It took far longer than I had anticipated.  The yard needed lots of leveling.  Lots!

My standards were exacting so I had my crew doing what we needed to do in order to create exceptional results.  I wanted to make sure this landscape job was the best we could do.

Two days into the job the owner of the landscape company, and my boss, came by the job sight to check on our progress.  As a 20 year old summer student entrusted with leading a rag tag crew of other students, I wanted to ensure I produced a yard that the client was delighted with.  And, I wanted to impress my boss.

My task was to turn a residential lot with nothing but mounds of dirt on it into a beautifully level sodded lawn.  I had been endeavoring to make this lawn absolutely level.  That was my mandate right?

Wrong.

When the owner of the company came by he was aghast at our lack of progress.  We were 2 days into the job and should be finished by now.  We had 2 more days of work left to finish the job.

“What is taking you so long?” the owner asked incredulously.

“We had to spend lots of time leveling the yard.  I wanted to make sure it was absolutely level.” I responded.

He looked me square in the eye and said something I have not forgotten over 30 years later,

“Dave, these people didn’t pay for ‘absolutely’ level – they paid for ‘relatively’ level.”

I though “level” meant “level”.  Apparently not.

So where was the disconnect that led to me missing the mark and the project being over budget?

This is what I think was the issue: standards of quality were not clearly communicated from leadership to front line staff.

I was working hard to do the best job possible, and the standards for this job were not meant to be “the best”.

I was speaking with a CEO this week and asked him if one of his key leaders was crystal clear on his mandate.  He responded that he felt that this leader was indeed clear on his mandate.  So, I asked him what the mandate is.  He responded with a concise statement which included the phrase, “…create the best…”

Hold it right there.  Have you defined what “best” means?

Hmmm, not explicitly, more implicitly.

So is that ‘absolutely’ the best, or ‘relatively’ the best?

Whenever and wherever there are not clearly defined standards of quality there will be a wide variation of interpretation of, and, therefore, implementation of mandates.

First of all, are your people crystal clear on their mandate?  And, are they crystal clear on the standards of quality being expected of them and their people?

If the mandate you and your people run with include words and phrases like, “best”, “highest”, “most admired”, “exceptional”, and myriad other similar adjectives, these impressive adjectives need to be defined.  If you don’t ensure the adjectives included in your organizational mandates are clearly defined you will experience a wide variation in executional excellence.

Your people may be frustrated with the fact that their work consistently doesn’t seem to be ‘good enough’, when in their eyes they are fulfilling their mandate. And, you as their leader will be frustrated that they clearly don’t understand what “best” looks like.  Lack of clarity in regard to executional standards of quality creates frustration in all levels of an organization.

Clarification of the mandate and the standards of quality required for its implementation will reduce frustration and improve the quality and consistency of work.  And, the work put in up front by leadership to create and communicate crystal clear mandates with their accompanying standards of executional quality will vastly reduce the amount of work required to manage people.

So, are your people crystal clear on their mandate?  Are they also crystal clear on the standards of quality you expect of them?  The responsibility for this lands on you.  Good leadership involves creating and clearly communicating mandates, standards of quality, and a wide variety of other parameters necessary for individual roles within your organization.

Is that relatively level, or absolutely level?