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Feature
By Ayo Adigun & Tomiwa Sotiloye
he beginning of the 2012 financial year is yet an-
other opportunity to take well planned actions to
re-invigorate the UBA business and consolidate our
market leadership in the financial services industries of
the different African jurisdictions in which we operate.
However, our Bank can only achieve its leadership ob-
jectives when we imbibe the spirit of High Performance
in all areas of our business across geographies, business
units and business support functions.
HIGH PERFORMANCE DEFINED
According to Accenture, the global management con-
sulting firm, High Performance is the ability of a busi-
ness to continuously outperform its competition over
and over again. The company posits that High Perfor-
mance is achieved on the back of the three building
blocks of Superior Market Focus; Distinctive Capabilities
and Serious Talent (See Figure 1 below: Jumping the S-
Curve, Accenture 2011)
Superior Market
Focus
Distinctive
Capabilities
Serious Talent
Continual Market
Relevance
Ongoing Top-Team
Evolution
Constant Talent
Surplus
SUSTAINING HIGH
PERFORMANCE
Figure 1: Sustaining High Performance
It is then apparent that the key requirements for achieving
high business performance is a thorough understanding of
the business environment in which one operates and the
identification/exploitation of the key drivers/sectors of the
economy in that market; the definition and acquisition of
the required capabilities to win in each key sector and the
building of a formidable, motivated and highly competent
team to apply the acquired capabilities within the identi-
fied key sectors.
BUSINESS PERFORMANCE THROUGH STRATEGIC PLANNING
It is expected that the global economy will continue to expe-
rience slow growth largely due to the sovereign debt crisis
in Europe and slower than expected US recovery. African
governments on the other hand are expected to continue
to pursue a regime of fiscal consolidation to manage fiscal
deficits, manage inflationary pressures and strengthen the
domestic economies. Demand for Africa’s commodities dur-
ing the year is expected to soften, except for oil prices that
are expected to remain relatively high for most of the year
due to ongoing tensions in the Middle East. Government’s
focus in most African economies is therefore expected to
shift to the productive sectors especially agriculture, power,
infrastructure, as well as the extractive industries.
Source: Jumping the S-Curve, Accenture 2011
T
ORCHESTRATING BUSINESS
PERFORMANCE