The problem with a term like “excellence” is that everyone has an opinion about what it means. But conflicting opinions are no way to run a business. It is difficult to get excellent performance from managers and staff alike if there are no clear, demonstrable actions or outcomes that define what excellence means on the job. There are countless areas where there are only vague definitions or even worse, conflicting directives from each manager or supervisor. It is up to the business owner and leadership team to agree upon the fundamentals of purpose and vision before excellence can be determined. With the Miick tools (Purpose, Values, Vision and Mission) in place that is much easier.
Rudy Miick, founder of the Miick Company, explains the problem like this: “Managers, leaders, owners, C-suite, point a finger at the employees and say, ‘God, I can’t find any good help.’ When in fact they need to be looking in a mirror and saying ‘Wait, we need to actually define what excellence is, then we can train it.’”
Excellence is achieved by hundreds of actions every day. Even the simplest things can make a big difference. Rudy continues, “For instance, even the concept of ‘clean’ is open to wide interpretation. What does clean mean? The manager says, Clean the station. Clean the tables. Clean the office.’ Unless I am taught how to sanitize, how to scrub, I don’t know to sanitize or scrub. Because, it goes back to my own life experience – if I come from a single-parent home, or I raised myself from the time I was 12, or on the flip side, I’ve had a maid all my life, that does not prepare me to clean to a specific standard of excellence. Whatever my background is, I don’t know what ‘clean’ is in the context of this restaurant, this office, this store.” Rudy continues, “What is happening is we are relying on each person’s definition of clean, and not sharing what clean actually means for this job at this time. In the 21st century we need to clearly define those elements of performance, because there is no ‘common sense.’ Everybody, every age group is coming at something from a new perspective and even more so an inconsistent perspective.
So we’ve got to slow down to speed up. We’ve got to define what excellence means – whether it’s cleaning, or any other task.”
In some businesses there are industry standards that help measure a job well done, i.e., meat cooked to a specific internal temperature, so many stitches per inch, so many pages printed per minute, or a percentage of sales per a given number of cold calls. Industry standards can be very rough baselines, but it is clearly defined, demonstrable actions that determine customer perception of your brand.
Training should be from the top down with clear definitions and clear goals to meet. Everyone needs to have the resources to meet those goals. With those elements in place, it is possible to achieve excellence from day one and to improve performance on a regular basis. Rudy continues, “Even with a small start-up, even if it’s an online business, that small start-up needs to define excellence the same way that someone bigger, more mature does. The cool part of starting something new, which is where I started my business, is we open from day one, with excellence. It’s really exciting.
“We put in the investment and front load the definitions and front load training into the budget, both in time and finances. And open as if we’ve been in business six months or a year. Which blows people away with the quality and the care. Right there is what has made our work successful for over 40 years. We open day one, as if we’ve already been running the company for six months or a year. The systems are in place and people are blown out by it.”
The quest for excellence is ongoing. Rudy explains, “Think of a ratchet wrench. Can I ratchet up or down? So we got this element tight. Over time it loosens. Whatever the ‘it’ is, it loosens a little bit, so retighten it. Or tighten it further, refine it with new technology, new ideas.”
It is not possible to train effectively if you don’t know what excellent performance looks like. Defining excellence begins with a clear understanding of what the desired outcome looks like and what steps will get you there.
When Miick is consulted for management training they are able to help you define excellence and build a training program that will effectively train every level of staff in implementing it.
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