High performers love to own outcomes and move toward responsibility. For them, control and autonomy over projects and tasks are performance-enhancing drugs that empower great effort and work.
Those driven by excellence and successful outcomes are mystified by colleagues who don’t seem to be inspired by challenge, high standards, and the pursuit of excellence.
Not only do some newer team members prefer to escape responsibility and ownership over tasks, they abhor the pressure they feel in the face of performance expectations.
Rather than push and stretch themselves toward higher performance, some even decide to leave the team. They seek a place where others expect less of them and don’t hold quality in such high esteem. They don’t seek greener grass as much as they seek a workplace where the grass doesn’t have to be cut, at least by them.
Such an aversion on the part of some team members to avoid the heavy lifting required by high standards has always existed. But in today’s workplace, it has become an epidemic. While the primary reason for a team member departing remains their relationship with their immediate manager or leader, leaving a team to elude performance expectations continues to rise.
Leaders can debate the root causes of this relatively new dilemma, but the better use of time is to rework the hiring process to test for this fatal flaw.
Finding creative ways to ensure that candidates have what it takes to move toward excellence and not avoid performance expectations is essential work. Learning that a prospective team member possesses a high work ethic is not enough. Working hard is not the same thing as driving toward results and seeking ownership over outcomes.
The best leaders know that little is accomplished without ever-rising expectations. Those team members intimidated or demotivated by high standards are likely to leave a team shortly after significant investment has already been made to develop their talents. What a waste of energy and resources. Better to avoid them before they avoid you.
