Mediocre Or Outstanding Leadership
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Feb 15, 2012
There’s a lot of mediocrity in the working world. I would like to say that it’s a new thing, that maybe unions helped to create it or promote it, but I can’t. I would like to say that it’s the byproduct of our generation, that Gen-X’ers don’t care about anything anymore, but I can’t. I would really love to blame the educational system for this lack of skill or initiative, but I can’t.
When all is said and done, and history is evaluated, one has to realize that mediocrity is not only the norm, but a necessity. Without mediocrity, nothing gets done. It takes great brains to design a skyscraper that can withstand an atomic blast, but it takes a lot of mediocre people to put that skyscraper together. It takes a lot of education to design a vehicle that will get 50 miles to the gallon, but it takes a lot of mediocre people to put those cars together.
Some might want to argue the point about mediocrity, but when you think of things in a certain way you come to some truths that just can’t be debated. For instance, no matter how many people become doctors each year, someone had to be the lowest ranked person in class. The same goes for lawyers; how many of them barely passed the bar?
Many years ago, I took a civil service exam for a position that I already had, and I got to keep that same position because I was the only one who passed the test, barely. The test had nothing to do with the work I was doing, so I was lucky. No matter how outstanding I might have felt about the work I did, I had to say that I was mediocre on the test, but it was good enough to maintain the position I was already in.
Why the dissertation on mediocrity? When we look at why there are problems with leadership and management in business today, why there are so many bad decisions, you can’t begin that discussion without taking a look at the people who are making those decisions. I have seen estimates that say that in an average organization of 200 employees or more, the percentage of employees who are considered as outstanding, not separating upper management (they never evaluate themselves in public) is less than 3%. This means that for a company with 200 workers we’re saying less than six. If you then look at one figure which states that, nationally, the ratio of employees to managers is 8:1, and you apply it only in numbers to that 200 figure, it say that the opportunity for outstanding personnel to be in management is less than 30% (6 of 22), and if you say that at least one of those outstanding employees is a regular employee, you’re now down under 25%. I would venture to say that you’re lucky if you’ve got half and half in each, which would bring my figure down even further, to around a 14% chance (3 of 22).
That’s not good, but it’s not overly condemning either, because outstanding is a difficult concept to get around. Just what does outstanding mean? Let’s use the Mensa figure, which means that outstanding means you’re in the top 2% across the board. Who wouldn’t want to be in the top 2% of anything? How many folks can say they’re in the top 2%, or have been in the top 2%, of something in their lives? Obviously very few; I’m glad to say that I’ve made the top 2% a few times in my life, including when I wrote my one book, where estimates are that less than 2% of people have completed a book they’ve started.
So, if you’re not in the outstanding category, are you mediocre? Possibly. Is it such a bad thing? Well, it depends on what you want to do with your life, or how you want to work with others. Mediocre doesn’t win championships. Mediocre doesn’t earn as much money. Mediocre does sometimes achieve positions of leadership, but only because the numbers dictate they must. Every once in awhile, mediocre makes it even further, staying under the microscope, and will attain the top positions; they never seem to last long, though.
Let’s come back to this word ‘mediocre.’ Being mediocre doesn’t mean you don’t want to learn anything. Being mediocre doesn’t mean you don’t have dreams and goals. Being mediocre doesn’t mean you’re not capable of doing good things, even great things at times. Being mediocre isn’t always a bad thing.
But if you’re going to be a true leader, mediocre just doesn’t cut it. People don’t like to follow mediocre; people want to follow someone they feel is strong, outstanding, dynamic, treats them fairly, and gives them opportunities to grow. No one aspires to be mediocre, and when they work for someone mediocre, people tend to believe they’re better than that leader, whether they are or not. If you’re working for someone you feel you’re better than, you’ll either try to work harder so that you can pass them, or not work as hard because you don’t feel you’re going to get noticed or respected, especially by someone they don’t respect as much because, well, they’re mediocre.
Let’s go back to the term of outstanding then. Are you in that special 2%? Have you tried to determine just what part of 2% you’re in, if you feel you need to get there? Let me say this; though I mentioned Mensa, you don’t have to be with the most intelligent people in the world to be outstanding. Many Mensa members lead very unproductive lives. You don’t have to know it all. You don’t have to be all to everyone. You don’t have to be perfect; even the valedictorian of your class probably got a B somewhere along the line.
What do you have to do? You have to try to be the best you can be at all times. Believe it or not, just trying to be the best you can be puts you in the 2% category. The great wisdom of Yoda will say “Do or do not; there is no try.†Since I’m not as wise as Master Yoda, I’m going to say that trying to be the best you can be is a pretty high goal. There are many people who really believe they’re trying, but they’re fooling themselves.
I had an employee once show me a letter she was going to send to a customer. I said it was unacceptable, and she said she tried. I disagreed, and I pointed out the mistakes. Many words were misspelled; the format was horrid. She hadn’t addressed the issue properly, which means she hadn’t answered the question. When I asked her what she was trying to say, what I got back wasn’t close to what she’d written, but was accurate. I asked her had she really given her best effort, or was she just trying to put something out so that she could say the issue was resolved? She took the letter back, rewrote it, and brought it back to me. Every word was spelled correctly, she had written down exactly what she’d said to me, and even the formatting was proper, because this time she had looked at some examples of office memos I’d written, always in proper business format. I praised her for the new letter, and said “See what you can produce when you really try?â€
In my opinion, that day she learned a good lesson, and she took the step up from mediocrity towards being outstanding. No, it didn’t last, because she lacked the drive to want to continue being outstanding. And that’s sometimes the problem with mediocrity; a person has to always continue wanting to be more, and sometimes they just aren’t ready for it at the time. It takes a lot of work to try to be outstanding. But that was okay, because she wasn’t a supervisor or a manager; she was an employee, and I needed employees, aka workers.
Mediocre, or outstanding? Which one would you prefer to be? Even for a moment, being a two-percenter isn’t such a bad thing. For that matter, according to my friend Kelvin, being a three-percenter isn't such a bad thing either.
I would definitely prefer to be among the ranks of the outstanding. Part of the problem with newer generations is the concern for self-esteem and a world where there are no winners and no losers and everyone deserves equal praise. Why try then if everyone has the same rewards? Parents need to set bars for their kids and encourage them to reach them.
Lee
I’m for that Lee. As strange as it seems, my parents only had a high bar for me when it came to academics, and I refused to play the game after awhile. When it came to sports, they pretty much didn’t care if I succeeded or brought trophies home. This pretty much meant that it was always up to me to decide what was going to be important for me, and one of those things was leadership and how to treat people. So, parents should be there to set bars for their children, but sometimes we have to learn how to set high bars for ourselves.
I think you are making a point, Mitch and I think that educational system is something to blame as it is one of the most important factors, as well as parental control. I want to put long comment just on first 2 paragraphs, but I guess I need to write 1000 words to prove this statement.
On the other hand, I think good leadership is based on compromise sometimes and from there it may look like mediocre, but generally it is more about understanding and finding quick solution for particular problem, sometimes necessity if deadlines are pushing or colleague is not available.
Good stuff Carl. I don’t think compromise is mediocre leadership at all. I think that when things have to get done and things are at an impasse that a great leader has to try to get something done through compromise. At the same time, if there are parties that are immovable I don’t see it as bad leadership when that person can’t make things change either. However, if it’s all the leaders call and the leader has the ability to be the final word and doesn’t take charge of the decision, that’s when a leader might be mediocre.
I also think that leadership very much depends on taking responsibility for all actions and defend team members. Team building is a difficult and long process and sometimes having mediocre employee can be ok, again based on compromise. I was working with descent developer which was not very fast in work, definitely not the best one and the boss wanted to fire him several times, because he was late for work. Well, I put my head on the table and defend this person, because he is a problem solver and don’t mind to stay an hour or two extra time until the job is done, I personally didn’t mind that it is 15 min late for work.
You were lucky to be able to do that Carl. In large businesses often you get stuck having to deal with rules like that which you can’t fight because there’s so many employees and upper management feels that without structure you have no way of keeping control over everyone, and they have a point. With a smaller group you might be able to do that but what happens if suddenly everyone starts showing up 15 minutes late? It’s something to think about, that’s for sure. But I agree with you that good leaders will protect those who work for them as needed.
I always prefer to have understand and tolerance, but I always expect employees to show responsibility. Treating business as a start no matter at what scale it operates, always have its advantages and for sure can boost creativity.
I really appreciate your reflections on this, Mitch! I’ve always been a perfectionist and the type of person that not only has expectation of myself, but also of others. Sometimes, I’ve often felt that it wasn’t fair in a way to expect others to be “outstanding.” What I love about your example is that you were able to express yourself in a way that wasn’t necessarily chastising, but more like, I know you and I know you can do better. As you mention at the end, motivation makes a huge difference when it comes to whether people will be outstanding or not!
Loved reflecting on this! =)
Thanks Samantha. I’ve always believed that encouraging people works a lot better than putting them down and making them feel bad about themselves.