Our guest blogger this month is Ian Nield, the chief executive of Investors in Excellence.
When considering the above question, many of us will be inspired by our role models, heroes, visionaries and sometimes, the image we see in the mirror.
A hero of mine is Steve Williams OBE, a double Olympic gold medallist with GB Rowing. Steve is a role model of excellence with the rare ability to combine humility with high self-esteem, a strong team ethic, pragmatism with a titanium tough determination to win. In the pursuit of his many rowing titles, Steve had an absolute focus and challenge to himself “Does it make the boat go faster?”
This question has made a lasting impact on our business, as well as underpinning our client engagements, where we help clients plan, deliver and review success by: maintaining an absolute focus on the goal – does everything you do, make your boat go faster? A key aspect of this is determining What Matters Most, with absolute focus on Achieving key results.
Constantly focus on investing in excellence – not aiming to catch up with the average but outstripping the competition by leading, resourcing and delivering excellence as the norm.
To achieve, this you’ll need your team to consistently say goodbye to a mediocrity mindset and continue to develop a stronger winning mentality; and like Steve to develop the qualities that inspire others to achieve excellence. So I ask you, What Matters Most? to you and to your organisation.
We often feel uncomfortable with being ‘loud and proud’ about our success and most of us don’t have an Olympic gold medal round our necks, but we all have huge talents, and a key way that IiE supports your focus on excellence and recognises your success is through the Investors in Excellence Standard, which has recently been refreshed and will be launched in March 2016.
IiE can help you establish What Matters Most, provide the tools and approaches to ensure that your actions are making your boat go faster and, when you are pondering all the things you have to do, just a thought: Steve’s coach, Jurgen Grobler, said to the crew before the Beijing Olympic final: “It will get so dark and hurt so much that you will cry out for your mother and your father, but you will win on the last stroke.” And they did, by 0.08 of a second.
At IiE we challenge you to look afresh at the IiE Standard – it won’t hurt!, but it will help you become the best you can be.