By Douglas Clark – Corporate Communications Manager
Keywords: Excellence, improvement, good, experience, outstanding, mindset, effort, energy, intent, mission statement, vision statement, higher standard, accomplishment, principles
Estimated Reading Time (ERT)
4 minutes
There’s an old saying that goes ‘Perfect is the enemy of Good’. People have tried and failed for perfection. But why is that? Perfection, by its very definition, is practically impossible. Being without flaw goes against pretty much everyone’s experience. So, although Perfection is out of reach, do you know what is attainable – Excellence.
G2 Ops Core Values
At G2 Ops, we have four core values that form the foundation of everything we do.
Those Core values are as followed:
- Excellence
- Integrity
- Innovation
- Customer-Centeredness
Excellence can be defined as the quality of being positively outstanding in both action and intent. It’s not just the doing, it’s the purpose or reason for doing something. There was an implicit attempt to do something with the highest quality possible. Notice there’s no mention of perfection anywhere. There’s a reason for that. Perfection implies there’s a peak or pinnacle that you might reach and then be ‘done’ with improvement. Whereas Excellence implies that the effort of improvement is never over, and you always have room to grow. Right away, Excellence proves its worth over Perfection. But it only gets better.
Excellence is a Mindset
Excellence is more a state of mind than something achieved in a linear fashion. To achieve that state of mind, three things are needed: a vision, a goal, and a guiding principle.
Vision – Regardless of your individual tasking, or overall company directive, a clear and concise mental image of how you fit into that concept is vital. Understanding where the company, the team, the project, and you are going (hopefully they are all aligned) eliminates ambiguity. This clearly defined mental snapshot acts as a beacon, keeping you on course and focused.
Goals – Whereas a Vision keeps you on course, Goals focus efforts, energy, and intent. Long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals help create a sense of accomplishment, while keeping day-to-day efforts in perspective.
Guiding Principle – A company’s Vision and Mission Statements are a great place to start. To some, these statements might seem trite and ineffective, but companies put much time and thought into them. Knowing and understanding the V/M statements gets to the heart of the company’s purpose and the why of things they do. But… they are not the only principles one can have while striving for Excellence. Personal and Career principles are also vital. But it’s not just something simple like saying “I’ll always do my best”, but more “I will always challenge myself” or “I will continue to learn”. These guiding principles help against complacency. They also help motive.
Strive for a Higher Standard
Excellence in the workplace should be evident from many angles. Leadership must show it in their relation to both customer and employee. Customer interactions must also be driven by excellence. But the single most important and potent source of Excellence must come from the individual. Each person owes it to themselves to not only do the best they can but challenge themselves to be the best. But remember, striving for the best is not the same as striving for perfection. There is always room for improvement, and being ready to learn, grow, and adapt to any situation forces you to improve. Constant improvement should be the meat on the bone of Excellence.
Excellence, and striving for it, is contagious. Those around you will notice your extra effort, your attention to detail, and persistence and perseverance. You can control no one but yourself, however, you definitely can influence others. The influence of Excellence encourages and compels others to do the same. And although this might not always be true, most people, given the chance want to excel, improve, and show their true abilities. Being an influencer in that evolution can only improve oneself and the team.
So, What Now?
When faced with the opportunity to reach for a better outcome, improve your knowledge base and skill set, Take it! Challenging oneself to learn more offers the reward of confidence and experience. Striving to do better each time will naturally lead to improvement, and Excellence.
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