Yeah, this is a rough way to start a blog post….. A tough accusation. Unfortunately, I think it’s well earned by too many.
I don’t think we consciously commit to doing just good enough, I suspect it’s a gradual process that impacts so many of us.
Some of it is understandable–though still not acceptable. Without a doubt, we face more turbulence, complexity, volatility, and uncertainty than we have ever experienced. It’s not just in our business lives, but permeates all parts of our lives. It’s exhausting! A coping mechanism may be to just get by, to just do enough. Pushing back and resisting, trying to change is tough. We look at the marginal return, particularly on very small issues. We think, “it’s not worth it, this time.” And over time, we find ourselves compromising more and more. Soon, we look back at the cumulative impact of these small compromises, seeing how much we may have lost.
In business, we see the “de-humanizing” of so much of what we do. Despite corporate websites pronouncing, “people are our most important asset,” the reality is they aren’t. We see report after report of continuing declines in engagement. Average tenures are plummeting and the employment revolving door spins too quickly.
From a management point of view, we look at how we deal with these issues. We leverage technology and other means to reduce our dependency on a stable, knowledgeable workforce. We treat this turnover as the way things are, blaming it on “this is just the way Gen Zs are…” Rather than assessing how we might change it, we adapt strategies that minimize the dependency on engaged, enthusiastic employees.
From an individual point of view, when we see we aren’t heard, we aren’t cared for–we are widgets. When we see no career path and limited futures, we go someplace else. But every place looks the same, so we shift our priorities to maximize what we get from the job–comp, benefits, 4 day work week. We no longer look at our jobs as a source of personal and professional growth, as a place were we experience joy in how we work with others to achieve; since we don’t get this in our work places, we seek these in other places.
When we see our employers don’t seem to care about us, we start not caring about them, creating a death spiral of engagement and involvement.
As we–individuals and corporate leaders–look around, we see everyone and every organization doing similar things. We start exhibiting imitative behaviors, both consciously and unconsciously. Some of it is a safety mechanism. Some is conformity, “if everyone else is doing this, why shouldn’t we?” Some may be a belief that others know better than we do, so we follow them.
Too often, even though we try to be different, in reality we are really the same.
Finally, our aversion to failure is always stronger than our drive to excel!
All of this is made worse by the rise of the social media echo chambers. As much as these may seem to be “different,” they actually aren’t and amplify these imitative behaviors. After all, when we are driven by likes, shares, comments, we have to appeal to a very broad audience. Success is based on numbers of followers, even though we don’t know 99% of those that follow us or that we follow. We play the game of abandoning meaningful relationships, looking instead to the quantity of connections. Yet these fail to create meaning.
When we see the interaction of all of these things, it’s not surprising to see a commitment to mediocrity. Again, it’s not a conscious decision, “We want to be just good enough, mediocrity is good!” Or it becomes so safe to just hit the easy button.
Even when we see the data and research around the things that drive consistent high performance. The things that drive high engagement, individual, and corporate success, it is difficult to execute, because it requires us to act differently from everyone else. To stand out, to be distinctive, to be different. Somehow, we see security in mediocrity.
It’s difficult to do, even when we see that it’s these things that drive the highest levels of personal and organizational performance.
Yet we do see those that are different. Those that are committed to excellence and to outperforming the rest of us. They are driven to be distinctive, to stand out. Ironically, their success is that they are different.
Organizations that execute these strategies consistently, become top performers–those that others try to imitate. They are driven by their value, ideals, culture. What they stand for is distinctive to customers, partners, and most importantly to their people. They create organizations in which they care about their people and want to make sure they are heard. And as a result, this is extended to their customers, communities, and ecosystems. People and organizations are drawn to them because of what they stand for.
At the individual level, we see the same thing. People that are committed to learning, growth, contribution, and making a difference.
This doesn’t mean they always succeed, but when they fail they learn from those failures, using them to change and grow.
Now here’s the conundrum I struggle with. I am tempted to say it takes courage to break out of this commitment to mediocrity, to be different and to leverage this to stand out and outperform the others.
But I’m not sure that it does. Perhaps all it takes is a commitment to improve, to grow, and learn. We do this one step at a time. I think, the majority of us “care.” So what it we started demonstrating this in more ways? Organizations that listen to and care about their people, that make them heard. In turn those people will demonstrate that with each other and with customers.
Perhaps, we leverage imitative behaviors, except we pay attention to those high performers, individually and organizationally. We start learning from them and imitating them. Over time, we develop confidence and start innovating for ourselves.
Perhaps, we recognize social media for what it is–platforms that, largely, can never be anything more than refuges for the mediocre. While we can still get value from social media, we have to think differently about these platforms and how we use them.
Finally, maybe it’s an escape from boredom. Mediocrity is, not very exciting. It’s simply boring…..
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