10 Steps to Be a Successful Manager, 2nd Ed

Step 3

Define and Model Excellence

Overview

• Define excellence.

• Set expectations for teaming.

• Communicate your vision of excellence.

• Act consistently with your definition of excellence.

We explored the concept of excellence a bit in step 1. It’s a lofty word that we throw around a lot in training courses and books like this one. It’s too bad that we don’t talk more about excellence while we’re at work—what does it look like on Tuesday at 2 p.m. or during the Friday morning huddle. Excellent performance, after all, is very, very good! A common reason why we don’t see more excellent performance is that we don’t talk about what it looks like and how we’d know it if we saw it in action.

I made the case for why you should talk about excellence ...