What does good look like?  That is what many companies do a poor job of defining when it comes to their core values.  What follows is one company’s core value of Excellence.

I was fortunate enough to help them develop all four of their core values:  Excellence, Integrity, Teamwork and Service.  The team that developed these values is setting themselves up for success by defining what good looks like.

Imagine doing business with a company like this! Imagine working with people like this daily!  Read on and see how they define Excellence.

Die Mediocre! Die!

Excellence

At ACME Inc, we strive for excellence in everything we do for our clients and our teammates.  Our ultimate measure of excellence is going to bed every night knowing we did our best that day.

We believe that the standards and expectations of our customers and our team are minimums.  Excellence comes from exceeding standards and expectations in the eyes of our customers and our teammates.

We know activity without productivity leads to mediocrity.  The easier, more comfortable task rarely brings anyone closer to excellence.  We will never settle for what is comfortable when the uncomfortable is more productive.

Excellence requires:

Effort that never fails and never accepting good when great can be obtained.

By exuding excellence in everything we do, ACME Inc. will be the agency and the employer of choice in our local market.

Excellence in Action at ACME Inc:

• We will do things right the first time.
• We will own our performance without excuses.
• We will embrace challenges and always search for a better way.
• We will always choose to do what is harder, if it is the best thing to do. 
• We will keep our promises to our clients and to each other.

The Bottom Line:

British statesman Basil S. Walsh once said, “If you don’t know where you are going, how do you expect to get there.”  The same is true for core values.

Words like Integrity, Teamwork, Service and Excellence must be defined in the context of each organization.  What behaviors demonstrate these values in action?

If a leader ever wants to have core values go beyond platitudes that mean little to the actions of the individuals in the organization, time and effort must be spent on defining what good looks like.

It is a lot easier to operate with Excellence when I know how it is defined.  

Once Excellence is defined, it is also easier to eradicate Mediocrity!

Question:

What other behaviors demonstrate Excellence in practice?