Although the reward for greatness far outstrips that of mediocrity, far more companies are so content with mediocrity that their aspiration for greatness is feeble.
Mediocrity is not just being average or ordinary; it is doing less than you are capable of doing; it is being less than your best; it is not going as far as you can go. Every organization that falls into mediocrity deprives every of its stakeholders full benefit of their relationship with it; the customers are not given the top-notch services they deserve, the investors do not get as much return on their investment as they should, the employees are not as well paid as they ought to be and the government does not get as much tax as it ought to get. So, everyone that has to do with a mediocre company pays for its mediocrity.
Mediocrity is not a consequence of lack of capacity, neither is it a result of inadequate resources; mediocrity is the outcome of the absence of the will to optimize available capacity, resources and opportunities. When an organization fails to seize opportunities, it slides into mediocrity.
Factors that push organizations into mediocrity
These are some of the factors that lead to mediocrity.
Complacency
The major cause of mediocrity in organizations is complacency. When a company is led by persons who are not constantly challenged; men and women who do not see the accomplishment of a goal as the motivation to aim higher but a reason for chest-thumping and back-slapping or a time to take it easy, mediocrity will set in. Mediocrity is not the absence of ability, it is a decision to do less than the best; it is a resolve by an organization to stay on the same spot. But the tragedy is that organizations do not stay on the same spot for long. When a company is not consistently making progress, it gradually begins to retrogress. However, this may not be immediately noticeable and the issue is not given the quick attention it deserves until it gets too late. Rather than surrendering to complacency, great leaders keep setting higher goals each time they achieve a set goal. That way, they stay motivated, inspired and challenged. When a great leader records a feat, he does not engage in chest-thumping, he sets his eyes on something higher and better.
Sony’s slip
Sony was already a global brand before it came up with its Walkman on July 1, 1979. This device, which allowed individuals to enjoy music of their choice wherever they were and anytime they wanted, revolutionized the electronics industry globally and played a major role in pushing Sony to the fore as the leading electronics company as the product sold over 400 million copies.
The Walkman was developed at the instance of Sony co-founder, Masaru Ibuka. Ibuka, a music enthusiast, loved to go about with Sony TC-D5, so as to be able to enjoy music wherever he was. When he had to make some long flights in 1979, he requested one of Sony engineers, Norio Ohga, to develop something smaller and more portable than TC-D5 so that he could enjoy music on the flights.
Working with Sony Pressman, a portable, monaural tape recorder, Ohga was able to design the Walkman to enable Ibuka enjoy his choice of music on his trips. Thus was born the Walkman.
But rather than build on this feat which earned it a fortune, Sony embarked on a long chest-thumping binge. By the time it returned to reality, Apple had built on the Walkman to develop the iPod. Thus, despite giving the world its first mobile stereo music device, Sony failed to move to the next stage. Apple beat Sony to it by coming up with the iPod.
Although Sony is still running, it is no longer a front runner in the industry which it once dominated. Complacency is always costly.
Failure to prioritize
Mediocre organizations are involved in more things than they can cope with. As a result, their resources are spread thin and they are unable to make the most of opportunities that arise. On the other hand, great companies are intentional about the activities they get into; they go for those activities that have the capacity to bring exponential growth and heart-warming returns. Consequently, they keep churning out results that always shock competition.
There are three types of activities that a company can get involved in. These are activities that keep it on the same spot, those that produce incremental growth and those that bring exponential growth. While companies that beat mediocrity make activities with the potentiality for exponential growth their focus because they yield the highest returns, mediocre organizations busy themselves with everything in sight. They forget that when everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. They fail to set apart their priorities. Hence, they waste resources and fritter opportunities.
Inappropriate strategy
Almost every corporate failure is traceable to poor strategy. The power of a great vision to produce a great company is often destroyed by poor strategy. Poor strategy kills a company faster than leukemia kills its victim. So, corporate leaders have to be sure that they are working with the right strategy to avoid working in vain.
The essence of strategy is to win. A strategy that does not result in success is not a good one. A good strategy is an action plan which leverages a company’s competences and resources to achieve a desired end. Nothing less, nothing else. Strategy is not a desire to be expressed; it is a work to be done. Strategy is a series of coordinated and connected activities that will turn desires into reality. But what most organizations parade as strategies are nothing but goals and desires. Goals are not achieved in a vacuum, goals are transformed into realities when the right steps are taken. An organization does not land at the top in a flight, getting to the top is a consequence of making the right decisions consistently.
Two factors are essential for a good strategy; the people and the process. So, coming up with a good strategy starts with getting the appropriate personnel and emplacing the right process. Getting the right personnel is critical because people drive process, not the other way round.
The Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was tilted in favour of Napoleon because the combination of French and Spanish ships outnumbered the British fleet. After the short-lived Peace of Amiens in 1805, Napoleon was determined to end the British dominance on the sea. So, he ordered the Franco-Spanish fleet to disrupt Britain’s commercial activities for the purpose of preparing for a cross-channel invasion. But Horatio Nelson, a very strategic officer, led the British admiral’s fleet. Seeing that his fleet was disadvantaged by number, he decided to go against the grain by deploying a strategy that was different from what was in vogue at the time. The prevailing naval tactical orthodoxy of the time was for the two opposing fleets to engage each other in single parallel lines. But Nelson arranged his ships into two columns to sail perpendicularly into the enemy fleet’s line. He had reasoned that the combined team would not be able to compensate for the heavy swell and that the enemy fleet, would be no match for the more experienced British captains and gunners in the ensuing clash. As it turned out, he was right. The French and Spanish lost 22 ships, two-thirds of their fleet. The British lost none. The British ended up routing the enemies.
When the strategy is right, the result cannot be wrong.
Failure to follow market trend
One of the attributes of great companies is that they follow market trends and are able to identify opportunities before they become common knowledge. Since human beings are dynamic, their needs cannot be stagnant. Therefore, any organization that serves human beings must be able to properly and effectively understand what the needs of the market where it operates would be so that it can properly prepare for it and guard against being left behind by the market. The market has lost its loyalty; it is only loyal to those who meet its needs. While great companies are in tune with market trends and act appropriately, mediocre companies do not seize the opportunity because they do not even understand the trend, as a result they are left in the lurch.
To understand trend and identify opportunities, organizations have to recognize the emergence of unique technologies, changes in demographics, changes in customers’ buying habits and changes in fads. Recognizing these is quite important because every disruption always leaves a range of opportunities.
Wale Adenuga’s super story
Those who grew up in Nigeria in the late 1970s and 1980s were treated to hilarious cartoon stories by characters in Wale Adenuga’s magazine, Ikebe Super. The characters included Papa Ajasco, Mama Ajasco, Pa Jimoh, Boy Alinco and Miss Pepeiye. The magazine enjoyed an appreciable following, especially among young adults and students. He also published Binta as well as Super Story. However, Adenuga saw the economic depression of the 1980s before it became manifest. He realized that with the imminent economic depression it would be difficult to persuade Nigerians to part with their money for cartoons, so he veered into film production.
In 1983, before the advent of Nollywood, Adenuga produced a celluloid film, Papa Ajasco, based on the stories he had published in the magazine. The film, the first English comedy, was a hit. Its success encouraged Adenuga to produce more films. He came up with Binta, My Daughter in 1995 and a year later he started the television series, Papa Ajasco, before hitting it real big with the Super Story series. He later established the Wale Adenuga Production Television.
What does Wale Adenuga do now? The same thing as what he did in the 1970s and 1980s. He still tells stories but no longer through cartoon characters and the print medium but through actors and actresses using the electronic medium. When he saw that the opportunity in the print medium was petering out for his business, he identified the opportunity in another segment of the same industry. That is why he is still relevant today while many of his contemporaries have become history.
Inconsistency
Mediocre organizations sometimes come up with great products and services but their undoing is their inconsistency. Hence, as observed by Tony Robbins, an American businessman, it is not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It is what we do on a consistent basis. Every great athlete knows this. So does every outstanding artist, musician, engineer, footballer and entrepreneur. The more consistent a company is at rendering a service, the more proficient it gets at it. Consistency results in momentum which builds a powerful force in favour of the consistent.
Usually, mediocrity is a consequence of consistent inconsistency. Aristotle said a person becomes what he repeatedly does, adding that excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. By inference, organizations that are not consistent at doing what is right end up being ordinary. This is simply because their inconsistency does not allow them to build impetus in a particular direction. The tide is never in their favour because each time they go off course only to come back later, they lose ground and are unable to keep the force. Invariably, they become a shadow of what they could have been.
Last line
Where the resolve for greatness is definite, capacity is always elastic.
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