Are You Fostering Mediocrity Without Knowing It?

Your heart must be in the right place, if you take the time to read leadership blogs. You are passionate about your work, your ministry, your family, your organization. You probably lie in bed at night dreaming about the way things could be and should be. You want to move the needle; you want to be an agent of positive change. And you want to transform the organization and lead your team toward a preferred future.

But there’s a problem. Mediocrity has set in and you’re not sure how it sunk so deeply into the fabric of the organization. Your desire for change and passion for improvement may be unknowingly fostering mediocrity. Here’s how…

Your desire for change and passion for improvement may be unknowingly fostering mediocrity. Click To Tweet

Too Many Priorities

If everything is important then nothing is important. If you haven’t said no to a really good idea recently, it’s likely that you have accumulated too many priorities along the way. An organization that has too many goals and deadlines won’t have enough resources to get it all done, or not done well. Jesus has a strong word for leaders with too many priorities, “Prune!” (John 15).

If everything is important then nothing is important. If you haven't said no to a really good idea recently, it's likely that you have accumulated too many priorities along the way. Click To Tweet

Do you know why a lion trainer uses a stool to tame the lion in the cage? In showing the four legs of the stool, the trainer paralyzes the lion with multiple focal points rendering the lion distracted and impotent. The same can happen to your leadership. You can become paralyzed as a leader and the organization can become mediocre by trying to focus on too many priorities at the same time. Every “Yes!” needs to be protected by a thousand, “No’s!”

Jim Collins has some great advice for over-prioritized leaders. Before starting another to-do list, first, create and populate a stop-doing list and be committed to checking it off every day.

Too Little Rest

You are a human being, not a human doing. You have a pulse and a biological rhythm, not a hard drive and an operating system. You need to unplug to get re-charged. You are a person, not a machine. You need rest and restoration even more than you need a strategic plan or a “0-inbox.” Many leaders have been sucked into a pace of life they cannot sustain and it’s killing them, literally.

You are a human being, not a human doing. You have a pulse and a biological rhythm, not a hard drive and an operating system. You need to unplug to get re-charged. You are a person, not a machine. Click To Tweet

Can you relate to Bilbo Baggins who said, “I feel all thin, sort of stretched like butter that has been spread over too much bread.” Ignoring the laws of sleep and rest do not have immediate consequences like ignoring the laws of gravity. Most leaders can run on fumes for far too long. Their talent and drive make up for their lack of sleep and neglect of the soul.

Ignoring the laws of sleep and rest do not have immediate consequences like ignoring the laws of gravity. Click To Tweet

When leaders keep an unsustainable pace for too long, they risk neglecting their hearts and damaging their souls. The heart and soul are the inner core of great leadership. Without them, leaders can veer toward dangerous places emotionally, relationally and physically.

A weary soul is a doorway to mediocrity. The most effective leaders take time off every weekend. They don’t start work early and stay late in the same 24 hour period. They take all their allotted vacation days. They go on a sabbatical if allowed. They take a 3-day retreat at least once a year and get 7+ hours of sleep every night. They make rest and restoration a priority and fight off mediocrity in the process.

Forgetting to Delegate

One is too small a number to achieve extraordinary results. If you are leading an organization it’s imperative to understand that you can have control or you can have growth but you cannot have both.

To achieve the results you want, delegating to others is a must. That means two things: 1) empower delegates with full responsibility for the results, and, 2) transfer to them the authority they need to make decisions on how to achieve those results. Stephen Covey called this Stewardship Delegation.

In the absence of responsibility, your leaders won’t own the results because they know you will swoop in and take over if it starts to going badly. Furthermore, without the authority to decide how to do the work, your leaders will disengage and not bring their best discretionary effort to the job.

Those closest to you will determine your success. Leaders that belong in your inner circle desire the responsibility and authority to make a difference. If you do not share that responsibility and authority with them, you will unknowingly foster mediocrity.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow but necessary.  Some leaders that are passionate about change and possess a strong desire to be an agent of transformation may be unknowingly contributing to organizational mediocrity.

The best leaders stay laser-focused and don’t get distracted by too many goals and objectives. Great leaders humbly acknowledge their finite nature and take the time they need to rest physically and restore emotionally. Remarkable leaders have enough influence to attract other great leaders and the smarts to leave them alone as they accomplish extraordinary things.

The less you do, the more you accomplish.

The more rest you take, the more you move the needle.

The more you delegate, the more you multiply impact.