How to achieve excellence

Shelter Chieza Change Management
In any environment, even where deadlines are difficult to achieve, it is possible to achieve excellence but it’s not easy. Setting standards of excellence is not done by accident but is a deliberate move employed by companies and management.

The moment that a company, organisation or management team sets goals and pursue them fervently, they may be aiming for excellence.

Excellence requires a high level of discipline; it could go to extreme regimented levels. My firm belief is that to achieve excellence one should have the will and desire.

Along the way, you will experience the natural process of success and setbacks. As you gain more experience, you will observe people who achieved excellence, it becomes easy to start to identify a certain pattern that links up successes – a pattern of certain principles and beliefs.

When you act in accordance to these, you will experience excellence in whatever you do. As long as you keep focusing on these key principles, results would be eminent.

It’s possible to perform better, earn more money, lose weight, achieve higher level of success, achieve a set level of standards and excellence in your organisation; you can do it despite the environment you are operating in.

I believe the greatest this is to have the desire and deep need to want to achieve excellence. Make sure the goal is something you set for yourself; it should be a major driver in everything you are doing.

For those who enjoy films this determination to achieve excellence is aptly portrayed by prominent actor Will Smith in the Pursuit of Happyness.

In this moving tale inspired by the true story of Chris Gardner, Smith acts the role of a San Francisco salesman struggling to build a future for himself and his 5-year-old son Christopher (Jaden Smith).

When his girlfriend Linda (Thandie Newton) walks out, Chris is left to raise Christopher on his own. Chris’ determination finally pays off when he lands an unpaid internship in a brutally competitive stockbroker-training program, where only one in 20 interns will make the cut.

But without a salary, Chris and his son are evicted from their apartment and are forced to sleep on the streets, in homeless shelters and even behind the locked doors of a metro station bathroom.

With self-confidence and the love and trust of his son, Chris Gardner rises above his obstacles to become a Wall Street legend.

It would be folly for someone to sign up for something and put in half-baked effort and expect good results. To achieve excellence individuals, teams, companies and organisations need to benchmark themselves against the best in their field.

It is pointless if you want to achieve a high level of customer service and disregard the best achievers in your area.

Will Smith went up against better resourced and connected candidates in his intern programme but through endurance and persistence he managed to overcome his prejudice to come out a cut above the rest.

In terms of individuals some go to the extent of putting up visuals of what they want to achieve to aspire themselves.

A while ago my mentor of mine indicated that he wanted to buy a Rolls Royce. He filled his whole house with pictures of his dream car.

He was trying to capture his imagination and focus his attention to this goal. Your vision may seem far-fetched to many, it’s a vision which you are working towards and one which you have absolutely no doubt will come to life given time and effort.

Create a network of people who are the best in the field and learn from them. These supposedly have the best practices, insights and tips which will be extremely valuable in your pursuit of excellence.

Rather than trying to learn everything from scratch, it’s easier to leverage on the learning from others and build on from there. These will jumpstart your learning curve by a huge degree.

Also keep reminding and reassuring yourself that you can do it. Oh yes, there is no standard of excellence that you set that does not require self belief. It builds your confidence and gives the energy and drive that you require for the future.

A friend told me of how she joined a company that had gone through an acquisition and their battle to convince customers that they are still committed to offering the same quality service as the previous owners.

One customer came up to her and said, “My friend can you quit trying to impress us too much, I don’t do business with companies, I do business with people.”

According to her this customer wasn’t worried about the changes because he had always been receiving excellent customer service.

The fundamental truth in business is that slow coaches lose. Organisations need speed, and the speed of leadership determines the speed of the organisation.

If you are to look at the world’s most successful companies, these are the companies that move quickly to spot new opportunities, mobilise resources and bring new products and services to market in a flash.

You will recall how Sir Richard Virgin group rapidly launched one new business after another. In one of the interviews he say that “Often the window of opportunity is very small, so speed is of the essence.”

You cannot afford to move slowly, the slower you move, the less chance you have of achieving your objectives.

Never give up; one of my favourite movie actors Slyvestor Stallone was born with a half-paralysed face due to birth complications, which led to his slightly slurred speech and snarling look.

He was rejected more than a thousand times but never gave up till he landed a leading role in Rocky; it was after numerous time of relentless trying. “Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character.” T. Alan Armstrong
Till next week, may God richly bless you.