Reflections in Excellence

Many of us are striving for success, in our work, our recreation and our relationships. But what does ‘success’ mean? Providing meaning in success may be more important than merely finding a definition.

You may have heard the quote "The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary". While most of us don't need a dictionary to know what it means to work hard, we often wonder what is the meaning of success. The dictionary definition of success is 'the accomplishment of an aim or favourable outcome'. However, the accomplishment, even if it brings fame, fortune or prestige, sometimes feels like only a partial or temporary result.

Our human nature requires us to achieve, often over many obstacles. But there is more to the meaning of success than merely accomplishment. If success were easy, there would be no such thing as failure. The achievement of something that is easily attainable provides us with no real sense of satisfaction. For example, no one likes to win a match due to the other team's forfeit. To feel like we have succeeded, some effort must be required so as to entitle us to the reward satisfaction brings. As Sophocles said "There is no success without hardship". However, effort alone is not sufficient. We desire the effort to be valued, even if only by ourselves. To work hard on a proposal that is never considered (let alone implemented) does not create a sense of accomplishment. The effort needs to be valued effort. This is the first dynamic in the meaning of success. In Robert Louis Stevenson's words "To travel is hopefully better than to arrive, and the true success is in the labour".

But what is the destination that creates the meaning for the journey? Where the goal is accomplished, but the achievement itself is meaningless, there is no satisfaction. To complete a tender that is never submitted only creates a sense of pointlessness. A hollow sense of completion is all that is attained. This brings in the second dynamic in the meaning of success - worthwhile purpose. To feel successful we need valued effort directed towards a worthwhile purpose. These are the keys to a motivating definition of success.

There is an alternative view. This is where success is assessed not by the value in the result, or by the obstacles overcome, but by measuring the progress itself. Usually this is quantified in financial terms. How much we make, take or get is the language of this type of success. The dynamics in this definition are completely different. The 'why' and the 'how' are replaced by the 'how much'. Central to this is the concept of profit. To define success in a business deal we use the monetary value willingly paid over and above the cost of the thing provided. To extract a larger profit more easily is the goal of the entrepreneur. In economic terms, success (profit) is then defined as a function of the amount of the gain (revenue) and the ease in which the gain is acquired (cost of sales).The essence of this type of success is to reduce our effort in the accomplishment, with no driving worthwhile purpose in the acquisition. The motivating purpose for the revenue generating activity then becomes the measurement of the activity itself and the only motivator that provides satisfaction is the acquisition of more.

Profit is necessary for any business or organisation. It is fundamental. It is also a management fundamental to have accurate ways to assess performance. But is the achievement and measurement of results alone a sufficient premise on which to base a meaningful and motivating definition of success?

In our workplaces we seek to succeed. Success is a great motivator. Management sets objectives and progress is measured. Performance targets are met, budgets accomplished, goals are attained. The cycle repeats. The managed scorecard provides the indicators of success - but not the motivating purpose. For some reason increasing the targets does not increase motivation, only the effort employed. Many organisations are now realising that once employees have a satisfactory wage, the pursuit of increasingly larger profits lacks somehow a deeper motivation. So how does this work in an organisation? In businesses where the rewards are dependent on performance to budgets - the budget setting process becomes less about achievement and more an exercise in routine cost management. Bonus and employee share schemes provide little incentive unless an employee's personal efforts can make a direct and sustainable difference.

In such cultures the 'stretch' target becomes the substitute for a realistic and motivating goal, and the statistical indicators of financial performance never provide a complete picture of the effort invested. As Einstein said "Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts". It is interesting how organisations that excel do not communicate financial indicators so as to motivate success, but use performance statistics to communicate success to the motivated. It is not surprising that the management by objectives trend, like most corporate fads, has had its rise to popularity and subsequent decline as a management panacea. The reason for this is that it fails to provide a complete and intrinsically worthwhile solution of how to benefit from the motivation 'success' brings to a workplace. Setting increasingly ambitious performance targets was never going to provide employees with a lasting sense of satisfaction. Employees want their efforts to be valued and feel that they are contributing to a worthwhile purpose.

So what is the true meaning of success? Ralph Waldo Emmerson (1803-1882), while not acclaimed as a business management theorist in his time, provides an answer in his poem What is Success?

"To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people;
And the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics
And endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty;
To find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better;
Whether by a healthy child, a garden patch
or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived;

The respected leaders in our community understand that sustained effort motivated by a worthwhile purpose is what defines a deeper sense of success. For such people money is not the aim of their success, but is often the by-product of it. One successful person has described success as "the rewards that come from the continuous pursuit of a worthwhile ideal'. This is my favourite definition as it includes the key dynamics of both valued effort and worthwhile purpose. A framework for a definition is provided. The challenge is to find personal definitions of these key dynamics that are motivating to us and our organisations. For those that understand human nature and wish to lead motivated organisations it is easy to create long-term success and Business Excellence. Perhaps we should simply look more to the ways of providing a meaningful purpose in the pursuit of our organisation's goals, and less at the ways of measuring indicators of an intrinsic success that remains undefined.