One of the core values of the team I lead is that “we do amazing work.” That matters to us because we have a vision to be the best marketing/creative/content team in our organization. To be the best, we have to be doing work that is so good (or amazing even) that it gets noticed and praised by others. But how do you do that? And how do you know when you’ve done it?
1. Hire amazing talent.
To produce quality work, you’ve got to have quality producers. Don’t settle when it comes to hiring. Ever. Find people that have done better work than you’ve done before and who inspire you to be better at your job. Find people that are passionate about what they do and are always trying to get better. Easier said than done, but you’ll always be rewarded for your patience.
2. Have confidence in your competence.
This is one of the lessons Dave Ramsey taught me within my first few weeks of working for him. You were hired for a reason, and it’s the same reason you hired your team (especially if you heed the advice from #1 above). Don’t sell yourself or your knowledge and abilities short. We do this to ourselves a lot, even when we are undoubtedly the experts in the room. Be careful not to confuse arrogance with confidence, however. Confidence is quiet and comes packaged with humility. Arrogance is loud and comes with heaps of insecurity. People around you can tell the difference. If you’re not sure, it’s okay to ask.
3. Give your team the space to be excellent.
I am a believer in quality over quantity, in fewer things done better. Whenever I am doing strategic planning, I’m always trying to leave margin for the team. One reason for this is to account for unplanned work coming in (which will always happen, by the way). And the other reason is so they’ll have the time and space to focus on doing their best work. Three cool things happen when you create margin for your team. First of all, they are happier and end up being more productive overall because they aren’t maxed out all the time. Second, they are happier because they are consistently producing good work that they are proud of. Third, they are loyal because environments like the one I’ve described are few and far between.
4. Don’t submit it until you’re happy with it.
Finally, if you’re like me, you probably have a lot of things coming at you that are due yesterday. It’s tough to balance the “get it done now” mentality with “get it done right.” But I’m often reminded by the quote from John Wooden and paraphrased by Seth Godin,
“If you don’t have time to do it right, what makes you think you’ll have time to do it over?”
Truer words have never been spoken. This doesn’t mean to ignore deadlines and create issues for other teams that are downstream and have dependencies on you or your team. It means go back to the beginning, spend more time planning and being clear on the goals and objectives, bring others in sooner and find creative ways to help your team perform at their peak levels.
Anyone can be mediocre. Turns out that a lot of folks are, and they’re okay with it. To set the bar higher—to be world-class—takes a different sort of mentality. Do amazing work, and you’ll be happier, you’ll make a difference and the world will be a better place.