Good work, great work, neither

Can people in your company or work group tell the difference between good work and great work? How about lousy work? More importantly, does it really matter to your leaders and colleagues which they get? I pose the question because my work group has committed to transitioning “from good to great” in the coming fiscal year.

As a result, I’m trying to get my head around how we define and recognize great; and how we’re going to lead people to achieve it.

As is the case in any organization anywhere, we have examples of work here at the BBY that range from great, to good, to none of the above. I daresay, in all cases, the people who produce it are working hard and pursuing their passions.

I’m frequently reminded of an exchange I had several years ago with the French woman owner of an art gallery in my hometown. She was also a painter. She was bending my ear over the fact we so often confuse activity with accomplishment, and refuse to be completely honest with ourselves – and others – when evaluating work.

“Eef I paint a painting, eet doesn’t matter how long I work at eet, or how hard I try,” she said. “Eef zeh painting ees crap, ees crap.”

Around here, it’s rare that someone truly evaluates a piece of work and offers a meaningful critique, let alone one as blunt as “ees crap” (in fact, I’ve never seen it happen). Instead, we pat the artist on the back and offer a blithe “well done,” without even considering that the work could be a lot better, and that excellence is a long way off. Thus, we perpetuate a culture in which work gets done; but truly great work is optional.

All that said, I yield to the notion that an “ees crap” message has to be delivered more diplomatically and constructively, but you can’t argue with the accountability delivered through such a clear, concise critique.

While I’m aware such judgment – in work as in art – is subjective, let’s agree that good really does exist, as does bad (for reference, take a look at the child’s drawing above, presented alongside a Picasso. Can you tell which is which?). Good is not merely “in the eye of the beholder.” That brings me back to my original question: If we tell someone their work isn’t yet great, we need to be able to show them what excellence looks like. We need team members to be be able to differentiate between-, and share common definitions of-, good, bad and ugly.

I think the first step is to pull in award-winning work from inside or out, and take a look at people who are widely recognized for producing the best work in our profession. We’ll also seek out companies with which we can benchmark our work.

We then begin to emulate those who are doing great work, and convince our people to focus on and care about picky little details that others overlook or disregard altogether – things like standards of right and wrong (AP Style, for example), best practices, expert advice. The ultimate objective, I think, is to get people to strive for excellence and do things right, even when they’re the only ones keeping track.

We, as leaders, need to commit to excellence ourselves, to setting a standard and to sending people back to try again when their work falls short.

At its most basic, it requires truly caring about the difference between great, good and crummy. That’s where we’ll start.

How does it go in your workplace?

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