How to build excellence
I was fortunate enough to work for a very professional organization for the majority of my career. It had a high standard of organizational excellence. That’s not to say everyone who worked there had the same standard. There were some dullards who had to be watered twice a week so they would stay alive. But most made the standard, and those who didn’t fell by the wayside or took other career paths.
Excellence is consistently doing your best, without regard for who will or won’t ever know. It’s done by organizations, management and individuals. Organizational excellence should be the standard at the highest level, and not just based on giving it lip service. Excellence should be demonstrated and insisted upon daily.
Management has an important job in excellence as well. It needs to build an environment and tradition that encourages, rewards and motivates excellence. Exceptional managers want to set up their employees for success. They want to help employees showcase their abilities. They recognize that they cannot change a person’s nature or characteristics; they can only facilitate. They focus on the basics. Training, support and oversight are key elements to accomplish this goal. Their vision, and their goal (they are different objectives) should be to make excellent work the norm, and a naturally occurring daily activity.
And the most overlooked facet of management is middle management. Organizations tend to freeze the middle and concentrate on the top. They forget that it’s the chiefs that run the Navy, the sergeants that run the Army and middle management that runs an organization. They provide the day-to-day answers to the questions that are asked. An organization with a sense of excellence should identify, nurture and promote from the middle.
Here is an imperfect and incomplete list of how to build your own version of excellence:
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Identify your weaknesses. Don’t be afraid to admit them. Be critical of yourself and work to correct them.
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Play to your strengths. Stay with what works for you. They are what got you to where you are. Work to make them even better.
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Accept criticism and remedy your faults. Nobody likes to be criticized; it can make you feel less than yourself. Learn to recognize what is sincere and what contains a hidden agenda.
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Form long-term ambitions. Ambition is not a dirty word. It’s a good thing if channeled correctly. Make a plan and stick with it for your career.
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Take responsibility at every opportunity. It’s the way to show your abilities and to get noticed. Make sure you’re right, then go with it. And if you are wrong, accept it gracefully; don’t beat yourself up and move on.
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Have targets for your achievements and career moves. Don’t let others control your progress and what you want to accomplish professionally.
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Always expect to outdo others at whatever task you undertake. It’s a good way to push yourself, but don’t be obnoxious about it. Others will notice and your modesty will remain intact.
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Give yourself credit when it’s deserved. Even if others don’t give you credit for a job well done, you deserve it from someone, and it might as well be you.
Your choices are to either start your long journey to excellence or prepare to be watered twice a week.
The bulk of this article is shamelessly adapted from a course entitled “The Relentless Pursuit of Excellence” mostly written by David Dise with a few additional words from me, © 2002.
About the author
Frederick Marks, CPPO, VCO, is a retired purchasing officer who has held positions as a supervising buyer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as well as director of material management for Northern Virginia Community College. Contact Marks at [email protected]
