No excuses culture

No excuses culture

Many companies claim to have a high-performance culture with teams full of A-Players, but the reality is often different. I witness their Metrics (Key Performance Indicators) falling below the agreed standard, or Projects and Tasks not being completed on time. Here is how I learned to combat this problem:

Many years ago, I read an article by Steve Blank about creating a “No Excuses Culture“. Steve Blank is a Silicon Valley author, entrepreneur, university lecturer, and pioneer of the Lean Startup movement. His thoughts reinforced many of the concepts I learned (the hard way) with teams I’ve managed. 

Blank wrote about a company he managed where there were no consequences for poor performance, so (understandably) the employees acted as if schedules and commitments didn’t matter. It was driving him crazy. To combat this, he instituted “No Excuses” as a Core Value and put a sign on his door saying “No Excuses Accepted”.

He explained his “No Excuses” policy as follows: 

“I didn’t mean ‘deliver or else’. I meant, ‘We agreed on a delivery date, and between now and the delivery date, it’s OK if you ask for help because you’re stuck, or something happened outside of your control. But do not walk into my office the day something is due and give me an excuse. It will cost you your job.’ The goal wasn’t inflexible dates and deadlines, it was to build a culture of no surprises and collective problem-solving.”

Here’s the process I use with clients to create a “No Excuses culture”.

1. Achievable goals

Set goals with realistic targets and deadlines so everyone knows what is expected of them, and get the goal owner’s firm commitment upfront to meet the agreed performance standard. 

2. Less is more

Don’t overwhelm people with too many demands. You can’t keep dumping more work on people and expect them to deliver. I often say to clients, “If everything is important, then nothing is.”  

There are lots of things you could do, but you can’t do everything. Strategy is about making choices. Strategy is about making trade-offs. Professor Michael Porter said, “The essence of strategy is choosing what you are NOT going to do.” Business author Jim Collins said, “If you have more than 3 priorities, you don’t have any priorities.”  You get the point. 

Steve Blank echoed this sentiment in his article: “If someone wanted to add a new project, we needed to figure out which existing one(s) on the list we were going to defer or kill to accommodate it.”

3. “Task Rules”

Create what I call “Task Rules”. The purpose of Task Rules is to provide clear expectations about the importance of due dates. 

Here is my set of Task Rules you can use as a starting point. I’ve used these to upgrade accountability and create a high-performance culture in teams I’ve managed:

  • Due dates are “commits”, not “hopes”. Negotiate realistic due dates for your projects and tasks that others can count on.
  • Between now and the due date, it’s OK to ask for help or renegotiate your commitment if something happens outside of your control. 
  • Otherwise, it is unacceptable to show up with an excuse on the due date, with the project or task not done. No surprises. No excuses.

These are just my rules. For best results, involve your team members and craft your own unique set of Task Rules, so that everyone buys in and is willing to commit to them. 

Once finalized, post your Task Rules somewhere visible and encourage your team to point to these rules during team meetings and call each other out whenever someone drops the ball (including when the manager slips up). 

Make it safe and normal for your people to challenge mediocrity and hold each other accountable (rather than waiting for the manager to say something). That’s what high-performing teams do. 

No surprises. No excuses.

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Until next time…
Stephen