High Performance

We invest in our people to excel and provide high-quality services that meet our community’s needs.

What is high performance?

High performance at Metro North Health is about striving for excellence in everything we do. It reflects a commitment to learning, improvement, innovation, and delivering safe, high-quality care and services to the people and communities we serve.

During the 2025 Have Your Say (HYS) Survey, staff selected the following definition as the one that best reflects what high performance means at Metro North Health:

“We invest in our people to excel and provide high-quality services that meet our community’s needs.”

This shared understanding guides how high performance is experienced across teams, services, and leadership practices.

How we bring high performance to life at Metro North Health

High performance is reflected in how we approach our work, make decisions, learn, and support one another to achieve the best possible outcomes.

The examples below illustrate how high performance often shows up in everyday work across Metro North Health.

Demonstrating High performance

High performance can be seen through consistent actions and choices that support excellence, learning, and accountability.

This can include:

Strive for excellence and continuous improvement
- Deliver high-quality work that contributes to safe, effective services.
- Seek opportunities to develop skills, capability and professional growth.
- Embrace innovation and evidence-based practice to improve outcomes.
Take ownership, accountability and pride in work
- Follow through on commitments and deliver results reliably.
- Take responsibility for decisions, actions and performance.
- Use feedback and reflection to elevate the quality and impact of your work.
Contribute to a culture of performance and learning
- Share knowledge, insights and expertise to uplift team capability.
- Support colleagues to meet expectations and achieve shared goals.
- Promote learning, curiosity and high standards in everyday work.

What high performance looks like in practice

High performance is often visible through consistent, practical actions that help deliver excellent care, improve services, and support one another.

Across Metro North Health, this may include examples such as:

In day-to-day work

Setting high standards and reflecting on impact
Using evidence, data, and best practice to guide decisions
Seeking feedback and applying it to grow
Taking responsibility for outcomes, celebrating wins and learning from challenges
Managing time and workload to meet commitments
Adapting to change and approaching challenges with a solutions focus

Within teams

Establishing shared goals, priorities, and expectations
Reviewing performance together and identifying opportunities for improvement
Sharing expertise so teams continue to learn and improve together
Encouraging innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning
Recognising contributions and supporting one another to succeed
Using data and evidence to review progress and inform decisions

In patient and community care

Delivering safe, reliable, timely, and person-centred care
Continuously improving processes to reduce delays, errors, or inequities
Using evidence and clinical guidelines to inform practice
Ensuring interactions are respectful, compassionate, and high quality
Monitoring outcomes and using insights to strengthen care delivery

High performance at the organisational level

Metro North Health cultivates high performance through initiatives that enable learning, growth, innovation, and continuous improvement.

Building psychologically safe workplaces

We recognise that excellence grows in environments where people feel safe to share ideas, speak up, and try new approaches. Our workshops on psychological safety, delivered by staff psychologists, help teams create cultures that support openness, trust and innovation.

Driving health equity

High performance is not just about outcomes, but how we achieve them. Through Cultural Practice Program training and programs that support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and Mentoring, we invest in inclusive, strengths-based performance.

Fostering a coaching culture

We empower teams and leaders to embrace coaching conversations, support goal-setting, and grow capability across all levels.

Supporting flexible ways of working

Flexibility helps us perform at our best. By promoting flexible working arrangements, we support our people to manage their energy, wellbeing and personal commitments.

Providing development opportunities

A range of training programs, capability development pathways, and leadership initiatives are available to support continual growth and skill-building.

Growing Indigenous leadership

We invest in future leaders through targeted Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander recruitment strategies, mentoring, and leadership development programs that build capacity and representation.

Leadership in Action

Our six Leadership in Action principles encourage leaders to role model high performance through vision, support, celebration, and accountability.

Performance Development Plans (PDPs)

The PDP process helps every employee set clear goals, reflect on achievements, and access personalised growth and support.

Celebrating excellence

Through the Staff Excellence Awards, we acknowledge outstanding achievements across clinical, non-clinical and support roles, reinforcing a culture where great work is recognised.

Everyday recognition

The Staff Shout Out portal makes it easy for all staff to recognise a colleague who demonstrates excellence, innovation and outstanding service and impact in the moment.