Your People "ARE" the Difference (for alumni)

11/11/2014

Leaders and managers often inherit or acquire some average subordinate leaders and workers who have some redeeming qualities but if too many contribute to an average or mediocre business.  I know some leaders who have fed and clothed average or mediocre subordinates for months or years while pondering why their organization is floundering or at best achieves the reputation as average or okay.  They often survive on business provided by their friends or friends of their friends.  I tell you that carrying too many average workers will yield an average business, and the boneyard is replete with average businesses.

My life's work has convinced me beyond a doubt that winning organizations are lead by exceptional people.  Over the years, I have occasionally been maligned by my attempt to acquire and retain only exceptional leaders and workers.  Moreover, I have terminated some who were popular, average in the eyes of others, butless so when measured against a standard of exceptionalism in terms of character (see my 11/11/2014 blog on "shades of integrity"), loyalty, and performance.  The leader can examine the organizational resources, policies, and processes, as well as the circumstances surrounding organizational mediocrity, and it will invariably boil down to the people leading the organization and its departments and divisions.

The termination of so-called adequate performers but who are actually holding back the organization often results in a dip in organization morale, but if the replacement outperforms the departed, morale bounces back in short order.  The termination is an unpleasant experience for the terminated person and the supervisor making the termination, but sometimes this leader just has to walk point.