[1]Relentlessly Lowering Expectations:
We always compare performance on a relative basis. "Well, it's
better than it was yesterday…"
Toddlers, for example, seem like geniuses compared to the babies
they used to be.
Some people around us have embraced a strategy of always lowering
expectations so that their mediocre effort is seen as acceptable.
Over time, we embrace the pretty good memo or the decent leadership
moment, because it's so much better than we feared.
And some? Some relentlessly raise expectations, establishing a
standard that it's hard to imagine exceeding. And then they do.
If you've been cornered into following, working with or serving
someone in the first group, an intervention can be rewarding. For
you and for the person trapped in this downward cycle.
Raising our expectations is a fine way to raise performance as well.
(Via [2]Seth's Blog)
I get Seth's point, but I argue that he is missing two huge
constituencies: those who don't know yesterday and those who know they
need to do better than yesterday.
In my field, the first are an ever diminishing group of organizations
that think their cybersecurity blindness coupled with a lack of known
breach means they're "ok". Maybe their business risk allows them their
naïve approach. Time and experience will eventually come to call.
Then there are the other group, those that know that what they've been
doing (or not doing) is no longer sufficient. They're deciding to make
a change to improve. Maybe they're asking for outside help. Maybe what
they see in front of them seems insurmountable in time, resources,
money, and patience.
For this second group, being better than yesterday can be motivating
and empowering.
I agree with Seth that lowering expectations to make middling effort
seem effective is bad. It's always eventually self-defeating. Good
metrics, analytics, and reporting addresses this in all but the softest
of skills and sciences.
Yet, sometimes, the appearance of success will breed success where
there was little or none. Don't discount the placebo effect.
__________________________________________________________________
My original entry is here: [3]Yesterday as a lie, a baseline, or a
balm. It posted Mon, 28 Jan 2019 12:02:05 +0000.
Filed under: business,
References
1.
https://seths.blog/2019/01/relentlessly-lowering-expectations/
2.
https://seths.blog/
3.
https://www.prjorgensen.com/?p=2575
