Exemplary Performance: Driving Business Results by Benchmarking Your Star Performers

Praise for Exemplary Performance "I have seen the transformative power of human performance improvement in the power industry where it has produced measurable results in areas such as safety performance. Executives, managers, and other leaders will benefit from this approach, enabling exemplary performance by replicating the results of their stars." —Carl English , vice-chairman (retired), American Electric Power "A must-read for anyone accountable for producing and leading high-performing individuals or teams." —Jamie Torchiana , learning implementation leader, Sales Strategy, AstraZeneca "Uniquely captures profound ideas, frames them concisely, and explains how they work in the real world in a powerful way. If you want to link your business's capability development to actual business outcome, this book might be all you need. A fantastic read." —Don Shoultz, head of learning and development, BP Upstream Learning

Appreciation vii Part One: Defining the Opportunity 1 1 The Value of Leveraging the Insights of Your Stars 3 2 Prioritizing Performance Improvement Opportunities 21 3 Selecting Exemplary Teams and Individuals 39 4 Capturing the Expertise of Your Stars 55 5 What Makes Them Tick? How Stars and Exemplary Teams Consistently Exceed Expectations 73 Part Two: Shifting the Performance Curve 93 6 Leading for Exceptional Results 95 7 You Get What You Expect and What You Inspect 103 8 Great Job! Rewards, Recognition, and Consequences 125 9 How to Succeed in Business by Really Trying: Motivation, Intentionality, and Deliberate Practice 143 10 Replicating Your Stars! Training and Performance Support 163 11 Getting Round Pegs in Round Holes: Selecting for Success 181 12 Creating Barrier–Free Work Systems 197 Epilogue: Just Imagine . . . 215 Appendix: Sample Data for One Accomplishment 217 The Authors 225 Index 229

Paul H. Elliott, Ph.D., is the President and founder of Exemplary Performance, LLC, based in Annapolis, Maryland. Previously, he was a Fellow with Saba Software; President of Human Performance Technologies and Vice President of RWD Technologies. Throughout the course of Paul's consulting career, he has worked with leading companies including many Fortune 500 organizations. Alfred C. Folsom, Ph.D., is Vice President of Operations at Exemplary Performance, where he brings over 20 years of experience in the field of Human Performance Technology. Al's expertise is in the area of HPT and its specific application throughout the United States Coast Guard, where he recently retired as a Captain after 24 years of commissioned service.