Leadership Thought #334 – We All Need to Get Our Performance Edge Back
We all need to get our performance edge back!
I don’t know when the shift started in my lifetime, but we have changed from a nation that gets results to one that accepts a lack of performance and then bemoans our lack of progress. You see evidence of this everywhere you turn: 1) structural economic issues that never get fully addressed; 2) traffic problems that never get solved; 3) infrastructure needs that are constantly put off until there is a crisis; 4) schools that turn out less than stellar results; 5) a widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else; 6) a health care system that is broken and too costly to maintain; and 7) wars that are started but never end, etc. Each group of leaders claims they are doing their best given the circumstances and/or blames their opponents for not doing their part. They then have the gall to rant about our “exceptionalism.” It is a vicious, non-productive, and self-deluding cycle.
America used to be a nation that solved big problems and launched industry-changing innovations. People from all over the world looked to us for our unwavering determination and capacity to overcome any challenge. Sure, we had our baggage, but the socio-economic slope was always upward. There was always a general sense that tomorrow would be better than the present or past. We never met a challenge we couldn’t meet.
Today, we can’t manage our public budgets or community resources properly. We continue to go into increasing debt to fund irresponsible economic decision-making. We reward and laud corporations that shift jobs overseas and avoid their tax obligations. We accept higher levels of unemployment and rising income disparities because that’s how things are in the new global economy. We bail out wealthy financial institutions because they can’t absorb the market risks they created. We have a banking system with plenty of capital to lend but are afraid or discouraged from doing so. We elect politicians full of anger and bluster but lacking in substance. There is an underlying sense that we’ve lost our way.
I believe we can still get back to what made us great as a nation, and it all starts with YOU and ME and our actions and expectations of others. Significant change always begins at a grassroots level. Important things need to get done, not just when we can get around to them. Organizations (no matter how small) should be meritocracies with rewards directly correlated to outcomes. Actions should always have consequences (both good and bad). Performance targets aren’t movable or negotiable variables but actual metrics that determine our success. I don’t subscribe to the theory that we are simply a lazier, less capable generation, but instead believe we’ve lowered our expectations of ourselves and others because of a failure of leadership. It’s time to get back to work! And, as always, leaders need to lead by example.
Don’t settle for mediocrity in important aspects of your work or personal life. Push forward to achieve the results you set out to achieve. Please do what you said you would do when you said you would do it. Terminate vendors who don’t do their job correctly and reward those who do. Never lower the performance bar unless you are 100% sure there is no other alternative. Create a “no excuse” culture within your company and family. Don’t vote for or support the party line; instead, hold politicians accountable for making a tangible positive difference. Hold all public officials responsible for what they do, not what they say. Avoid the verbal bluster and demand substance.
We all need to envision and create a future that is better than today. Progress shouldn’t be optional. There is nothing more pointless than an individual or group complaining about the status quo and then doing nothing to fix it. We all need to regain our performance edge and leave the baggage behind us.
