The answer to “How do we define high performance?” appears to be: “It’s complicated.”
Let’s see if we might be able to simplify and provide some clarity.
The Academic Literature
I start, as always, with the academic literature which, in this instance, is fairly sparse.
As late as 2020, there was literature stating directly that no literature had undertaken to define “high performance,” at least in the organizational context.1
One academic, searching the literature for the end-all-be-all definition for a high performance organization concluded “that an HPO should be defined and measured relative to competitors and should be based on the perception of managers and employees of the organization: An HPO is anorganization that achieves results that are better than those of its peer group over a longer period of time.”2 Is that a step toward a definition? Yes. Is the journey over? Not to my mind.
Dictionary Definitions
Dictionaries are, of course, all about definitions.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “high performance” as “better, faster, or more efficient than others,” While that provides a base description, it doesn’t necessarily satisfy (unlike Snickers, which Mars, Inc. says always satisfies).
Similarly, the Cambridge Dictionary defines “high performance” as “able to operate to a high standard and at high speed.”
Again, these are a step, but I don’t feel that the race is over.
AI
ChatGPT, everyone’s new research bestie, when asked “What is high performance?” replied:
At its core, high performance is the ability to achieve sustained excellence in a specific area. It’s not merely about a one-time peak or fleeting success but about consistently operating at a level that exceeds standard expectations. High performance involves a combination of skill, mindset, and habits that enable individuals or teams to excel under varying conditions.
In essence, high performance is the alignment of potential and action. It’s about leveraging your unique strengths and resources to deliver exceptional outcomes consistently.
Lot’s of words? Yes. Lots of clarity? No. Let’s move on.
Perplexity AI delivered a whole bunch of nothin’ very useful.
Microsoft’s Copilot, when asked “What is the definition of ‘high performance’?,” replied with:
The term “high performance” generally refers to something that operates better, faster, or more efficiently than others. It can be used to describe various products, such as high-performance cars, computers, or sports equipment, which are designed to deliver superior results.
In a workplace context, a high performer is someone who consistently goes above and beyond to achieve their goals and improve their work environment.3
Wikipedia
Wikipedia does not have a specific entry for “high performance.” This mission could be harder than I thought.
Social Media
An unattributed quote cited on LinkedIn by James Laughlin suggests: “High performance is performing above the standard norms consistently over the long term, while also maintaining positive relationships and well-being.”4
Steve Ingham, who works with athletes, has described “high performance” as “the action or process of performing a task or function to an exceptional level or against exceptional demand or circumstance.”5
Motivational speaker Jim Lawless speaks of high performance in terms of outcomes delivered as the result of following a “blueprint” (a plan) under which each performer has clearly defined roles and tasks and takes actions specifically and only within those roles to contribute as planned to the outcome.6 (Wow. That sure sounds corporate.)
Mark Hayward, host of the Business Growth Talks podcast, defines “high performance” as “reaching your potential and sustaining it for a long period of time.”7
Taking a somewhat different tact, Tony Wilson, a motivational speaker focused on team and personal performance with a background in working with athletes, speaks of “the essence of high performance” as being “to stop ourselves from doing an easy, comfortable thing and to do a more difficult thing that makes us more successful.” He then goes on to define “high performance” as “doing the harder thing when the harder thing gives us a better result int he future.”8
Books
In his book High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way, Brendan Burchard generally look at high performance as the formation and execution of habits. James Clear would likely agree with this.9 Burchard has also defined high performance as “succeeding above and beyond standard norms for the long term.”10
So, What Is High Performance All About?
From all of these sources, we can appreciate that high performance:
- Is intentional.
- Is outcome-comparative.
- Requires skill, mindset, processes, and habits.
- Can relate to an organization, a team, or an individual.
- Has a “sustained-over-time” time element (is more than a one-time thing).
How I (Currently) Define “High Performance”
I would suggest that a definition for “high performance” that could apply in the individual, team, and organizational contexts would be:
Intentionally applying skills, mindset, processes, and habits to do consistently better than others who are doing the same thing.
What do you think?
1 Do, T.T. and Mai, N.K. (2020), “High-performance organization: a literature review”, Journal of Strategy and Management, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 297-309. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSMA-11-2019-0198. (I couldn’t find any academic literature that tried to define “high performance” in the team or individual contexts.)
2 De Waal, A. (2021). The high performance organization: proposed definition and measurement of its performance. Measuring Business Excellence, 25(3), 300–314. https://doi.org/10.1108/mbe-04-2020-0064. The author if this article is Andre de Waal. His LinkedIn profile can be found here.
3 Copilot went to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the Cambridge Dictionary, and indeed.com for answers. (Of note, the two dictionaries are where I went before I asked Copilot. I don’t know whether’s there’s any connection or not. I does seem somewhat weird. (I didn’t look at indeed.com.))
4 This quote may originate from JD Meier, or it may not. Meier’s LinkedIn profile can be found here. For what it’s worth, Perplexity AI looked to Meier’s blog as a primary source for the definition of “high performance.”
5 A 14-minute video of Ingham discussing “What is high performance and how do can you culture it in your life?” can be found here. The specific point at which Ingham speaks of his definition of “high performance” can be found here.
6 A video of Lawless discussing some of his thoughts on the definition of “high performance” can be found here.
7 A 7-minute video of Hayward discussing his definition of “high performance” can be found here.
8 A short (1:49) video of Wilson speaking on his definition of “high performance” can be found here.
9 Clear is the author of the book Atomic Habits.
10 A 12-minute video of Burchard giving his thoughts on the question “What is high performance?” can be found here.
About the cover image: The cover image is a screen shot from a short video titled “BMW M5 – “Bullet” – High Performance Art” from BMW Canada. The full commercial can be found here.
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