Every leader wants their team members to perform with rigor.
To leaders, this means performing a task or assignment with strict attention to detail, thoroughness in execution, and careful consideration for accuracy.
No cutting corners or looking for a fast solution.
Rigor is all about examining every aspect of a situation or problem with an eye toward precision and executing against that standard.
But getting team members to operate with rigor is easier said than done. Some team members lack rigor because they work too fast, while others take the easiest route to an answer or prefer the obvious conclusion.
But most fail to be rigorous because they have never seen rigor in action. They don’t know what performance rigor looks like.
Good leaders solve this dilemma by making the case for rigor by showing others how they do it.
The best leaders set the example by engaging side-by-side with team members on select tasks and assignments, showing them along the way how they apply the standards of rigor to the problem or issue at hand.
Of the many instances where leading by example is critically important for creating high performance, showcasing rigor is one of the most important examples leaders can set.
Good leaders show team members how they go deeper with their analysis, how they achieve more deliberate decision-making, how they find more precision in their execution, and how they become more thoughtful in their advocacy.
They do their best to highlight the details they believe matter most and concentrate their attention on examining those details with a high degree of precision.
Sometimes those details are facts, ingredients, or assumptions. In other cases, they represent features, attributes, or qualities.
The key to teaching rigor is to show team members how to identify the details that matter most and to use them as the foundation for higher performance and greater accuracy.
Team members, both experienced and inexperienced, will often miss the most important details. They lack clarity on how to examine and use these details with precision.
Working alongside team members, leaders can show how they apply the standard of rigor. They will demonstrate what they attend to with an eye on achieving the desired outcome.
After a handful of assignments have been completed with the leader’s participation, a new standard becomes obvious.
Leaders who take the time to actively lead by example with team members are usually rewarded with higher quality outcomes and colleagues who have a newfound appreciation for meticulousness in their work.
That’s what leading by example looks like in action. It takes rigor to teach it.
