Excellence is one of those words that describes a goal to which many would strive. Yet the idea of excellence is both aspirational and vague or nebulous. If creating excellence is your goal for yourself, your team, or your organization (and I am sure on some level it is), how do you do it? Here are some things you must understand and act on if you want to move in the direction of excellence.
Excellence is a mindset
Excellence starts with the belief that we can learn and grow – and knowing that we can have high standards for ourselves. Until you have a high standard that you want to (and believe you can) strive for, excellence will not be attained. Is your mindset aligned with excellence?
Excellence is a choice
With the excellence mindset comes a choice: Will I pursue excellence through my behaviors? Will I work to:
- Learn and grow?
- Challenge my assumptions and the status quo?
- Look at current performance as a steppingstone to the next level of quality and effectiveness?
The mindset alone isn’t enough, we must choose to live the belief. What choice are you making?
Excellence is right now
Excellence is aspiration, but aspirations often seem big and ethereal. Creating excellence is a big idea, but it comes in the here and now. Tom Peters, the man who helped us think of excellence as something to strive for (at least in organizational life), says it this way: “Excellence is the next five minutes.” Yes, the goal of excellence is big. Yes, it may be daunting. But the path to it starts right now – in your next email, next conversation, next decision. Every five minutes provides you with your next chance to move toward excellence. What will you do with your next five minutes?
Excellence is a journey
Excellence isn’t as much as destination as it is a journey of growth and improvement. All efforts of continuous improvement are efforts toward excellence. Not every effort will be better – there will be mistakes, setbacks, and opportunities to learn. With an excellence mindset, you will see those setbacks as both temporary and necessary rather than reasons to be discouraged or lower your standards. To this point, Vince Lomdardi said “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” Do you move forward seeking continuous improvement?
When you understand and apply the five ideas above, you will conclude that excellence is a behavior – it requires action. It is in those actions that we improve performance and move in the direction of the excellence we seek.
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If you want to create more excellence in your organization, there are few things that could help you do that more than consciously working on your team culture. Checkout (and register for) our upcoming virtual peer learning event on May 1 to help you build your team culture.
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