People plus purpose: unlocking the secrets of high-performance

Telegraph

04-03-2025

It can be easy to identify the highest performers in any field: we recognise the pack leaders who rise above the rest and the innovators who change the game. In business there are frameworks used to distinguish what makes a high-performance organisation (HPO) and which principles underpin excellence – though by nature, these vary across industries and sectors.
Dan Morris, chief executive of Cornwall Insight, one of the UK's leading energy market intelligence analysts, is acutely aware of what it takes to achieve excellence. Morris joined the company in June 2024, when the sector was at a turning point – how society produces, consumes and thinks about energy was shifting, and much of the industry was reassessing its priorities.
'Right now the company is really coming into its own because the focus of what we do – supporting companies during the energy transition – is really gathering pace,' he says.
Connecting people with purpose
When it comes to creating a successful organisation, Morris sees two clear priorities: people and purpose. '[These] are the two things you really have to deliver on in order to get that performance at the other end,' he explains. And for Morris, that starts with considering the motivation behind the work: 'Why are we doing what we do? Because if you're doing that right, I truly believe that the rest will follow.'
A team that knows what they're working towards, and believes in the value of their goal, is much more likely to perform than one which doesn't, he believes. 'Our purpose as a business is to help companies along a successful path towards the energy transition. People work for us because they want to be part of the sort of work we're doing,' Morris says. 'And they stay because they can see that their careers are developing in line with our purpose and mission.'
Investing in employees and facilitating meaningful career development is something for which MHR, a leading HR, payroll and finance provider, has a long-standing reputation. It has been helping organisations access high performance for the past 40 years. Its unified HR and learning platform, People First, allows managers to identify skills gaps and foster a culture of growth, curiosity and, as a result, high performance, while laying the foundation for an engaged, purpose-driven workforce.
Enhancing raw potential
For Morris, once purpose is embedded within an organisation, other factors, such as technology, can make sure the business thrives. Cornwall Insight, which forecasts the future of the energy sector and focuses on digital technologies for its new energy projects, is perfectly placed to make the most of those opportunities.
'We're in a really exciting space at the moment. [There are] almost limitless opportunities for the things that we could do,' he says. Indeed, the energy sector has become a place of historic growth and innovation as the world transforms the way it produces power.
Morris believes that 'technology can accelerate people's potential', but cautions against poorly deployed technologies: 'Good technology deployed correctly can unleash great potential,' he says. 'Poor technology, or [technology that's] poorly implemented, can cause incredible frustration and miscommunication within teams.'
Organisations must harness the relationship between people and technology in order to achieve – and crucially, sustain – a high level of performance. Morris is adamant that, while technology 'is a core foundation and enabler of everything we do in the business', it's only as useful as the people using it: it enhances his teams, rather than replaces them.
The importance of taking a risk
Based on almost all predictions, the world's energy production and consumption will look vastly different in 25 years' time. This decade alone, the pendulum will swing from fossil fuels to renewable energy solutions, for economic and political reasons as well as climate action. As with any fast-growing industry, the energy sector is not short of innovations when it comes to dealing with growing demand and changing priorities.
Morris is aware that innovating is essential in order to keep up with a continually shifting industry. 'You've definitely got to take risks to grow,' he says. 'It's also important to let people experiment [and] create the sort of environments where people can take managed risks.'
Faced with a wealth of options, it can be tempting to spread yourself thin in an attempt to cover them all. Morris says he tries to strike a balance between these new opportunities and the fundamental core of the business – and in order to achieve that, he comes back to the importance of purpose and people.
'Taking calculated risks is a must, but you've got to do that within that framework of: does it meet our purpose?' he says. Once that purpose has been established and reinforced among the team, there is space and flexibility for growth and innovation.
What does high performance look like to Morris? 'Matching someone's skills with their passion and the needs and the purpose of the organisation,' he says. 'When you find those three things intersecting, you find people who will run through walls.'