The Value Profile – Getting the Balance Right for Performance - Fiona Gifford

The Value Profile is a model that was developed by The Performance Collective as a new way of looking at the distribution of time and effort of both individuals and whole teams. By applying the model to the current reality and then comparing it with the desired profile, strategies can be developed for increasing the overall value profile of the individual or team.

The Value Profile defines four, distinct sources of value.

The Value Profile

The sources are defined as;

Value Creation – The activity of searching for opportunities and sources of value as yet unknown. This is mostly externally focused and includes; innovation, new products/ services, new sectors/markets, partnerships and joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions.

Team Value – The activity of adding value to the performance of the wider team. Team Value may be evident in the form of behaviour such as coaching, mentoring, chairing, resolving conflict and giving feedback. It can also be demonstrated through tasks such as collaborating in support of another person’s Value Add, cross-functional project management or taking responsibility for shared team deliverables.

Value Add – Activities that contribution to value, mostly still within the individual or functional remit, that adds new value (in terms of quality, cost or delivery). Examples would include continuous improvement, process re-engineering, new technology, enhanced customer service, improving hand-offs between departments, enhanced teamwork, training and up-skilling of staff.

Value Maintenance – this is the operational, business as usual activity that maintains the existing value of the organization. It should be the baseline expectation of every team member’s performance and not something that attracts additional reward or recognition, but not doing it effectively will get you fired.

High Performance Leaders use the Value Profile exercise regularly with their teams to monitor progress and drive their value creation. Emerging Leaders have used the same approach to redefining their “brand” in support of their career ambitions. Within the context of a High Performance Programme, the participating teams often find that the Value Profile exercise surfaces new insights into blockages to team performance.

One particular senior team was able to radically shift their Value Profile within six months to free the Chief Executive to focus more on new value creation. The CE was very clear that he should be focussing more time and energy in this part of his profile. The team agreed and challenged him as to why he was not doing this. The CE explained that he wanted to, but he felt that he had to spend too much time on Team Value. He told the team that he would like them to take collective of the day-to-day running of the business, but he was not confident that they could do this without the level of coaching and support he was contributing.

The CE and the team then developed and executed a plan that involved delegation of Value Maintenance activities away from the senior team, using this time to work on the capability of that team to run the business. They also redesigned their management processes to improve the communication flows within the team. Within six months the CE had sufficient trust, and the team had sufficient confidence to allow the CE to focus on Value Creation.

Fiona Gifford is MD and High Performance Consultant with The Performance Collective. If you would like more information about how The Value Model can transform your team’s value, contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .