The Rise of Organizational Mediocrity

Throughout my career, I've made it a point to stand in the line of excellence, it was much shorter than the one next to me, mediocrity.  Over time I watched my line shrink and the other grow at an exponential rate.  The people standing in my line (I'm at the end of the back end of the line) were reading, discussing, trying to figure out what to do to get further ahead in the line, the line next to us, we'll they were sitting around,having a drink, relaxing and really not to concerned about whether the line was moving forward or not, they were content just where they were.  As a matter of fact, they kept looking over at my line and asking us, what are you so wound up about, take it easy, everything will be okay, your safe, nothing is going to happen to you.  Most of them had been in that line their entire life and when I asked them why, they simply said, "why should we make the extra effort when people are happy with who we are and what we do, our line is moving slowly, but it's moving, we're not in a hurry like you guys.

Metaphorically, this is how many organizations behave.  In the first few months it's like dating, you put on your best appearance, act graciously and count the days until your safe, make it through probation.  Once that's happened, it's time to step up to the altar, confirm our vows and then make a dash to the lazy boy with the remote control and simply wait out your time.  

I've worked for several different organizations, many of which are very successful, however there was one constant that I noted, even in the best and that was their willingness to not only accept but tolerate mediocre performance.  People in the organization would even comment on these individuals, it wasn't as if it were a secret, it just was.  

The end result is always the same, a consequence for accepting that behavior and it comes to us in  many different ways.  It can grow throughout the organization, demotivate those that are attempting to move the needle forward, create complacency.  I've even seen it where it manifests itself as a negative behavior being positively reinforced.  I once had someone ask me to do another colleagues task.  I asked why, they said, "he's not going to do it right, so I want you to do it for me."  My response was, why are you punishing me for his lack of performance.

Mediocrity exists for one reason and one reason only, we allow it.

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