Bringing Out the Best in People by Aubrey C. Daniels

Author:Aubrey C. Daniels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Bringing Out the Best in People
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2012-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

Organizational Goals and Benchmarking

IQS Study Explained. The International Quality Study (IQS, 1992) commissioned by the American Quality Foundation found that benchmarking, the practice of tracking business processes considered to be the best in a given sphere of influence (“best in industry,” or “best in the world,” for example), produced positive results on bottom-line variables only in the best-performing companies. Companies rated medium- or low-performing showed no performance improvement. The study showed that, “In fact, low performers who benchmark their marketing and sales systems can actually expect their performance to suffer.”

When you understand how the average company uses goal setting, it is easy to see why the IQS found such results. The best-performing companies probably find the levels of performance of the benchmark companies to be easily attainable. As such, they could get a lot of reinforcement from the knowledge that attainable improvement resulted in being on track to be the “best in the world,” “best in the industry,” and so on.

On the other hand, many of the medium- and low-performers were probably overwhelmed by the gap between their performance and that of the benchmark. Indeed, some managers probably used the data to punish low performers.

These lower-performing companies must focus first on incremental gains with small goals. This will increase confidence in their ability to improve. As small gains are made, the subsequent gains will be bigger and bigger. Soon they will be in a position to compete with, even challenge, the best in the world.

Remember, where you set goals in relation to present performance is critical, but the most important thing is the celebration of goal attainment. The celebration of attainment is what makes goals motivating.

David McClelland, a Harvard psychologist, has studied achievement for many years. His research determined that the highest achievers in our society set moderate goals. Being the highest achievers probably means that they have high aims, but that they use moderate goals to manage their performance day to day. Our people are no different. They can and will operate at their best every day. What we have to do is help them get to that point one step at a time. Asking for quantum leaps in performance will only discourage the performer and disappoint the manager who is asking. Goals can play a part in bringing out the best in people, but only when they are used as opportunities to recognize progress toward being the best. Goals that are celebrated are records waiting to be broken.

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