In a recent Fast Company article, Michael Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman has a few things to say about getting the most performance out of people. Coaching 22 gold medals from one athlete gives him a lot of authority to speak as to the level of standards that need to be set in order to achieve consistent excellence:

DETERMINE YOUR GOLD STANDARD.
“Each business has a gold standard,” Bowman says. It’s up to the leadership to decide what that standard is and how the organization gets there. Once the gold standard is set, everyone on the team needs to buy into it, he says. “We (the staff and athletes at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club where Bowman is CEO) try to be very process-oriented, performing up to a certain standard every day,” Bowman says, “(You can only) control what you can control.”

‘Disruption’ and ‘innovation’ are now the norm in our daily work flow. It is more critical than ever to determine what we CAN control and create process which will consistently delivery our high standards in regardless of the unforeseen yet inevitable challenges. We make our day to day business decisions based on what we perceive as standards for success. If these standards are not clearly articulated AND agreed upon by the entire organization – we will waste resources and experience failure. And if we want to achieve sustainable success, then we must create consistent process which deliver these standards or we will experience inconsistent results.

What is your organization’s standard for excellence?
and HOW do you consistently achieve this Gold Standard?