Do You Have the Conviction of Excellence?
I’ve noticed that the word “excellence” is surfacing more often in the guiding principles or convictions of companies.
A few years ago, I started working with the leadership of a UK based petroleum additives firm. One of their primary initiatives is “organizational excellence.” Last week, I spent time with the leadership of a huge restaurant chain whose first principle of success is “operational excellence.”
Tomorrow I will be with a mortgage banking firm, and “manufacturing quality” is one of their guiding principles. Now, “manufacturing quality” does not have the word excellence in it, but as I read what it means to them the word excellence jumped right out.
As leaders, we must closely examine this trend.
Today’s consumers are experience minded. They like to buy from those they have relationship with and who have the ability to deliver excellence in their buying experience.
I have coached many leaders who have overlooked the need to make organizational, operational, or service excellence the foundation of how they deliver their products or services. They spend all sorts of time and money sending their clients handwritten notes and elaborate Harry and David gift baskets, hoping this will result in raving fans.
What we all must remember is that no matter how much fruit is in the gift basket or how nicely worded our notes are, if we did not deliver our product or service with excellence, the note and basket won’t matter.
Offering excellent services or products is the starting line; it is what allows us to compete in today’s business environment. If we don’t have excellence as a deep conviction tied to clear behaviors, we are likely to have businesses that are very much like leaky buckets. We will work hard to attract new customers today as we lose yesterday’s customers due to mediocrity.
At Building Champions, one of our Convictions is that we exemplify excellence in all we do.
Striving for Excellence,
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Tags: Convictions, Excellence
Thanks Daniel, I always enjoy your blogs. With my art, I always try to be the “Nordstorm’s” of the art world.
Your fan,
Greg Gutierrez
Zen and the Art of Surfing
“Offering excellent services or products is the starting line.” Quite the line: services OR products. Doesn’t mean both. I use restaturants I go to as an example. If a restaurant has ‘good’ food and ‘EXCELLENT’ service vs a restaurant that has ‘good’ food and ‘ok’ service, I will choose the EXCELLENT service every day of the week and twice on Sunday (unless you are Chick-fil-a and you are not open on Sundays!). You have to be EXCELLENT at something, not everything. Then, the hand written notes and Harry and David gift baskets are just part of the system that keeps em coming back. Thanks, Daniel
I have worked with / for you Daniel since Jan of 2002 and I can say that you continually live out the conviction of excellence that you wrote about in this post. This conviction runs so deep in you that I know it is driven by a spirit of excellence. I’ve seen you operate in public and in private, and can say that the fruit basket you deliver is full of good fruit. Thanks for the article… and thanks for being a living example of what you wrote.