HR

FOUR BLOCKS OF ATTRIBUTES OF A

HIGH PERFORMING EMPLOYEE
Abstract

Functional / technical skill sets are the bare minimum requirement to perform in an organization.
However, these skill sets alone are not enough to be a top performer and tagged as high performing
employee. We need to have a set of behavioral attributes which make us a differentiator and put
us in a growth path. Four blocks of attributes of a high performing employee are summarized as
Block1: Integrity /Ethics/ Trustworthy, Block2: Discipline / Lead by Examples / Communication /
Transparency, Block3: Sacrifice / Commitment / Passion, Block4: Creative thinking / Solution provider.
Long-term corporate strategy, financial planning, KPIs, Scorecard and goals in an organization
cannot be achieved without a high performing team. We need to identify these high caliber personnel,
nurture and empower them so that they bring success at a faster pace.

only functional / technical expertise cannot make us a top

performer in our organization. We need to have a set of
behavioral skills which make us a differentiator and put
us in a growth path. The more we climb in the corporate
ladder, the more demanding these behavioral attributes to
perform. Put it differently, we need to have these attributes
within ourselves (like DNA in our body) which give us
the tag of a ‘high performer’.
CMA Mrutyunjaya Mohanty I have been doing a little research on the subject
Group CFO matter and finally came out with a table of four blocks of
Aman Group, Dhaka human attributes. Each block is inter-related to others as
Bangladesh
represented in the following table.
ca_mmohanty@yahoo.com

W
FOUR BLOCKS OF ATTRIBUTES OF A HIGH
hile working with an MNC in the past PERFORMING EMPLOYEE
as country CFO, my reporting manager
once mentioned to me that you need
to identify five ‘high performing
employees’ in the Finance and Accounts department.
This was the culture of that MNC which have been in
the business over a century and in several continents.
They do identify five ‘high performing’ employees in
each department as well as at company level and at group
level. If we successfully identify this, rest assured our
organization will be able to achieve its target business
performances and corporate goals.
There is no doubt that functional / technical skill sets
are the bare minimum requirement to execute our task in
an organization. Rather these skills are mandatory in our
position to perform our work efficiently. However, having

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 HR

Block 1: Integrity /Ethics/ issues through creative thinking. Our

Trustworthy
The onus of building trust in an
organization lies with the employee
only. How many employees in an
organization speak truth? Not even
white lies with the pretext of one-
day sick leave! But, there are some
employees who do not even resort
to white lies. Integrity and ethics are
inbuilt in our body like DNA. It’s
a mindset whether we are going to
be unbiased and neutral at all the
time. Whether we will speak out
and report if we come across any
unethical issue even though we are
not directly or indirectly involved.
Can you be a whistleblower? It’s all
about from where you come from and
what personal brand image you need
to build.
Block 2: Discipline / Lead by
Examples
As a boss or reporting manager
directing the subordinates to
discipline them is utterly ineffective
if we do not lead by an example.
We as a leader must show them by
doing ourselves and then only it will
be effective for the followers.
Block 2: Communication /
Transparency
This attribute is important to build
trust with the boss and among fellow
employees. Timing of communication,
mode of communication and what to
communicate and what not to, all are
very important and they all form part
of transparency.
Managing an
organization is
about managing
the people
Block 3: Sacrifice / Commitment
Can anyone sacrifice one of
the most important events in their
personal life for the company’s
interest. I have seen examples wherein
some employees even sacrificed their
presence during the bereavement of
their parents in their hometown and
rather continued attending their office
work to complete some important
assignments. In another real-life
example, I have come across an
employee who accidentally broke his
rib cage in a friendly soccer match
within the company premises but still
continued attending office all days
ignoring medical advice of bed rest
for 15 days.
Block 3: Passion
Passion can drive us to put in
best efforts for the organization.
Without passion and ‘fire in the
belly’ commitment will not be there.
Need to create passion for the job so
that instead of our work becoming
boredom, we can turnaround to
wonder. Convert workplace to a place
for enjoyment.
Block 4: Creative thinking /
Solution provider
We can find solutions for
organization wide problems and
brain is available 24 hours a day to
think about the issue, we go through
every day. ‘Nothing is impossible’
attitude and commitment along with
passion can drive us to think through
the problem areas and find our own
solutions. Need to think through and
search for the ‘Eureka’ moment.
CONCLUSION
It is not an easy task to continue
growing business performances of
an organization with high expectation
of top-line and bottom-line growth.
At the same time, it is not impossible
to achieve this. An organization
is made of people. Managing an
organization is about managing the
people. Long-term corporate strategy,
financial planning, KPIs, Scorecard
and goals cannot be achieved without
a high performing team. We need to
identify these high caliber personnel,
nurture and empower them. Soon this
will have a cascading effect in the
entire organization. Over a period of
time the whole organization will be
performing seamlessly. Shareholders
and all stakeholders will be rejoiced
and it will be a hallmark of “best
place to work”.
References:
1. From the practical work life
experience as CFO, while
working with Gerdau Steel India
(a Brazilian MNC).
2. DNA watermark image taken
from public domain google
search.

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