For those of us who aspire to be a servant leader who truly cares about team members, it can be easy to fall victim to the tendency to be overly accepting of mediocre work because we want to be “nice.”
Although being kind and compassionate towards others is an essential trait of being a servant leader, accepting mediocrity is not.
Accepting anything less than excellence is actually a failure to serve others.
When we accept mediocre work from a team member, we actually do him a terrible disservice. We are enabling him to stop growing and, even worse, to think that mediocrity is acceptable. Thus, we prevent him from advancing within our organization, and we set him up for failure should he move to another organization one day.
Also, when we accept mediocre work from one team member, we tell everyone else on the team that mediocrity is okay. This can crush motivation and create inertia. As team performance declines, mediocrity can spread like a disease.
This is a disservice to the entire team. No one gets excited about being on a team that sucks.
A servant leader works to help team members grow both personally and professionally, and to reach their full potential.
To assist in this process, there are several things we can do.
1. We should involve the team member in the goal setting process. We could allow her to consider what would be some goals that are challenging, and set goals that we both agree would be examples of excellence.
2. We should make sure that any expectations we have – whether created by us or co-created with the team member – are crystal clear. There must be a clear vision of what success looks like.
The clearest expectations are binary. They either are achieved, or not achieved. This eliminates subjectivity and ambiguity.
3. We need to let team members know that they will be held accountable to the expectations set, and that not holding them accountable would be a disservice to them and the team for the reasons mentioned above.
4. We need to make sure the team member has everything she needs to meet expectations.
5. We should be firm about not expecting anything less than excellence.
6. We should celebrate every single example of excellence.
What are some tools that you employ to create a culture of excellence on your team?
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I like to call this part of the “tough love” piece of servant leadership. Pushing someone to be all you know they can be can seem terrible until that amazing breakthrough when they realize they can do something they never thought they could. Going through darkness often leads to light. As the good book says, “Joy cometh in the morning.” Leading someone through darkness and into the light of their potential can be joy itself.
This is beautiful. Thanks for sharing Neal!