malvernmugadzikwa
Hunt For Greatness
Milton Kamwendo
EXCELLENCE drives greatness, growth and sustainability.
You must want it and work to deliver it.
Hate mediocrity.
Excellence is the pursuit of doing the best you can with what you have and at the stage you are. Excellence is a journey that is marked by consistently going beyond expectations.
It means pushing boundaries.
Excellence is defying mediocrity and holding yourself to higher standards.
Today’s excellence is tomorrow’s mediocrity. Build greatness with excellence.
Demand the highest possible standards.
Building with excellence unlocks potential.
Tom Peters and Robert Waterman went on a hunt for excellent companies.
In 1982, they wrote the book “In Search of Excellence”. The publication made waves in the 1990s.
The message in the book is valid. The principles are enduring and seminal for building greatness with excellence.
Building greatness is an ongoing and relentless hunt for excellence.
One of the key principles identified by Peters and Waterman is a bias for action.
This principle emphasises the importance of decisiveness and agility.
Progress is often stymied by lengthy bureaucratic processes and indecision.
By fostering a culture of action, you break free from the inertia that holds back progress and development. Choose the bias for action.
While others are talking, take action.
While others are spending time in endless complaints, committees and meetings, take action. While others are working through the maze of bureaucratic processes, take action.
Things do not change by just being thought about or wished for.
They change through action.
It is better to act and be wrong. You can learn from what worked or did not work.
Another crucial principle is the importance of staying close to the customer.
Understand and address the needs of the people. Add value by understanding what people need and provide solutions.
Staying close to the customer translates to direct engagement, listening to their concerns and involvement.
It is always important to ask who the customer is. This ensures that solutions are relevant, effective and sustainable.
Build trust and foster a sense of ownership.
Excellent organisations embrace the principle of autonomy and entrepreneurship.
The entrepreneurial spirit is often hindered by a lack of support and resources.
Encouraging autonomy means giving people the licence to innovate, experiment and take reasonable risks. It means creating an environment where people feel safe to think, suggest and try new things.
Unless you dare try what you have never done, you cannot learn and grow.
Excellence is a learning journey.
When you fall, you rise again.
Fostering entrepreneurship is key to economic revival and progress.
Create an environment that encourages turning ideas into products. Create an environment that encourages monetisation. Create contexts that see value, and where value is generated and captured.
Keep growing your value ecosystem.
Productivity through people is another vital principle of the search for excellence.
People are always the greatest asset. Most people preach this but treat people differently. Invest in people. Develop them and believe in them. See people, not just human tools. When people know that they are valued, they also give more value.
Everything always rises or falls on leadership. The leadership factor is key in building with excellence. The principle of hands-on, value-driven leadership is also essential for building with excellence.
Leadership can make or break any institution. It is more than just a title and perks. It is influence.
Hands-on leadership involves being actively involved. It means taking an interest in the day-to-day operations, leading by example and staying connected to the realities on the ground.
Values-driven leadership ensures that actions are guided by clear superordinate goals and a commitment to excellence.
The standard for leadership is always higher.
Leadership for building with excellence means inspiring trust, fostering unity and driving meaningful change.
Leadership for excellence champions decisive and principled action. Sticking to the knitting or focusing on core competencies is a principle that encourages you to concentrate on what you do best.
Leverage on your strengths.
Focus on what you know, but keep learning and improving.
To build with excellence, avoid distractions.
Stay true to your strategic goals and ensure that your efforts and resources are not spread too thin. To build with excellence, embrace focus, discipline and endurance.
The principle of simple form and lean staff is about streamlining structures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
Instead of being complicated, simplify.
Challenge bloated and empty structures that are not delivering value. Simplify structures, adopt a lean approach, improve decision-making processes, reduce costs and increase speed.
Allocate resources wisely and tap the full potential of your team. Finally, the principle of simultaneous loose-tight properties highlights the need for balance, being flexible and adaptable, while remaining true to your core values and principles.
The ability to pivot in response to new challenges and opportunities is crucial.
This flexibility must be anchored in a strong set of values that guide decision-making and actions. By adopting the principles outlined in “In Search of Excellence” — a bias for action, staying close to the customer, fostering entrepreneurship, investing in people, practising value-driven leadership, focusing on core strengths, simplifying structures and balancing flexibility with core values — you will build with excellence.
Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and accomplished workshop facilitator. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. He can be reached at: [email protected]
Online Reporter