stated, managers direct the status quo; leaders motivate performance.
Managers accept how it is; leaders move to how it needs to be. In order for a leader to instill performance driven
thinking into their employees, they must first understand that performance has to be observed at the top level
leadership before it becomes a core value of the organization.

7
The Five Core Values in Performance Driven
Leadership
1. Know the strengths and weaknesses of your employees;
2. Design a plan of action for employees to overcome their identified areas of weakness;
3. Embrace and reward employee performance beyond the minimum;
4. Set and lead toward employee expectations beyond minimum standards;
5. Raise the bar of performance in even your most productive employees.

The essence of true leadership is the ability of leaders to get the most out of every individual they are called to lead.
This means that even when dealing with top performers, be prepared to issue challenges that will take them to an
even higher level. When the best employees are not challenged, they quickly fall back into the culture of accepting
what is without pursuing what could be. The movement toward selecting the right individuals to become future
leaders in an organization is all about leading and driving employees to performance.

Understanding the need to move an organization toward performance driven leadership is to move beyond just
dealing with the issue of marginal employees and bringing an organization to the point where individual performance
is no longer an option. This new strategy is more than a program. It is a way for all organizational leaders to carry out
their roles and responsibilities.

8
Conclusion
For decades, the status quo of leadership has been characterized by a top-down, barking orders management style.
In order for organizations to be effective, those in leadership positions must be driven to perform, and must inspire
others to do so. The Performance Driven Leadership Model provides the pathway for establishing an essential,
organizational shift from management to leadership. It calls for advancement in thinking beyond where traditional
leadership has existed for decades, and requires a more action-oriented approach than the former leadership model.
The concepts of Performance Driven Thinking and the Five Core Values in Performance Driven Leadership provide
essential keys to drive leadership to the next level. This level will embrace performance as a core organizational value
and serve as a catalyst for increasing overall organizational performance.

9
About the Authors
Bobby Kipper has over three decades of leadership motivation and development experience. He is recognized as one
of Americas leading experts in the area of making communities safe, and is the Founder and Director of the National
Center for the Prevention of Community Violence. He has been featured on C-Span, as well as has served as a
keynote presenter for the White House and numerous national conferences. His most recent book, Performance Driven
Thinking, co-authored by Morgan James Publishing Founder David L. Hancock, is a New-York Times Bestseller. Bobby
Kipper served 25 years in the Newport News, Virginia Police Department before becoming President of the Kipper
Group. He can be reached at (757) 870-7551 or BobbyKipper@TheKipperGroup.com.

Sharon Caughlin, M.B.A., E.F.O. is a 28 year veteran of the Chesapeake Fire Department, in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Sharon has been a pioneer in the Chesapeake Fire Department by being the first woman to be promoted to the ranks
of Lieutenant, Captain, Battalion Chief, and Division Chief. She is also one of four members in her department to
attain Executive Fire Officer from the National Fire Academy. Sharon currently holds the rank of Division Chief and
serves as the citys Fire Marshal. She will be retiring January 1, 2015 to work full time with The Kipper Group. She
can be reached at (757) 544-1099 or SharonCaughlin@TheKipperGroup.com.

The Kipper Group specializes in training and consulting for both corporate and
government organizations with an emphasis on organizational leadership training and
development. The Kipper Group brings over three decades of proven success in
communities across America including 35 states and two foreign countries.

Visit www.TheKipperGroup.com to learn more, or schedule a speaker for your next event.

10