Excellence separates us from average. Excellence separates winners and losers, those who get the prize and those who go home empty handed. Excellence attracts. Excellence is aspirational. Excellence motivates. Excellence influences. Excellence rewards. But how do we live excellence in our service, work, family and other interactions?
Notice: The following contains some statements taken from the Christian faith. If that causes you problems, well, you have been warned.
I had the privilege to speak with a small group of Christian leaders recently. I shared this 5 element framework with them that will help implement excellence at the point of decision and action.
The framework is formed by the letters in the word “EXCEL”, and no this is not referring to the popular spreadsheet from Microsoft.
Effort
The first letter in ‘EXCEL’ is ‘E’ and stands for Effort.
Excellence at anything requires effort. Excellence without effort is like a golfer without golf clubs or a fisherman without a pole or a football player without a ball. You can’t even begin to play the game without the fundamental starting equipment. Effort is the fundamental starting equipment of the excellence game.
In our society we are surrounded by the allures of convenience. Don’t be seduced into thinking excellence can come from little or no effort because it can’t. Olympic champions don’t come from the couch potato ranks. There are no short cuts. No pills, no three minute workouts, no get excellence quick schemes. Effort for excellence can’t be borrowed or subscribed to as a service. You must put in the effort needed to excel at a given task. Many times that really not much more than the effort required to do something halfway. But the end result of that little extra effort can be amazing.
In every task you do, put in the effort to do it correctly and completely. Let excellent results in everything you do be your calling card.
eXamine
The second letter in ‘EXCEL’ is ‘X’. It stands for eXamine.
Excellence invites measurement and comparison. Excellence separates and divides. The very definition of the root word excel implies comparison. Examine your life. What’s going right? What’s going wrong? Where is God leading? Where are the needs in your life/family? What are you ignoring that needs attention? What needs more effort? What needs to change? What do you need to stop doing? These are all the questions of examination.
The pursuit of excellence demands we examine ourselves and implement changes where results are less than desired. Examination is the only way to get the necessary feedback to improve.
Embrace the changes you need to make that help you pursue excellence in your lives and work. It’s part of our growth and maturity. If we aren’t examining ourselves and growing how can we expect those who follow us to grow?
Christ
The third letter in ‘EXCEL’ is ‘C’ and that stands for Christ.
As a Christian, I believe that Jesus provided our ultimate example for excellence. He gave us our template for love, life, interactions, service, sacrifice, care and work.
Jesus’ initial command to his disciples was “Follow me”. That explicit command is one to look to Him as example and do as He did, to love, serve and help others. By living a life based on those attributes we can more effectively serve, give, love, impact and make the world a better place. But it must be genuine. People can spot a phony pretty quickly. Your showing of these attributes cannot be to manipulate, they must be to serve.
As leaders, we should be able to do the same thing with those who follow us. We should be able to say “follow me”. Watch and emulate what I do. We can only do this honestly if we are pursing excellence in all we do.
Engage
The fourth letter in ‘EXCEL’ is ‘E’ and that stands for Engage.
Can you imagine Denny Hamlin texting friends during pivotal laps of the Daytona 500? Can you imagine Von Miller, Super Bowl 50 MVP, waving to the crowd while rushing the passer on a key 3rd down and goal play? Can you imagine Jordan Spieth snapping a selfie while putting the final 18th at Augusta? Of course not. That is ridiculous. The loss of attention would have resulted in defeat.
We are all horrible multi-taskers. When we try to do something without really engaging we are just ‘going through the motions’ or ‘mailing it in’. That communicates loudly that you don’t really care. People know when you ‘aren’t there’, especially your family and close friends. Anything you do with half attention or half engagement usually results in mistakes, miscommunication, misunderstandings, poor results and do-overs. Or worse.
Excellence demands engagement. Attention is the currency of engagement. This is your full mental presence and focus. Enthusiastic engagement, your full attention, will influence and motivate people when you interact with them. Energetic engagement is contagious to those searching for what you have. Engagement is a gift to those you interact with. Be engaged with your family, church, work and personal pursuits. Be all there.
Love
The last letter in ‘EXCEL’ is ‘L’. This stands for Love.
Love should be the true motivation of our actions and the foundation of our excellence as we serve those around us. The Apostle Paul in the New Testament reminds us that love is “the most excellent way”. Remember that true love is a choice, an act of the will to act to benefit another even at the expense of self. Our world today is desperate to see authentic love from leaders, businesses and those in government and education. This is also true for customers, employees, families, friends and others you come into contact with.
Those are the 5 pillars of excellence: EXCEL – Effort, eXamine, Christ, Engage, Love.
To excel as leaders takes all of them. Daily, project by project, task by task, encounter by encounter, relationship by relationship.
Applying the 5 pillars of ‘EXCEL’ will help every decision and the subsequent actions be done with excellence.