Nicholas S. Barnett - 7 Business Habits That Drive High Performance

First published in 2014 by Major Street Publishing Pty Ltd

@ Nicholas S. Barnett 2014

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher.

Illustrations by Elizabeth Barnett

Cover and internal design by Anthony Barnett & Elizabeth Barnett Printed in China through Asia Pacific Offset Limited

ISBN: 9780987542953

ISBN: 9781483528120

I dedicate this book to the staff of Insync Surveys who are so passionate about helping their clients achieve sustainable high performance.

Our highest performing business units all have the highest scores in employee engagement, Client Net Promoter Score measures, Contractor Satisfaction and are lead by our best leaders as measured by their people in our leadership surveys. Our best leaders also deliver the best financial results, are the most efficient in terms of productivity and have the lowest staff turnover. We find the common theme across each of our high performing business units is that the leaders of those business units practise the 7 Business Habits That Drive High Performance. Theres a clear, tangible link. Practise the 7 Business Habits and your business unit will become a high performing business.

Peter Acheson, CEO, Peoplebank Australia Limited

This book is a timely reminder that economics is essentially a human enterprise. The emphasis that it gives is an ever-needed caution about the importance of human factors in any enterprise: it is a lesson that we ignore at our own economic risk. The basis of the presented argument is one steeped in hard-core data and, as such, is one strongly deserving of our serious consideration.

Dr Ronald D Francis, Author and academic. His books include: The science of management (with S. Moss), Leadership in Asia-Pacific (with A. Armstrong & N. Muenjohn) and Business ethics in Australia: a practical guide.

7 Business Habits is a must read for all business leaders. The outstanding learning for me is the fact that success is driven not by any one of the habits alone, or even a few together, but it is only through embracing them all that leaders will drive high performance.

Katie McNamara, Partner, Consulting Strategy, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

In the 10 years I have known Nicholas Barnett I have observed his great ability to grow his businesses and make them successful high performance organisations. What you read in 7 Business Habits That Drive High Performance is what really works and resonates strongly with my own experience.

George Savvides, Managing Director, Medibank Private

The key to delivering sustainable, superior shareholder returns is getting the people dimension right. In any organisation, people are the key to driving high performance whether in terms of internal productivity or customer satisfaction. Nicks book provides a simple framework for leaders at every level to understand the importance of creating an authentic vision and motivating their teams to achieve extraordinary performance, within the context of the highest standards of values, behaviours and ethics. This resonates with my experience of leadership in a range of major organisations, which has reinforced the belief that people truly make the difference.

Michael Ullmer, Non-Executive Director, Woolworths and Lend Lease, and previously Deputy CEO, National Australia Bank

Nicholas Barnetts new book titled, 7 Business Habits That Drive High Performance is well worth the read. Powerfully simple, it concludes that the most important habit is to live an inspiring vision. Everyone wants to be led with a sense of purpose and hope and this result confirms that. Five of the other habits go to the heart of how an organization manages its people and customers lessons all too often forgotten as hard numbers and egos can regrettably take centre stage. And, yes, finally its good to have sound systems that are accessible, simple and clear. This research is highly consistent with research from our Institute. Making it all happen continues to represent the journey ahead for all of us in the workplace.

Peter Wilson AM, National President and Chairman, Australian Human Resources Institute

At BHP Billiton we have the good fortune to have a charter that recognises the need for superior performance in all our people. In our industry we have the equally good fortune to know that what we do makes a difference; helps improve the lives of millions of people and develops the global economy. To be successful we need to harness the energy of one team. The 7 Business Habits provides a guide to achieve this by creating a clear and compelling vision and fostering a transparent, caring culture underpinned by shared values. Consistently applied over the long term, the Habits will meet the personal needs of each employee by developing trusted leaders who are respected and supported and who create that vision. They will also foster a workplace where each person can make a meaningful, valued and sustainable contribution.

Karen Wood, President, BHP Billiton and previously President, Human Resources

I could not have written this book without a huge amount of support, advice and encouragement from so many people. To those many people, I say a very big thank you!

This book, like my first book, GPS for your Organisation: how to energise your employees and build sustainable high performance, has been a family affair which makes me ever so proud. My eldest daughter, Elizabeth, did all the illustrations, the lettering on the cover and the chapter numbers. My son, Anthony, designed the cover and did the layout of the book. My daughter Sara typed many drafts of the book.

My wife, Lisa, as always provided me with much support, wise counsel and encouragement during the 12 months or so that I dedicated to this book. Her unfailing love, unique perspectives and intuition add to the effectiveness of all my endeavours and have made this a better book.

A special thank you also to Insync Surveys for supporting not only me in writing this book, but in providing me with access to the important and extensive research upon which this book is based. Those who carried out or assisted with that research or who read and gave me advice in relation to this book included Lily Ivicic, Laura Barker, Laura Dainton-Smith, Dr Eva Wachsen and Murray Chapman. Laura Barker met with me weekly, particularly in the early stages, which helped me stick to a project plan for this book that we had created together. She also followed up on many important administrative matters to bring this book to life.

To my Executive Assistant, Margaret Rogers, a big thank you for typing and restructuring so many drats of this book and for acting as my confidant and advisor and providing me with such loyal, outstanding service for the last 12 years.