I think I am great. Am I? OK, perhaps great is too strong a word. But I am sure I’m doing what is expected, perhaps even better than others. Therefore I say I’m doing great. Those are not my words, they are sentiments that so many employees and leaders say when asked about their work.
I was sitting with a general manager in the hospitality industry the other day and he casually shared: “It would be great if I could get my team to simply smile and greet the guests.”
Then he went on to share with his team: “When I am on the floor, out where the guests are, I like to pull one of our managers aside and tell him to just pause and look around. What so you see?” He specifically asks them to look at the colleagues’ interactions with the guests.
This general manager went on to say: “You know what? The managers are surprised to see how many times a colleague walks right past the guests without even noticing them. Many times they are walking arm-in-arm with another colleague having a lively chat.”
And here is the real kicker. When the manager stops the colleagues and asks: “How are you doing on greeting every guest with a smile?” they reply – “great”.
You may ask, how can they say great when it is clear they were oblivious to the guests they walked past without greeting them (or at least we hope they were oblivious)?
Well, this is the crux of the issue. Unfortunately, too often we suffer from limited observation and a comparison mentality.
As leaders we need to be mindful of the reality of limited observation – we don’t see nor are we aware of everything we do. In the same way leaders’ self-perception is positively skewed because they only remember part of what they do. In a matter of self-preservation we want to remember the “good”.
In the fullness of a day, you need to consider how many interactions you have and with how many different people. This volume and variety is what creates the limited observation, as it is too high to remember everything we do. Yet, in the midst of the volume is where the fulfilment of greatness is or the opportunity for greatness resides.
Consider the leader, maybe like you, who thinks he is a coaching leader. When asked about being a coaching leader, he recites a specific example of when he invested in one of his team members, maybe even today. Yet, he is unaware, due to limited observation, of the opportunities that passed right past him – he only coached one of his five direct reports. So in his perception is that he is doing great, but in reality he has room to get much better.
Let’s come back to the phrase “even better than others” from the opening of this column. Unfortunately, too, often leaders make the comment; I am doing great because I feel I am doing better than other leaders. This comparison mentality is another form of perception.
This is a far riskier proposition than limited observation, as the measurement in the comparison mentality doesn’t mean you are comparing against a good reference point. What if your comparison group is woefully poor? Then being better still does not become good.
I will never forget one of my conversations with Henry Mintzberg, the renowned professor of management. He told me to ask him what he had learnt that year. So I did. And he responded, “Best in class is too low of a standard”.
He believes that you should not limit what you do based upon the way that someone else does something.
You could say that he is adamantly opposed to the comparison mentality as it will lower the bar for your own greatness.
So, how great are you? Maybe it is time to measure your greatness by reality rather than limited observations and a comparison mentality. Factual self-awareness is the starting line to grow to become your best.
Tommy Weir is a leadership adviser, author of 10 Tips for Leading in the Middle East and other leadership writings and the founder of the Emerging Markets Leadership Center
