The Myth of the Lone Warrior Is Dead

Top performance in companies is less a superpower than a rollercoaster ride. The results of a global survey show why going it alone is out and how teams can sustainably maintain their performance levels.

The idea of the born high performer in a team clearly needs to be dispelled. According to the study "The Science of Sustainable High Performance" by Culture Amp, sustained top performance is extremely rare: only two percent of employees maintain their high level of performance over two assessment phases. Instead, professional life is like sport: Exceptional talent must be allowed to develop and be nurtured, otherwise it risks being worn down.

High Performance is not a Permanent State

Performance data analysis of over 560,000 employees from 1,517 companies worldwide shows that top performance by individual employees is a cyclical result that is significantly influenced by the work environment, leadership, and team dynamics.

Commitment levels, work experience, and performance evaluations were compared over several evaluation periods. Successful project completions and tight deadlines can therefore affect performance in one direction or another. Incidentally, the path to becoming a top athlete is also quite long in a corporate context.

Onboarding and Personnel Development Influence Performance

A quarter of employees need 18 months or more to be classified as top performers for the first time. This refutes the assumption that new employees have to hit the ground running. Instead, high-performing employees depend on tailored onboarding and measures for sustainable personnel development. The first 90 days are crucial in this regard.

The statements of those surveyed confirm the effects of well-designed onboarding experiences that prepare employees to act productively in the future with a clear understanding of their role. If they also feel that the new role suits them, the likelihood of peak performance on the job increases by 48 percent.

What Makes Employees Top Performers

In companies with high employee engagement levels, top performers are not only more motivated, but also 12 percent more willing to go the extra mile for the company's success. A comparison of low-performing and high-performing employees reveals the following key factors for developing sustainable peak performance:

• A strong feedback culture: Top performers are more satisfied with the feedback they receive from their managers (83 percent agreement) and give feedback more often than lower-performing employees (by 36 percentage points).
• Clear goal setting: High-performing employees set personal goals more often and align them with company goals (21/26 percentage point difference).
• Strong leaders as multipliers: Under strong leadership, employees are 4.5 times more likely to exceed their own expectations.
• Psychological security: Employees who maintain peak performance over several cycles feel more psychologically secure in the workplace.

Conclusion: This debunks another dogma of the working world. It is not about finding “super talents,” but about creating conditions in which all employees can develop their potential in the long term. Companies are therefore called upon to abandon the idea that peak performance is a trait that can be permanently secured through employment contracts. Instead, performance management systems need to be rethought and working conditions created in which employees can contribute to the company's success at a consistently high level.

This is a partly automated translation of this german article.