There is not a spot for “average” in the current work climate.

There just isn’t. In my opinion, in business, especially now, more than ever before in history. You should not be accepting of mediocre (average) performance. There is too much at stake. There is too much social connection and transparency for you to continue on a day to day of average or less operation.

I’ve said out loud to my team on more than one occasion. “Listen, when we are here at work, I only have one expectation of you, and you should only expect one thing of your peers – we should only expect excellence.”

That may seem an over-the-top or demanding statement. And to some, maybe it is. But I don’t want average players. I don’t do mediocre. I don’t think anyone in business should want, nor should they accept average. Plus, very simply and psychologically, if you want people to perform brilliantly if you want them to be excellent –  keep them accountable. Manage the expectation that they are to be excellent, tell them they are excellent, then watch the results happen.

It’s easy to dole out high-fives and compliments to the people that are doing well.

Or when the whole team is performing at an awesome rate of return; when the results are exceeding projection.  These are the things that we all like and enjoy.

With all this talk of brilliance and excellence, you may wonder, if this gets off the point of the opening statement. It doesn’t I’m about to shoot it right in the heart. In fact, I think the toughest test of any business leader is how they deal with poor performance on their team. When average sets in, what is the leader’s response.

How are you addressing these average, less than average or outright poor performers? What do you do, for instance, when someone’s work is good but not great? Do you have people that you keep in your organization because they aren’t quite bad enough to fire, but they aren’t quite good enough to get your business to the next level?

Ask yourself this one, “Knowing what I know now… about this person, would I hire them again today?” If the answer is “NO.” Then I suggest that you take a look in the mirror at yourself as a leader. The first step is going to be with you.

If you are growing yourself as a leader. And, you know have self-accountability. Then you can start to quickly eliminate poor performance in your business. There may be sometimes when you must hire and train new people into the culture that you want. However, you don’t want to have a culture of consistently hiring and replacing people. That’s not healthy.

Here are three things I have personally used to crush poor performance and eliminate mediocrity in our workplace. If you execute on these, you will be seeing improved results quickly!

1. Black and white no-nonsense measurements; the goals must be clear.Poor performance is harder to spot if you don’t have clear definition. Average is even worse. You need definition in goal setting – exact numbers not approximate. Exact numbers create a clear sense of what needs to be accomplished in a day of work, or an hour, or the next 15 minutes. Approximates or averages leave the goal fuzzy enough that someone can get close enough to the pin and call it a hit. The whole team should spend the time to develop clear and meaningful goals that are measurable by the everyone, not just management. If the goal is too difficult to understand, it is too easy to hide behind. When the goal is defined, meaningful and clear – poor performance quickly gets exposed and will not just be unacceptable to leadership – but likely will be unacceptable to the team members peers.

2. Clearly define consequences for mediocrity. As a leader, you must be certain that everyone is clear about what they are doing and why they are doing it (see step 1). Mediocrity is typically a disconnect between someone’s performance and their perception of consequences. To me, it’s okay if someone and especially if multiple people miss their target to have an open discussion on what to do to improve. Does the goal need to be changed, is there a legitimate reason, or is it an excuse for their performance? You will have to decide or make a judgment call on that. In most cases especially for flat-out poor performance, people should be reprimanded in private. However, there is a time and a place to have the entire team involved. Peer accountability is a strong producer of high performance.

3. Create peer accountability. On a weak or mediocre team, there is often little accountability; OR the accountability all comes from the top down (management). So, for example, if the manager isn’t present – nothing happens. So, there is a time when a supervisor can be too strong. When that is the case, a team may just wait for the opportunity to exhale, and the moment that there is no supervision – may as well have everyone clock out and head out… because they are done! You need accountability at a peer level to help in stamping out average. When your team’s success becomes as valuable to each of them as their individual wins, then it makes a leader’s job far easier. Because then the team is not afraid to speak up, confront, stretch, and grow one another. This needs to stay respectful among peers and they may need to be gently reminded that they are all there for the common goal and good.

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There it is. When you have the wherewithal to have definition and clarity of goals and purpose, the fortitude to carry through with consequences, and the trust for your team hold one another accountable; you will extinguish mediocrity from your work environment. When that happens you create a high-performance, results-driven culture. This will improve your outlook and make for an overall happier workplace. It will lend you more influence with your team.

Get going right now – make your culture one of excellence!

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle