Do Business Well

“Average thinking” not only leads managers away from excellence and awa_y from their top performers. There is one final, and perhaps most damaging, way in which it harms a manager’s best efforts. “Average thinking” actively limits performance. Jeff H., a sales manager for a computer software company, describes this debilitating effect:

“I work for a company with one goal: 20 percent annual growth in revenue and profits. We have it drummed into us from day one that 20 percent growth is how we will judge our success as a company. We’ve hit it for twelve years straight, and Wall Street loves us. I can see why the company needs to shoot for that number every year. I can see why Wall it’s hard.

Street likes that predictability. But as an individual manager of people,

“Put yourself in my shoes. We’ve been the number one region for the last four years. Every year I get to the end of the third quarter and all my people have hit their 20 percent growth targets. They have a whole quarter to go, but they’ve already reached their target. You try motivating this group to give it all they’ve got for the final three months. To them, it makes much more sense to save all their sales for next year, so that, come January, they’ve got themselves off to a rolling start. You can’t blame them for slowing down. The quota system encourages it. Every year I have to fight against the very system that was designed to help us all excel. I have to hunt for other ways to keep everybody fired up.”

How does he do it? Jeff happens to have an intense and conceptual style, so he resorts to writing thoughtful letters to all of his people, cajoling them to look inside themselves and deliver one last ounce of effort. Here’s an example:

October 29

People:

With only two months remaining it is imperative that you stay focused on your goals for this year. It has been a long, well-run race so far this year, and for many of you you could just coast the rest of the year and still make quota. That decision is yours_; I can’t make that for you—and I will not pound or threaten for more.

However, if we want and you want to be the best you are capable of being and you want to develop your abilities to their maximum, that goal is a never-ending one. You must understand that success is achieved through a never-ending pursuit of improvement—personally, professionally, financially, and spiritually. Like it or not, that is what is involved, and that is the commitment you made to yourself when you accepted the challenge to be the best.

Remember, stay focused. Never lose your commitment to your own standard of excellence. Push a little every day, and a lot over time. Sincerely,

Jeff

P.S. You are the best the company has and the best I have ever had the privilege of managing.

Jeff is fortunate. With his sincere personal appeals and his mantra that each person should “push a little every day, and a lot over time,” Jeff has managed to break through the restraints of the quota system. He has found a way to keep everyone focused on excellence. Despite the limits imposed by quotas, Jeff has now led his region to the company’s top spot four years in a row.

Other great managers, with their unique talents and styles, will have devised their own routes to excellence. But despite their success, it is still a shame that they have had to waste so much creativity maneuvering around performance evaluation schemes that unwittingly place a ceiling on performance. It is still a shame that they have had to exert so much energy railing against “average thinking.” This energy and creativity would be much more valuable in the unfettered pursuit of excellence.

However; if you face the same “average thinking,” you should rail against it just as energetically. Define excellence vividly, quantitatively. Paint a picture for your most talented employees of what excellence looks like. Keep everyone pushing and pushing toward that right-hand edge of the bell curve. It’s fairer. It’s more productive. And, most of all, it’s much more fun.

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