Excellence: 3 Questions Every Leader Should Be Able to Answer

“Excellence is a way of Thinking, Being and Doing life that is mindful of what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, how it needs to be done and even why it needs to be done.” – Leadershipology.com 

Over the past several years, I have written several blog entries on personal excellence – defining it, sharing why it is important, describing how to develop it, and so on. Today, I am touching on excellence but from an organizational and team perspective.

Why organizational and team excellence? Whether in the context of a family, a philanthropic team, work teams or organizations, excellence bridges the gap between average and exceptional. It enables a team of common people to produce uncommon results. Excellence is consistently exceeding expectations and delivering superior quality. Excellence breeds quality and quality breeds excellence. Through excellence, an organization and/or a team rises to the top; it stands out from the crowd.

For a leader, excellence involves establishing a culture in which people take pride in their work and continually strive to improve. To inspire excellence, leaders must establish high standards and influence others to adopt them. However, it is not something that is achieved overnight. It takes time and work to deeply internalize it into an organization or team. Organizational values can be one of the most influential factors in the pursuit of excellence for a team. Values establish “what matters most” so that organizations and teams can deliver results that most matter. As values are established, they should be implemented across the board in hiring, decision-making, operations, and so on.

Achieving excellence requires teams to clearly understand what excellence looks like. Do your team members have a clear picture of what excellence looks like in their respective jobs? I encourage you to put your answer to the test, whether it is “yes” or “no.” Take a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle of it. On the left, list the current values of your organization or team. On the right, give an example for each of how the value is regularly practiced/displayed within your organization or team. Have your team members do the same. Discuss the results.

1. Are team members on the same page with regard to what you values are and how each is practiced?
2. Do they know what excellence looks like?
3. What are some ways you can influence your organization or team to further its commitment to excellence?

In my book, Your Divine Fingerprint, I explain that we each have a fingerprint to leave an imprint that no one else can leave. With that in mind, make sure everything you and your team members touch from today forward is marked with the fingerprint of excellence!