Bill Conaty - What's a Performance Culture?

Bill Conaty, head of Human Resources at GE shares the four elements of a Performance Culture How many of us really have one, he wonders. "Most CEO's say they are," Conaty observes, but how many top leaders are involved in who moves up in a company?



Conaty's Four Elements of a Performance Culture

CEO commitment
Well understood company values
Performance goals and measurements
Candor in evaluation

People need to have clear understanding of company values and vision.

Kiss-up and kick-down crowd... I wonder how do you move these folks to a place of value? Are they the possible innovators? Many performance metrics do not truly find people with creative and innovative minds. How does a company really know who the innovative leaders are... maybe they are not the ones who are tops in GE University. For many it works... others hear a different drummer. How do companies lift up the gifts and talents of these employees?

HR at GE has been elevated to legitimate business partner...Leaders who add value to organization. Future HR challenge is winning hearts as well as minds of employees.

How does an organization capture hearts and minds of workers who want to leave organizations? How might organizations value many kinds of minds.

We've never learned enough," says Conaty, "we need to learn from others every day."

Question: You haven't blown the whistle on Fat Cat Salaries. What's the deal with this. The salaries should be connected to how well this ties in to value of stock. We are basing on shareholder value.

Question from WBF community. Is the heyday of consultants over because of crisis? Two sides, Conaty says. Discretionary dollars that organizations have to pay are severely limited so unless they are really good, they will not be hired. On the other hand there are organizations that have cut back on internal employees. These have added many external consultants. Fees will go down. Very few companies now want to pay high fees for external consultants.

Question from WBF community. What is your take on social networks? We talk in organizations about the social architecture. Conaty thinks if the social networks add to that value they are fine.

I wonder about the hard questions people ask through the social networks. When organizations listen and try to answer these, I sense larger organizations will benefit themselves and the wider social community, too.

What do you think?