Will 2015 be “Delicious!” for you and your team?
I had a business lunch with a client today. We were eating appetizers when the waitress came over. “Oh here she comes to ask ‘is everything OK?’ I thought.
Instead what she said completely surprised me. She asked, “Is everything delicious?” Her question threw me off balance. I stammered, “Delicious? Why yes it is delicious! Tony is yours delicious?” Tony said, “Yes it is!” “Antoine how about you?” Antoine confirmed we were all in agreement, “Yes. Delicious!” She smiled. We smiled. She left.
Sure we were all pleased to realize we were eating delicious food. And that was her goal – to ensure the restaurant (Agrikola in Princeton, NJ) met their goal and that we knew it!
The bonus was that the waitress just told us a lot about the leadership of this restaurant. They aim for delicious. Not Ok. Not “good value”‘. But Delicious!. It is an ambition above the crowd. It is a goal all paying customers want. It is the most obvious target but not commonly achieved.
It really takes less work than most think to aim for and hit “Delicious!” Top leaders of top teams know that they key is to simply strive for “Delicious!” despite the challenges. It is all in the expectation. Think Google, Bloomberg, Netflix, Amazon, Salesforce. They have and always will strive for “Delicious!” They know it and their employees know it.
For example, the CEO of a region of a multi billion $ manufacturing company had the biggest top line growth in the company. It was a new year and his leaders were burnt out. He held firm, “We need to do it again!”. When his leadership team told him he was crazy, he did not yield. Instead he asked us to help him get there. When he listened closely to what they needed to succeed again, it wasn’t much. All they wanted was relief from weekend urgent emails, no travel on Sunday, and admin support. They got it and his team skyrocketed to the top again. Was it perfect? No. But they got there.
Or the C-Level HR executive of a Fortune 500 company whose team got accolades from Executives for their support of an organizational transformation. They couldn’t imagine they could do better. Then the COO said. “Great job! Great year! Next year will be harder!” Under direction of the HR executive, I simply asked the team, “What’s the one thing we need to do to get there?” A few hours later we had a plan. The team continued to soar.
The leaders that don’t strive for Delicious – well, they get what they aim for. They get mediocre employees who they can’t fire, a team who works in silos and doesn’t capture the natural synergy of functions and expertise, no interesting projects assigned to them, employees more concerned about advancement than about growing the business.
What is your team aiming for this year? I say aim for “Delicious!” Set your team’s eyes on the prize. Here are a few more ways to achieve it:
*Define with your team what extraordinary looks like. What is the clear and simple measure that would show your at the top of your game? Like “delicious!” is the obvious yet challenging goal of any restaurant, what is the obvious and challenging goal of your team? Define the aspirational ambitions and watch people thrive.
*Constantly talk about why your team’s work matters to the company, the customers, the community. Remind people that they are working on something important. Not for ego or status, but because it matters. Motivation research consistently shows that finding ‘meaning’ is work is the most motivational, especially for complex work.
*Focus on just a few things and do them extraordinary well. The meals we ate at Agrikola were not fancy or complicated. A few simple ingredients put together extraordinarily well. Amazon delivers stuff at a great price, and fast, in simple cardboard boxes. Not fancy, just the best.
My wish for you is that you and your team make 2015 extraordinary, astonishing and “Delicious!” Strive for the top, hold your ground, and you’ll be surprised what happens.