It’s one thing for leaders to expect quality output from those they lead. It’s quite another matter to receive excellent work.
It’s difficult for leaders to promote learning about quality by simply working with colleagues to create the outcomes they’re looking for.
Instead, the best leaders offer team members an exemplar of what excellent looks like. They then discuss why this example shines so brightly. Exemplars are game-changers for talented colleagues.
Team members come to their roles with a wide variety of experiences, expectations, and standards. The odds that they will apply a standard similar to the leader’s regarding the work product is low even for the best performers.
Good leaders narrow those odds by selecting an exemplar that matches the quality they hold high. Presenting this paragon to a team member or team is the first step. What must follow is a discussion that highlights why this example represents the excellence leaders are looking for.
Proactively finding examples of work products that match your standards for excellence creates its own clarity for what and why some outcomes are so much better than others.
Leaders should be able to point to one or more exemplars for whatever deliverable they expect others to produce. White papers, emails, presentation decks, proposals, models, process maps, project deliverables, speeches, timelines, spreadsheets, and other work products all require something worth emulating if team members are expected to create them with quality.
Specific YouTube videos can be a resource to capture excellence for many physical outcomes, such as the precise movements required to perform at the highest level. For more intellectual endeavors, exemplars are usually physical examples of excellent work products produced at an earlier time. From sports to dentistry and from dance movements to lab measurements, the best leaders make it a point to collect exemplars for teaching others.
When team members know what excellence looks like and can discuss the nuances with their leader, learning and skill accelerates. Leaders naturally know how to set an example for others. But by collecting and sharing exemplars, they infuse an immediate understanding of what counts as excellence from which others can learn.
When people chase excellence, they often catch it.
