If you’re motivated by the fear of past events, you’ll behave a certain way – but being motivated by the future and by what you can achieve, changes the game. According to the dictionary, “excellence” can be defined as the fact or state of excelling, superiority, eminence. I don’t know about you, but this definition inspires and excites me to do an amazing job in our business and for our clients.
In these unprecedented times of what I can only personally describe as chaos, it is certainly going to take more than simply “doing a good job” to get us through the coming turbulent weeks and months. With all the changes being made across businesses and within teams, we have already seen that the acts of innovation, creativity and, ultimately, excellence that make the difference.
We are seeing that it is the communities, teams, groups, family units and friendship circles all coming together, going above and beyond and applying the much-needed discretionary effort, that are critical to making these differences.
Now anyone as passionate about the power of excellence as I am will understand. And they will likely have been banging the drum about the benefits of streamlined systems, processes and controls that are well thought through and strategically planned – the very things which are now proving to be the most essential tools for businesses.
However, this is not an article on the value and importance of business continuation and disaster recovery; this is an article about why having a business and a team whose sole focus is striving for and achieving excellence is, was and has always been the best line of defence.
Like you, I own a business which has its day-to-day challenges that we have to face and deal with and distractions that are constantly pushing us to work in the business rather than on the business.
With all the changes being made across businesses and within teams, we have already seen that the acts of innovation, creativity and, ultimately, excellence that make the difference.
So, how do you achieve excellence? There are many ways, but nothing as complicated as you would expect!
Here are my top five key ingredients for excellence:
- Your strategic leadership team must have the necessary skills, abilities, qualities and attributes to add value in their roles, to the team and the business as a whole.
- Your business must have in place, and maintain, objectives, plans and processes for continual improvement. Ensure that your commitment to quality and excellence is maintained at all times.
- The needs and expectations of all interested parties are considered fundamental to operational goals.
- All your team members have all the capabilities to ensure that clients (internal and external) receive the best possible service and that they demonstrate a high level of competence at all times.
- Your services and systems are designed, engineered and managed to meet your clients’ requirements by the simplest and most cost-effective means possible.
Once in place, your commitment to excellence should be understood by – and communicated to – all the staff within your business.
