As leaders we have the responsibility to, and are paid to, recognize, promote and achieve excellence, both in ourselves and in others.
To that end we create countless mission statements and corporate communications that promise to deliver it; state our dedication to it and call forth all employees to fulfill exemplify it. Then we set out to achieve it.
But we have a problem. No one can definitively define "excellence".
As a word "excellence" is subjective and relative. Yet when you witness or achieve it, it becomes palpable. It has substance and meaning. It moves people to action. Excellence is as real as it is nebulous.
But we have a problem. No one can definitively define "excellence".
As a word "excellence" is subjective and relative. Yet when you witness or achieve it, it becomes palpable. It has substance and meaning. It moves people to action. Excellence is as real as it is nebulous.
So as a leader of the modern workforce we find ourselves in a perplexing conundrum. We have to achieve something we can't clearly define otherwise we get passed by those who are achieving it, knowingly or unknowingly.
We also have to inspire people to aspire to and rise to this mystical level of achievement, then recognize them appropriately when they do so or pay the price of reduced employee engagement. Not an easy task.
Now, I am not promising to define the undefinable in this article. I am not that bright. But I have identified some of the places where excellence resides. And since we know it when we see it, knowing where to look for it increases our chances of finding and fostering it.
We also have to inspire people to aspire to and rise to this mystical level of achievement, then recognize them appropriately when they do so or pay the price of reduced employee engagement. Not an easy task.
Now, I am not promising to define the undefinable in this article. I am not that bright. But I have identified some of the places where excellence resides. And since we know it when we see it, knowing where to look for it increases our chances of finding and fostering it.
Excellence is an Opinion
One way to describe excellence is that it is simply
an opinion about a level of achievement that an individual or a group has agreed is so superior to the norm that it is deserving of special acknowledgement.
The source of these opinions vary but almost all are based upon levels of accomplishment that have occurred in the past, and often by others outside of the group. Think: "Industry standards of excellence" awards.
However, some of these opinions are based upon what someone thinks should be achievable even though they have no documentation to support their theory. Pushing those opinions, especially if unachievable, can be very damaging to a team.
However, some of these opinions are based upon what someone thinks should be achievable even though they have no documentation to support their theory. Pushing those opinions, especially if unachievable, can be very damaging to a team.
Three Types of Excellence
It could be argued that there are three basic types
of excellence:
Internal
External
Conditions
Based
Internal Excellence speaks
to those accomplishments that require the person to face and overcome
challenges requiring them to demonstrate significant levels
of discipline or personal growth. The impact of this growth often serves to redefine
themselves to themselves and to others.
This form of excellence is humanistic and/or
spiritual in nature. It affects many aspects of one's life.
Achievements of Internal Excellence must be graded on
a scale based upon the individual’s starting point, ending point and the level
of personal difficulty they experienced along the way.
Beware though, because these achievements are “internal”
they may not be visible to those on the "outside". So the person in question might stretch themselves and overcome significant challenges, thereby achieving
excellence, yet they can go unrecognized. This lack of
recognition can create an attitude of: “Why should I try so hard if no one
cares?”
Paradoxically, while this type of excellence is
very personal it is not always visible to the person achieving it. They simply
may not realize the level of accomplishment they just achieved in comparison to
their starting point because, as the saying goes: "It is difficult to read
the label from the inside of the bottle."
In both cases it is important as their leader that you know them well enough to see and then acknowledge their excellence. Doing so inspires them to seek to achieve excellence more often.
External Excellence refers
to accomplishments that are less about personal transformation and more about
using and leveraging one’s capabilities and resources to achieve goals
defined as being excellent.
External achievements are more easily seen and therefore are more acknowledged by others. These can range from achieving high levels of
success in areas of career, education, production, creativity, etc.
While equal in stature and importance, achieving External
Excellence does not always require the individual to overcome great personal
challenges. This is not meant to diminish the importance of this form of
excellence. It is to sound a warning bell.
If leaders over-acknowledge External Excellence that does not require Internal Excellence it is possible to stifle the growth of the individual in question. Even though the group may be inspired to greater achievements the individual's ego may become over inflated. And they may actually not feel the need to achieve more than what is coming easy to them.
If leaders over-acknowledge External Excellence that does not require Internal Excellence it is possible to stifle the growth of the individual in question. Even though the group may be inspired to greater achievements the individual's ego may become over inflated. And they may actually not feel the need to achieve more than what is coming easy to them.
Take for instance the natural athlete or the
musical prodigy who’s starting point may be defined as “excellent” to others
but which really represents a small percentage of what they are truly capable of achieving for themselves.
These gifted individuals pose special challenges for
leaders in that they require the leader to reset their own “opinions” of excellence to a set of standards that they may never have seen accomplished before, yet are achievable for that individual.
While this customization may appear to be creating
a double standard in reality it is merely taking a firm stand for the true meaning of
excellence as well as for that gifted individual.
An example of a leader who was challenged in this area and succeeded would be Michael Phelps' coach: Bob Bowman.
Conditions Based Excellence takes
the internal and external achievements into account, then factors in “conditions” as part of
the formula that determines whether or not excellence has been achieved.
Think of Conditions Based Excellence as grading on
a curve that measures the individuals' performance relative to the
conditions in which they had to operate. We routinely acknowledge Conditions Based
Excellence when using phrases like: “Well under the circumstances she/he did
amazingly well.”
As an example, someone swimming 100 yards may not
represent either an Internal or External form of excellence, however, if the
person did it with two broken arms in a rip tide, such an accomplishment would
be viewed as “beyond excellent!”
The opposite could be true as well. It is possible that conditions become so favorable
that what once would be considered a great accomplishment can suddenly become a
“can’t miss.” In those circumstances it would not be proper to treat such an
accomplishment as an example of excellence.
For instance, a generally agreed upon level of excellence might be for
a young person of modest means to have $100,000.00 in the bank before the
age of thirty. However, if that level of savings was all that was left from a $200 million PowerBall lottery, all of a sudden that accomplishment is not so excellent. In fact, that "achievement" could be viewed as a dismal failure!
Conclusion:
The point of all of this is that in
order for us, as leaders, to accurately acknowledge and reward excellence we must become very
familiar with the individual(s) we are leading and the conditions under which
they are working.
We must commit to being a steward of and a torchbearer for
preserving and protecting the essence of what "excellence" truly is
for you and your team. Do not allow excellence to be diluted or your teams to become delusional.
When you do this well the organization fortunate enough to have you in their ranks prospers and profits. So do you, both personally and professionally.
Just imagine how Bob Bowman felt when he was bearing witness to the level of excellence he helped to unleash for the world to see. Then imagine how much money he will make for the rest of his career!
Michael wins, Bob wins and we all get to be amazed and inspired by it all. The way I see it, there is no downside to his whole "In Search of Excellence" stuff; as long as you know where to search.
Jeffrey S. Deckman is an expert at developing leaders, management teams and cultures designed to excel in the Knowledge Economy. He is available for Executive Coaching, Consulting, Training and Public Speaking engagements.
He can be reached at JDeckman@CapabilityAccelerators.com. www.CapabilityAccelerators.com
