A high performance organization has a well defined purpose, vision and missions that are agreed to.  These three elements are understood by the leadership and the leadership team is passionate about them. The principle behind a high performance organization is having a purpose that you are passionate about.  This is not a marketing gimmick or concept, but a guiding principle. The purpose drives the business and is the fundamental reason for existence.  Purpose and values have been identified as key ingredients for success of a high performance organization.  There is also this idea that you give up control to the team and you rely on leadership skills instead of management skills.

The core to every successful team is the individual however it is the willingness of the individual to subordinate their individual goals to those of the team's that will bring the greatest accomplishments. Today's competitive business environment demands increased productivity, better quality, shortened response time, and lower costs. A business can achieved greater success by replacing the hierarchical boss-subordinate relationship with that of an empowered work team. In a team environment, people are not managed or controlled; they are driven by the organization's purpose and goals.

When we first get a call to work with a business we generally find a group that is task focused.  Best case they are organized under a traditional management structure and worst case no organization at all.  What they want to do is become a high performance organization.  This is a business model that replaces top management with leaders ( or trains the existing management team in high performance principles).  Over time the meetings start to be canceled in preference to real time task resolutions.  Sometime between eight and twelve months the project is stalled.   The group refuses to get out of there comfort zone.  What they are used to is starting their day with a to-do list and tackling task. There is no vision, no excitement, and no passion.