Prevailing Over a Good-Enough Culture

In this final post on Good-Enough Cultures I’ll highlight two examples of Leaders who do not settle for good enough. I’ve worked with both of these leaders. Taking deep dives into their strengths and building their capacity as leaders was transformative for them in how they see their people and lead their teams.

They felt empowered to spread the joy and the enlightenment they experienced with strengths and envisioned the positive impact that taking care to nurture their team would ultimately have on their customers. Feeling strongly aligned with the strengths and committed to becoming a strengths-based culture, they’ve begun the journey to becoming certified strengths coaches.

I’m inspired by their dedication to excellence and to their team to become certified – it’s not a small task!

This is part 5 in the 5-part series on the Culture of Good-Enough by Diana Gabriel, Certified Strengths Strategy Coach.

Demonstrating and caring about excellence is everything. Click To Tweet

Yes; you can overcome a Good-Enough Culture.

Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

– Theodore Roosevelt

 

We’ve been exploring how organizations suffer from a culture of Good-Enough. It’s typically a top-down job, and just like the frog in the kettle, it can take you by surprise.

But the good news is there is a remedy.

In my previous post I mentioned two steps essential to correcting the mediocrity mindset: truthfulness and directness, and consideration for others.

Author Chowdhury, in The Difference: When Good Enough Isn’t Enough, shares two more steps leaders can take to overcome a good-enough culture: 

1. Taking Responsibility
When you, as a leader, care about excellence and taking care of your team you demonstrate responsibility and instill the same in your people. You accept critical feedback, but not without viable proposals for solutions. You don’t accept the “it’s not my job” mentality. Everyone participates and is expected to follow through on their assignments. Great leadership prompts everyone to add value and make positive changes.

This encourages engagement, a positive outlook, and a drive for the best ideas. As a leader, you forge the habit of analyzing strategies and the potential outcomes. An overall aim to enhance things for everyone is established.

Your people respond by becoming more engaged through getting involved, taking action, and being answerable for what they do. Everyone strives for improvement, and expectations are raised. People find it exhilarating to be responsible for their portion of the overall success. They feel a sense of unity, and are encouraged to ask for help when needed. Your people go the extra mile because they care and believe that you care. Good-Enough is no longer an option.

2. Determination
As a leader who cares, you need to lead by example. You show your people that success requires resolve, and nothing worth achieving comes easily. When you persevere you inspire the passion in your people to do the same. It shows your team that you are serious about making commitments and staying the course. This demonstrates the importance of decisions and the worth of the goal. Your team will come to support long-term improvements and reject quick fixes. You make a lasting impression on your people when you don’t give up when things get tough. That impression grows when they understand the struggles their team members have, and help them with the needed resources.

Team members respond to this with a determination generated from within. They take ownership as they are empowered to act and resolve. People adopt a willingness to change and improve, individually and collectively, rejecting short cuts. This drives a can-do culture. They care about contributing to lasting value because they learn that good enough never provides that value.

Demonstrating and caring about excellence is everything. A truthful leader molds a team that improves communication, timeliness and a thorough review of all difficult issues, large and small. When you are considerate of others you demonstrate the importance of relationships to success. When you commit to such responsibility you raise the level of accountability within your staff. When you hold your team members accountable they do the same with each other. Being a determined leader fosters a group spirit that overcomes challenges that once made people surrender.

You can transform your team and your organization, reaching potentials never imagined by putting your immediate needs aside and caring for your people and the outcomes of their endeavors. Caring becomes contagious. Everyone’s needs will be met more effectively when a caring culture is in place.

Are you committed to a caring culture? Are you committed to nurturing your team? What are you committed to? What results have you experienced? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me here and on LinkedIn.