21st Century Ceos, Board Members, Top Executives, Directors and Managers Know These Differences Between Performance and Results

Old-fashioned organisations do not clearly distinguish between performance and results. They manage performance using traditional performance management approaches. The majority of these organisations and institutions underperform and underproduce as compared to their inherent potential for higher performance and better results. The Chief Executive Officers, Executives and Top Officials of these organisations are not aware that they underproducing and underperforming even if they are producing good results and this mainly because of using the traditional performance management approaches. There are four inherent flaws in these traditional performance management approaches;

1. Traditional management approaches are typically managerial and tactical and not holistic and strategic.
2. Traditional performance management is primarily focused on activities and resources and not results.
3. Traditional performance management does not produce desired results because it leaves out too many factors that drive performance in their performance management efforts and models.
4. Traditional management approaches are based on general management theories, many of which have indeed improved performance in organisations, but they lack in the science of performance.

The Difference Between Performance and Results

Many people confuse performance and results and talk about performance when they are supposed to talk about the same. Others confuse performance with results. These two are related but they are different.

Performance

Performance is how well you do at a particular task or set of tasks under a given set of conditions. It is predominantly about the quantity and quality of effort invested in a certain task or set of tasks.

Performance at a particular task does not guarantee that one will produce the desired output, the result.

Result

A result is an output, an end state produced by a combination of performance and other situational factors.

A result can also be defined as a general evaluation of performance outputs.

In terms of these definitions;

You can produce a great performance and still fail to produce the desired result. For example, ten high-performing athletes in a hundred-metre dash all perform at high levels; but the results are that not all the ten athletes will produce the same results.

Two aircraft can take off from the same airport at the same speed and fly at the same speed to a predefined same destination. These aircraft are performing at similar flying levels. But if one of the aircraft is heading in the right direction and the other one is heading in the wrong direct, the results of these two will be difficult.

A football team can perform very well throughout a match and still produce a result that is inferior to the team that did not perform very well overall.

A student can perform very well in answering and get a 100% mark. But the student will fail if the student answers the wrong question.

Managing performance is important, but managing at a performance level does not guarantee that one can produce the desired overall result because performance is only one of other factors that produce the overall results or that produce the desired end state.

Resultsologically Linking Performance and Results:

Performance and results are related, but they are not the same. A performance is an input into producing results; it is not the results themselves. Results are a product of performance and other situational factors. These other situational factors can be summarised by the term strategy. Therefore, in terms of resultsology;

Results=+-Action +- Action(Performance X Strategy)

The Results Management Approach

The results management approach shifts the primary management focus from performance management to the desired future state or result. This concept can be summarised by the chapter title of Stephen R. Covey's book, (The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People),

Begin with the end in mind.

So when you use the results management approach;

1. You start by defining the desired result or future state
2. Then you work out how best to produce the desired result including the performance that is required to produce that result.

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©Simon Bere, 2024