4 Qualities Of High Performers That Fly Beneath The Radar

It doesn’t sound like a serious affliction, but it is. The pressure associated with high performance can be nerve racking at the least, electrifying at most, and insatiably fulfilling at best.

The good news is, high performance, much like anything else, becomes a habit the more consistently aligned one’s intentions and expectations are with his or her behavior. 

The bad news, however, is that sustaining high performance requires constantly pushing the boundaries of physical, mental and emotional security since, after all, nobody gets better doing the same thing the same way. 

To elevate your performance you must reach outside your comfort zone, learn, adapt, and lead yourself—and others—into a realm where possibility and opportunity are synonymous with uncertainty and unpredictability.

What’s so counterintuitive about high performance is the degree of uncertainty necessary for improvement. If, in the SEAL Teams, for example, we had trained for certainty then we wouldn’t have been nearly as effective at adapting to changes posed by the enemy–uncertainty. Training for certainty doesn’t build creative thinking, it doesn’t inoculate you against stress and it doesn’t challenge you to grow mentally or emotionally. Only uncertainty does.

To live the status of high performer—notice I didn’t say achieve— means being open to learning; embracing the new and foregoing the old; being humble enough to replace old beliefs of what was once “right” with new definitions of what “right” means.

The commonly held beliefs of high performers are that they set (and achieve) clear objectives, tackle difficult projects, assume responsibility and surpass others’ expectations.

However, there are lesser-known qualities of high performers that fly below the radar but nonetheless define winning. Here are four of them:

1) They understand their boss’s decision-making process.

By understanding how their boss decides, high performers are in a better position to make suggestions. For example, if Joe knows that his boss, Sally, likes to be given options then proposing a single solution to her would be sub-optimal. Instead, Joe should come up with three courses of action for Sally to choose from—even if there’s only one “best” choice. If she chooses otherwise, then Joe can ask “why?” and now has greater insight for future decisions made by Sally.

Knowing your boss’s decision-making process can also save him/her time. Assuming there’s trust between the two of you, your boss can abdicate a certain level of decision-making authority to you and if anything escalates beyond that criteria, then it would go to him/her.

2) They boldly make suggestions.

High performers aren’t afraid to propose new ideas to superiors; they’re indifferent as far as to whom they’re speaking. No longer do the high performers of today wait to be told about the future direction and subsequent opportunities/threats along the way. Instead, they anticipate change and proactively make suggestions to change course so as to best leverage organizational resources (I.e. time, people, money).

3) They place themselves last.

This is something ingrained in every military member (well, most of them) as it speaks to the shared purpose of its members. High performers prioritize deliverables first and their own self-interests second.

4) They do everything to the best of their abilities.

It doesn’t matter if they were told to take out the trash or to make coffee. Whatever they’re tasked with, high performers make sure they: 

1) Are on time

2) Execute their task(s) to the best of their abilities

3) Ask for help when needed

This third point is critical. Nobody is smarter than everybody and high performers realize the power of building and leveraging their networks. They also realize the power of teams. 

High performance isn’t an end state, but rather a lifelong pursuit. Aim for just one percent improvement everyday.

Jeff is an executive coach, author of Navigating Chaos: How To Find Certainty in Uncertain Situations and Managing The Mental Game, and former Navy SEAL.

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