Fostering Excellence

How do you foster excellence in a team of diverse individuals?

That’s an interesting question, because I think excellence looks different when people are coming from diverse backgrounds. And so, what I found is sometimes people want to be in roles perhaps they’re not excellent in, but they may be excellent at other things. And part of it is finding out what their strengths are, and giving them the feedback.
You want to do this role, and it will be a stretch for you, but we will help you get the tools, and provide you the support to try to achieve that. But if you can’t achieve it, know that you are excellent in this role… And if that’s enough for you, great, if it’s not, then that’s something we’ll have to address as well. So, just be very clear in the communications.
I mean, I love that people want to stretch themselves, but they also have to know that there’s expectations when they do that, it can’t be just that there’s a seniority process, right? There’s an acquisition of skills. And so, I think just making, again, I equate managing people to raising children quite a bit, and part of it is just letting—setting the boundaries, and being very clear and consistent, and also letting them know what the expectations are, and providing them support, and letting them know that you’re in their corner. But, if things don’t go out, there will also be consequences.