Mediocrity vs. Excellence
Dictionary.com defines success as 1.”the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors; and 2.”the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.” As a business strategy consultant, I work with many consultants of various specialties. I was recently challenged by one regarding a company’s definition of success. My colleague’s point was that many companies appear to be successful, but that doesn’t mean their organization has achieved operational excellence. I absolutely agree with him! Unfortunately, many companies are actually more mediocre than excellent because their definition of success didn’t necessarily mean excellence. Even more interesting to me is that the executive leadership of those companies are okay with just being mediocre. Mediocre by definition means 1.”of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; barely adequate; and 2. rather poor or inferior.”
Choosing excellence takes effort. It means hard work. Sometimes it means changing an entire organizational culture. When an organization chooses to strive for excellence in their definition of success, they have chosen to think differently, objectively, and outside of the norm. An organization choosing excellence is willing to be innovative and different. Excellence requires the entire organization to work in sync with the same goals and desired outcomes. So if you are currently leading a successful organization that is merely mediocre, how do you change it? Someone has to lead the effort. Is it you? Do you have the intestinal fortitude to rock the boat? Are you willing to remove the box lids from your staff and let them think differently on behalf of the organization?
Many times the pursuit of excellence means the executive leadership team steps back and lets the brain power of the staff doing the work every day take on the issues. Up until now they may have been stifled by the expectations of thinking within the box handed down from the top. But given the opportunity, those same staff members might solve problems and inefficiencies in a matter of days that you have tried to manage for years.
What are some questions you can ask yourself to determine if you are a believer in excellence or one that settles for mediocrity? I’m glad you asked! Consider the following:
| Answer the following statements with Yes or No regarding your organization. | Yes | No |
| 1. Your organization includes staff members from various “levels” in the annual strategic planning session(s). | ||
| 2. Everyone, regardless of position, understands the “why” or “mission” of this organization. | ||
| 3. Employees are empowered to create new ideas for the company and share them with executive leadership. | ||
| 4. We complete an operational assessment of the organization every two years and employees are an active part of that evaluation? | ||
| 5. The employees have access to the results of the operational assessment. | ||
| 6. The expectation of excellence is obvious to clients and employees because it pervades everything your organization does. | ||
| 7. “No” is NOT the first answer when a suggestion is made by staff and/or leadership. | ||
| 8. This is a creative environment rather than a reactive one. | ||
| 9. New ideas are implemented with expected benchmarks against which to measure success. | ||
| 10. Time and energy is devoted to giving a new idea a chance to make a difference. |
There are many more questions you can ask regarding mediocrity vs. excellence. None of the questions above include budget for new ideas. The organizational attitude regarding budgets for innovation is a whole topic by itself.
The attitude of the leadership will determine whether your organization is striving for mediocrity or excellence. What do you personally strive for? Is it reflected in your organization? Or have you become trapped in the box of daily operations rather than being the one to push the lid off of the box to create a new adventure of possibilities within your organization? It must start with the executive leadership team.