Hi again. Here is a second idea from the book Performance Intelligence at Work by Dr Julie Bell, and Robin Pou ( McGraw-Hill, 2009). It made me think, and I am sure it will do the same for you.

How do you feel when you are termed ‘average’? Many people – including me – bristle a bit at the term, because we feel that we are above average – even outstanding! But the way Dr Julie – as she likes to be called – explains ‘average’ makes good sense. She defines average as ‘the place where you perform on a consistent basis today’.

If we are totally honest with ourselves we do not perform at an outstanding level all the time. We certainly don’t perform perfectly, since perfection is not standard practice among mortals. Dr Julie suggests that we shouldn’t even strive for perfection, because we are setting ourselves up for failure, and that doesn’t seem like a sensible thing for us to do. Rather we should assess our day-to-day performance as average, and rate ourselves on a scale similar to the one below.

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There are several important implications from thinking this way:

According to the scale, there is considerable room for improvement. Now that’s a positive!

The average we are talking about is a personal average. It is your present level of performance.

The average is a moving target. The more you perform above your present average – the more you succeed, according to the diagram – the  higher your average becomes.

We often think of average as 5/10, but that’s not really the case. When you are first promoted to manager, for example, you recognize that you have a lot to learn,  and an honest evaluation of your ‘average’ performance may in fact be way lower than a 5. But the longer you are in the position, and the more experience you gain – and most importantly, the more you learn from the experiences you have – the better is your day to day performance. Your initial 3 can move to be 5, 7, or even higher. On a good day, you may hold a performance discussion with a staff member which you would rate as a 9! In your early days as a manager, you may not even have held a performance discussion with a staff member. When you actually steel yourself to do so, that is a  success in itself. Practice may not make perfect, but practice generally means an improved performance, thus impacting your average – the way you perform today – and your basis for tomorrow.

There are some other important implications relating to average. Firstly, you must be positive in your approach to the performance in question. Remember Dr Julie’s point from last posting. Your mind controls your performance. If you go into the discussion expecting it not to be successful – or if you go in expecting a 10 – you will probably not achieve. But if you go into the discussion expecting a 4, getting a 4 is in fact a success, and you may even surprise yourself and score a 6! And if you fail – you rate your performance as a 2 only – all that means is that you still have a way to go in this particular performance area. It does not mean that you are a failure as a manager!Work out what went wrong, and plan ways to improve your performance next time. Don’t invite the monkey of further failure to climb onto your backs. Nor should you plan to go for a 4 next time, but you should look to a 5.

The key to raising your average is simply to want to. If you don’t want to – you are happy to be a 4 forever – you may need to consider other career options.

Welcome to the world of the average, but get working on getting that average higher.

Talk with you again soon.

Bob