Consistent Performance Is Key

How many of us have to get out of bed every day and go to work? In many cases, we have to wear a uniform for work. Whether it is business clothes, sports clothes or actual uniforms, we wear our jerseys proudly. After a long day at the office, do you judge your performance for the day? Do the majority of us give 100 percent daily effort in our jobs? How many of us don't care about how we perform?

As we are all human, no one can get a stellar performance every hour of each day. But each of us can give our best effort. To do this we must learn from role models and ask for feedback from others. We also need to look at successful executives and emulate their performance. Pride and motivation are the building blocks to consistent performance. You must have pride and confidence in yourself and desire to exceed expectations.

Why am I concerned with this topic? I mentor and consult with others all the time. I am amazed at the stories I receive, but I am not surprised. The majority of comments to me about performance deal with simple and basic common sense interactions between staff members, and between staff and their customers.

Some examples of what I am talking about are as follows:

• Donors calling the office staff for a simple request who either cannot reach the intended party or, when they do, the person pushes the request to someone else and it is never completed.
• A donor calling, emailing or personally visiting an individual staff member with absolutely no response to a simple request. In effect, someone is there but nobody is home.
• A staff member refusing to listen to a volunteer board member's advice regarding best use of a "famous" person who lives in the volunteer's area and who the volunteer knows personally.
• A supervisor making a request to staff with a deadline and no regard is given to attaining that goal.
• A staffer who learns her supervisor's style of management but doesn't use that intelligence wisely.
• Board members who sit on boards and do not provide any time, talent or treasure, and staff that allow that process to continue indefinitely.
• A staff leader not being available to his staff when they need advice and direction.
• A staff leader not providing the correct orientation, training and expectations for new hires.
• Staff who are reactive rather than proactive.

I can go on forever, but I hope you get the point. Being a leader is hard and requires consistent performance. You must lead by example and be a role model. You also need to be a good subordinate to your direct report so in turn you can be the best leader to your subordinates.