Beyond High Performance: Embracing Meta-Performance

‍

"Can You Go Beyond High Performance?" by Jason Jaggard challenges the common narratives around the mindset of high performers continually asking themselves "How can I be the best?" Jaggard invites us to step into a bolder question: What are we truly capable of?

‍

Rethinking High-Performers: The Pitfalls of Excellence

Most organizations focus their efforts on attracting and retaining high‑performers. But Novus Global argues this is a mistake. High‑performers often:

• Become resistant to feedback—it threatens their performance driven identity.
• Feel simultaneously overwhelmed and bored—caught between full plates and stagnation.
• Grow resentful of others who don’t—or can’t—keep pace.
• Experience jealousy toward peers, sometimes even undermining others' growth.
  All of these reflect what Jaggard calls the “arrogance of limited success.”

Even more subtly, the very sense of having “made it” creates a barrier. The achievement itself triggers a psychological recoil—a fear of the pain of continued success—because it comes with the question: What's next? Many stop short of their potential just when they should be pushing forward.

‍

Introducing Meta-Performance: Infinite Growth, Not Finite Winning

Jaggard’s call to action centers on a provocatively simple question every leader should be constantly curious over: "What comes after high performance?" Without clarity on that, he warns, organizations impose an unnecessary cap on their own potential.

Enter meta‑performance, where "meta" signifies transformation—like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly—not metadata. A meta‑performer isn’t just striving to be the best—they’re committed to constantly exploring their capabilities. And that distinction is where the transformation lives.

While being the best has limits, asking “What am I capable of?” unlocks infinite possibility

‍

Walt Disney: A Case Study in Meta-Performance

Take Walt Disney. He began in Kansas City, drawing ads. From this humble beginning, he created Steamboat Willie, transformed animation, pioneered feature films, merchandised characters, built theme parks—and today, legacy cities designed to reflect value, story, and imagination. His path exemplifies meta‑performance: he didn’t stop at success—he reinvented success itself.

‍

Cultivating Meta-Performance in Your Team

How can you grow a meta‑performing culture?

‍

1. Ask a different question.

“What comes after high performance?” That question sets a trajectory beyond conventional achievement.

2. Set audacious goals.

At Novus, coaches operate under a performance improvement mindset from day one—not because they’re underperforming, but because they’re committed to growth. Goals must:

• Appear improbable or impossible, yet
• Be worth the cost of growth to achieve.
  Then by year-end, they consistently achieve the impossible.

3. Reframe the impossible.

Jaggard recounts working with a nationwide organization to not just close a $20 million shortfall—but to surpass it by $10 million. That’s meta‑performance in action: turning perceived impossibility into reality.

‍

From Impossible to "Tuesday"

Disney once said, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”  For those who push boundaries daily, what used to feel impossible becomes just another Tuesday.

‍

Your Meta-Performance Moment

Ask yourself:

• Are your goals simply high‑performing?
• Do you know what comes after high performance?
• Where could you set a goal that feels impossible—and is worth the transformation to achieve?

Read the full article at Novus Global to dive deeper into this conversation.

‍