Jason Lauritsen - Unlocking High Performance

In Unlocking High Performance, Jason Lauritsen greets us with a hopeful, affirming message: work can be much better more challenging and more fulfilling if we do things a bit differently. He shows how common practices like annual performance appraisals may be holding you back and how you can improve employee engagement and bring excitement and productivity back to the workplace.

Daniel H Pink, author of When and Drive

We firmly believe in the power of unlocking human potential and love how the book touches on the value of recognition and appreciation in building high-performance organizations. Jason captures the ways in which organizations can help employees find meaning in their work by building stronger relationship and creating a workplace culture grounded in trust, respect, recognition, and humanity. If you want to inspire and motivate your employees to do the best work of their lives, then you should read this book.

Derek Irvine, Head of Strategy and Consulting, Globoforce

In a world where the nature of work is changing at a revolutionary pace, continuing to operate in old paradigms can be devasting for organizations and even more harmful for the employees that work there. Jason goes beyond best practices and challenges the reader to think about right practices. He provides case studies and practical tools to help leaders and practitioners redesign and implement a performance management process that values employees and motivates employees to do their best work and be their best selves everyday. He reviews the history of performance management and explains why organizations need a more humanistic approach to managing performance that is sustainable, mutually beneficial and helps the organization and employee thrive every day. Jason understands the interworking of even the most complex organizations and cuts to the heart of the matter life is about relationships and work is no exception.

Ryan Picarella, President, The Wellness Council of America (WELCOA)

Jason Lauritsen shows you how to deliver on the original promise of performance management. Its not about bureaucratic documentation; its about making work better and creating better workers.

David Burkus, author of Friend of a Friend and Under New Management

Performance management has failed because its view of what makes people successful is far too limited. Jason takes a much more expansive and holistic view and shows how it is truly possible for people to love their work and flourish, so their employers can grow and thrive as well.

Steve Smith, Partner, The Starr Conspiracy

Unlocking High Performance is a field manual for leaders and HR practitioners seeking to create workplaces that attract, retain and develop the talent required by any successful and competitive business. Leaders can always choose to do the hard work to get it right. Reading this book is a great way to either start or remain on that path.

Joni Thomas Doolin, Founder and CEO, People Report and TDn2K

How to use performance management to engage and empower employees to reach their full potential

Jason Lauritsen

Publishers note

Every possible effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this book is accurate at the time of going to press, and the publishers and authors cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, however caused. No responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting, or refraining from action, as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by the editor, the publisher or the author.

First published in Great Britain and the United States in 2018 by Kogan Page Limited

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licences issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned addresses:

2nd Floor, 45 Gee Street

London

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c/o Martin P Hill Consulting

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4737/23 Ansari Road

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Jason Lauritsen 2018

The right of Jason Lauritsen to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

ISBN 978 0 7494 8329 6

E-ISBN 978 0 7494 8330 2

Typeset by Integra Software services

Print production managed by Jellyfish

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY

To my wife Angie, the best partner

I could ask for, and my three children.

They are the reason for everything I do.

Jason Lauritsen is a keynote speaker, author and consultant. He is an employee engagement and workplace culture expert whose goal is to challenge you to think differently.

A former corporate human resources executive, Jason has dedicated his career to helping leaders build organizations that are good for both people and profits.

Among his professional experiences, he led the research team for Quantum Workplaces Best Places to Work programme. In this role, he had the opportunity to study the employee experience at thousands of organizations to understand what the best workplaces in the world do differently.

Jason is also the co-author of the book, Social Gravity: Harnessing the natural laws of relationships.

He lives on a quiet acreage outside of Omaha, Nebraska in the central United States with his wife (and business partner) Angie, their three children and the family dog.

Connect with Jason at www.JasonLauritsen.com.

Drama researcher, New York Times Bestselling Author of Reality-Based Leadership and No Ego, host of the award-winning No Ego podcast, Number 19 on the Top Leadership Gurus List, and dedicated conventional leadership wisdom myth buster

I get super-excited about wickedly smart, curious people, questioning the status quo and using great research and experience to write amazing books. And I got really excited when I read this book by Jason Lauritsen.

I must admit, I am rarely able to agree to endorse or write a foreword for new HR/leadership books. Not because I dont believe in supporting my colleagues or in abundance, but because I rarely read a book that resonates with my own research and speaks the truth clearly about what is broken about work with truly applicable ways to fix it. This book makes the cut and it is an honour to provide a few words about its content and its author.