The High Standards of Great Leadership

Leaders need to have high standards. It drives a level of success, intrinsic motivation, and raises the value offered to customers. High standards separate the best leaders from the rest.

Leaders have relentlessly high standards – many people may think these standards are unreasonably high.”

– Jeff Bezos

Leadership standards are the norms and expectations leaders set on acceptable performance. At its core, the standards of great leadership are high. They are about excellence.

Unfortunately, too many leaders and influencers we observe in public convey a skewed set of standards. They blur the lines between fact and fiction and use meandering words that tickle the ears and emotions to support their best interest. It’s easy to follow these low standards, especially when it seems everyone else does. However, it takes courage to hold up the banner of excellence and demonstrate the behaviors of a leader with high standards.

The Behaviors of Leaders with High Standards

Leaders who have high standards deliver excellence like a well-crafted document with zero typos or grammatical errors.

When I started my career with Procter & Gamble (P&G), we had a culture of mastery in documentation. P&G was known for the powerful “1-page memo”. You had to try to tell a convincing story in no more than one page. It would take me hours and sometimes days to craft and edit a memo. My first draft could be five pages long but the final version had to be succinct, flow well, and to the point. And on 1 page (legible font and acceptable page margins, thank you). Nothing short of excellence would be accepted. That high standard taught us to be clear, concise, efficient, and effective in our communication.

Leaders with high standards do not settle for mediocrity. They expect excellence from themselves and others. They see every product of theirs as important. Nothing is too small or insignificant to give it their best effort. They deliver high quality, whether it’s to the office janitor or the company CEO.  Leaders who have high standards are internally driven. They enjoy the intrinsic reward of knowing they delivered their best.

Some other behaviors of leaders with high standards:

• Consistently delivers top quality results.
• Demonstrates high integrity.
• Are honest and trustworthy.
• Respects and values others.
• Demonstrates positive ethics. 

The enemy of excellence is “good.” Leaders who settle for “good enough” will not be as successful as those with high standards who consistently strive for excellence.

Raising Your Standards

Impactful leaders work to raise their standards.  They do not lower their standards to meet someone else’s lower expectations.

Seek people with high standards. People with high standards are attracted to others with similar tendencies and “push” each other to even higher standards. According to Prov 27:17, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (ESV). In other words, if you work around people with high standards, you will find your standards being elevated. On the other hand, if you surround yourself with people with low standards, the law of atrophy seems to take effect and it won’t be long before you start accepting lower standards. You become more like those you associate with.

Pursue excellence. Leaders who have high standards, drive for excellence. This is different from perfection. Excellence is delivering above expectations. Perfection is striving for a goal that may be unattainable. It often causes unhealthy stress, creates a lack of self-confidence, and creates disempowerment.

Evaluate and elevate today. Don’t apologize for your standards, even if you can’t always reach them. As Christ-centered leaders, evaluate your standards and measure them against Biblical principles. Do they represent what’s expected of you? Look for opportunities and right now is always the best time to raise your standards to the next level; not tomorrow or when the “next opportunity” comes.

How to Set High Leadership Standards

Exceptional leaders set clear expectations for high performance from themselves and others. This is not optional.  There are several actions you can take to set and expect high standards.

• Be clear on your values and goals. The foundation of setting high standards is clear, constant communication. Both verbal and nonverbal.

• Role-model the behaviors of excellence you want in the organization. The culture of an organization is a reflection of the leader.

• Follow through with your word. Especially promises made. Integrity means your words and actions are the same. This builds trust.

• Serve your team. Your employees will follow your standards if they know you have their best interest at heart concerning their personal growth and development.

• Leave room for failure. High standards mean there will be some misses. The job of a leader is to help others learn through their failures.

• Celebrate successes. Reward excellence and challenge mediocrity.

The standards set by a leader determine the success level of an organization. Expect more to get more. Let me be clear. Setting a high standard is often unpopular. It requires courage and resilience. These are two characteristics that make leaders who they are. They are needed to drive excellence, a mark of exceptional leadership.

Empowered Leader Reflection

What standards have you accepted of yourself and your organization that do not reflect excellence?

Would you help us grow by sharing your comments below?

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