Can Excellence Be Taught?

I had the opportunity to spend some time with my nephew this past week. We were doing chores at my house.

I don't think cleaning house is anyone's favorite activity but it is always better when you have help. When your 6 years old, it is only fun if it is a game or if you get to use the cool tools and gadgets. We started pretty well when we got out the attachments out for the vacuum. That lasted about 10 minutes before he got bored and wanted to watch TV. I ended up finishing the job and pushing him to finish all the other assignments he was given. I wasn't really expecting a significant amount of work to get done but I was surprised by his behavior.

At work, we all have to do things we don't like to do from time to time. We have all been in those situations where we were so excited to take on a project and then realized half way in to it that it wasn't exactly what you thought it would be. When this happens at work though... you just do it. You push through and complete the task. If your boss asks you to do something, you do it and you do it to the best of your ability.

This got me thinking... how do you teach people to do the best they can with everything they do? There are sure plenty of people out there who didn't get this lesson growing up and once they reach adulthood is it too late? I have worked with a few people in the past who were content with average or the minimum. As a leader, can you develop the habit of excellence in an adult?

As an Aunt, how much do you push a lesson of excellence with kids? I shared this story with someone else and they said, "he is only 6, what do you expect?" I understand that he is still very young, but don't you have to start developing this type of attitude from the very beginning? How do you instill excellence in children so they grow up wanting to work hard and putting their best effort towards everything?

Are they learning the right lesson if you keep making them do the job over until it is done right? How do you develop the habit of excellence in kids without coming across as a control freak or leaving with them with feelings inadequacy? How do you keep from becoming that parent the child describes in therapy as an adult as, "no matter what I did it was never good enough for them?" How can you correct the child in a way that they will want to do their best not because of a fear of getting in trouble with the parent but because it is the right thing to do?