This week I had a couple of wins that caught people’s attention. There was a flurry of “Whoo Hoo” type emails among the management but I’m left thinking that all I did was got people to do their jobs. Too often I think we are celebrating mediocrity.
Accepting Praise
I grew up on a farm. it’s a lot of work without a lot of reward. Praise was never something to be looked for or received. So naturally, I gravitated towards a career where people are rarely rewarded for doing a good job – the Military. I’m a believer that for the most part, heroes are the ones that don’t come home. Everyone else is just doing their job. I still tend to be uncomfortable with people when they say “thanks you for your service”. It’s a nice gesture, and while heart felt, they will never know what I actually did in the military.
There’s a saying that Integrity is about doing what is right when no one is watching. I have a variation of that. Intelligence is about doing what’s right, and no one finds out. Such was my life for 8 years. I’d like to think I made a difference in that time, but no one outside of the people I served with will ever know most of the details. I’m ok with that. When you do things to make sure the people you work with stay alive, you sort of develop a personal sense of responsibility in all you do.
The Lowest Common Denominator
There’s a saying that the nail that stands out gets hammered. Such is life in low functioning organizations. The exceptional performer is quickly encouraged to not make the other workers look bad, or worse – harassed and ostracized. In inner city environments, it’s know as “the culture of poverty”. The ones that make it out are made to feel that they are no longer part of the community. For many the pressure is too great, and they come down off the ladder and take their place on the bottom step. They are welcomed home with open arms celebrating mediocrity.
Defining Success
High functioning organizations tend to measure themselves in terms of growth. Low functioning organizations tend to measure norms and how close the organization comes to them. It’s often the difference between an organization that solves problems and an organization that administers them. If you are lucky you can have a series of small wins that don’t upset the status quo but that create enough of a difference that the bar has been raised permanently. Clearly not a home run, but a string of base hits can have the same effect on the scoreboard. Within the organization, not everyone will notice the change that has taken place, but for those that can see it, they will know that progress has taken place.
