If you want to introduce long-term change and long-term excellence into your business, the answer lies not in a temporary change but in nothing less than a permanent transformation. You may have already taken some or even several of the steps needed to become a high-performance business. If so, you already know that each one is like a small transformation in its own right. Taken altogether, these steps will transform your business and allow you to reach your goals and dreams.

Check your foundation. First, examine your business values. Does everyone who works for you share these values and act accordingly every day? Do you take pride in these principles you work by, and do others recognize them as admirable values? It's important to know what you stand for as you try to make fundamental changes. Having strong values that you share with your employees will make change, any change, that much easier.

Start hiring proactively. You simply can't have great employees if you have mediocre job candidates. Look for leaders in the rough. One of my favorite clients, who now owns a small chain of tire stores, began his career as a tire technician while still in high school. So aim high and don't allow yourself to settle for just any warm body who applies for your openings.

Welcome new hires well. Introduce all new employees to the business as if you were welcoming them as new members in an exclusive club. Because you are. And because you hired them the right way, you know that they will add measurable value to the business. Give them a thorough and meaningful orientation to the business and their new jobs.

Establish clear expectations. You can not expect your employees to do excellent work and produce top results unless they know what excellence looks like. This is the job of written standards for every job performed in your business. Make sure that every employee knows without a doubt what's expected of them.

Train, train, and train some more. Make sure that everyone can do their jobs well. Use the best available methods to teach all jobs and all responsibilities. Use mentors early and often. Don't ever stop training. Take at least a few simple measurements to make sure your training is working.

Pay employees for the value you receive. Make sure your compensation includes a fair base pay and some way for employees to benefit from meeting performance goals. As much as possible, provide for the health and long-term security of all your employees.

Acknowledge everyone's contribution. Find ways to recognize your employees' contributions to the business without settling for temporary incentive plans or perfunctory awards that hold little meaning for the recipients. If you don't know what will please your employees beyond their knowledge that you appreciate their good work, then ask them.

Grow your own leaders. You've been hiring with an eye for the future leaders of your business. To develop these leaders, find ways to let them grow through added responsibility. Encourage them to take a few risks and learn from their mistakes. Push them a little faster and a little higher than they think they can go.

Communicate results. Find some way to keep all employees informed about the state of the business. For anyone who does not understand basic business finance, help them learn. Make sure every employee understands how little of each sale falls to the bottom line. And help them understand how much their individual efforts improve the top line.

If you can find a way to meet all these standards, take all these steps, you will find yourself in rare company. Only the very best and most consistently profitable businesses can be described in these terms.

It would be a lot of hard work to take on this kind of transformation, let there be no mistake about that. But it's an investment of time and energy that will return many times more than what you put in.

And if you made this effort and got almost there, but for some reason didn't quite accomplish the whole thing, don't you think your business would still be measurably better off as a result?

Why not try?