Extraordinary performance – superior achievement of an outcome such that a new standard of expectation is established. Exceptional, exemplary, excellent. This is not standard, or average, or expected…..it’s better, it’s enhanced, it’s innovative. It changes the expectation of performance.

If you’ve ever experienced extraordinary performance, you understand what this means, and likely have chased it ever since – it’s intoxicating, inspirational, and enlightening. It means it’s possible, it does exist, and there are others who seek and realize it.

So, what sets extraordinary (key) performers apart from others – their ability to translate knowledge, skills, and attitude into performance that consistently surpasses the standard and produces exceptional results in spite of barriers, roadblocks, and difficulties. They are passionate about what they do, and they see it as holistic, they don’t get sidetracked by ‘noise,’ and they filter the unnecessary, they create support systems, and they thrive on feedback and accountability. They are recognized by their peers as being exceptional.

Do these people sound too good to be true or like those elusive unicorns we all hear about? Well, they’re not. They are a small 3% – 5% population within in your organization right now, and you probably don’t know who they are. These are the people who have figured out the ‘code’ to perform exceptionally well in the environment, and they have the insights to help your average performers (75% of your organization) level-up their results.

Hard truth – key performers are not typically those with subject matter expertise, long tenure, certifications, and/or high potential. Key performance is not knowing a lot about a topic or having done a job for a long time; it’s not possessing competence in certain skills or passing an exam; and it’s not showing a desire to learn and achieve something more – stop and digest that.

Steve Jobs, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Brady, Joe Rogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Barbara Corcoran – these individuals redefined their positions, their industry, and how achievement is evaluated. They raised the bar by which all others are measured. So, let’s say it again – key performance is about the ability to translate knowledge, skills, and attitude into performance that consistently surpasses the standard and produces exceptional results in spite of barriers, roadblocks, and difficulties.

If you want to improve, grow, and achieve greater than the standard, you train with and learn from someone who performs better than you in that realm – plain and simple. You don’t gain an edge by doing what the majority of everyone else is doing, you look to those who are excelling in what you are attempting to do and learn from them. We refer to this as ‘finding what’s right to fix what’s wrong.’

Key performer analysis is about looking to those who repeatedly produce exceptional results for the purpose of improving those who produce standard results. This analysis investigates the influences – primary drivers, facilitators, and barriers – to achieve optimal performance and documents the insights, conditions, and enablers in a PerformX Profile to share across the organization.

Most average performers have untapped potential waiting to be unlocked, they often just need the right conditions to realize it. Those performers will thank you for sharing the key performer best practices, they will use them, and they will rise to the occasion of improved performance – others will not, and a departure may be necessary, and that’s ok. Why? Because not everyone is cut out for the role they are in today, not everyone is in a role that plays to their strengths, not everyone is open to change, challenge, or growth, and not everyone is committed to the aspiration or expectation.

Don’t be fooled, this analysis requires hard truths about talent. Being honest about those in the organization who consistently knock it out of the park in all aspects – mind-set, skills, efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, and finesse – versus those who do only what is expected to keep the engines running – versus those who underperform and often negatively affect morale, engagement, and the bottom line.

Stop spending 80% of your time trying to convert the underperforming 20% of your organization into average performers – the juice is not worth the squeeze. Widening your average performer group does not create value, it just gives you more average. To create value and transform results, shift your time to learning from your 3% – 5% key performer population and sharing their best practices with your average performer population (75%) and watch the performance curve shift exponentially to the right. This is how organizations transform.

There are of course some instances when key performers do not exist – new/changed job role, start-ups, subpar talent – in this case we create an Aspirational PerformX Profile by identifying the outcomes of value that are expected, framing out the conditions necessary to perform, and developing metrics and measures to evaluate the performance.

PDG leverages the world-class PerformanceDNA (bold & italics) methodology to conduct key performer analysis and unlock the potential that exists in your organization to shift the performance curve and move the needle on results. We identify, explore, and document the specific factors that enable performance excellence, create PerformX Profiles, and leverage those profiles to help develop average performers into extraordinary talent.