Smart People with Low Standards
To elicit high-quality work from intelligent but underperforming employees, a leader repeatedly asks "Is this your best work?" until the employee confirms it is, thereby setting a clear expectation and standard.
THE IDEA
Smart People with Low Standards
The difference between average and exceptional results for a leader often comes down to whether they’re consistently getting more out of smart but otherwise lazy people. I once found myself working with one such fellow. I’d recently been promoted, and he sent me a draft asking for my “guidance and feedback.” The draft was terrible and full of obvious flaws. It wasn’t his best work. I knew it. And he knew it.
If you work in a large organization, I’m sure something similar has happened to you. Someone creates a half-assed draft of something that’s full of poor thinking, sends it around, and waits for others to correct it. This tactic takes advantage of one of our defaults: we love correcting people. If someone does something wrong, we almost can’t help but tell them how to do it the right way. So you do the work, and they get the credit in a fraction of the time it would’ve taken them to do it themselves. Smart. But lazy.
I didn’t want to spend the rest of the evening (or my career) correcting this guy’s work for him. I needed a way of changing his behavior. But how?
I remembered a story I’d read about Henry Kissinger. A staffer had drafted a memo and left it on Kissinger’s desk for him to read. A while later Kissinger approached him and asked if it was his best work. The staffer said no and rewrote the entire memo. The next day the staffer ran into Kissinger again and asked what he thought. Kissinger asked him again if this was the best he could do. The staffer took the memo and rewrote it yet again. The next morning the same scenario played out, only this time the poor staffer stated that yes indeed it was his best work. Kissinger replied, “Okay, now I’ll read it.”
I decided to adopt Kissinger’s approach. I simply replied to the email with “Is this your best work?”
The fellow responded no, asked for a few days to clarify his thinking, and came back with a version he thought was dramatically improved. Without opening the document, I shot back the same thing.
He replied, “Yes, this is the best I can do.”
I read that version, and it was excellent. Now that I knew what he was capable of and he knew that I knew, I told him I expected that out of him every time. The standard was clear. I was never disappointed.
When to use it
Managing a smart but unmotivated employee
Coaching a team member who consistently delivers below their potential
Providing feedback on a junior staff member's report
Establishing high performance standards in a new leadership role
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Leader gets best work from subordinate
A recently promoted manager receives a poor draft from a team member asking for feedback. Instead of correcting it, the manager replies, "Is this your best work?" The employee admits it's not, revises, and after a second prompt, submits excellent work. The manager then sets that as the expected standard going forward.
Henry Kissinger's approach
When a staffer submitted a memo, Kissinger asked if it was his best work. Told it wasn't, the staffer rewrote it. This repeated until the staffer confirmed it was his best. Kissinger then read it, knowing he had the best effort.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
When you receive a substandard piece of work, do you tend to correct it directly or ask the person if it's their best?
How can you set clear standards of quality in your team without being overly critical?
In what situations might repeatedly asking 'Is this your best work?' backfire?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Clear Thinking Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results (Shane Parrish)