No excuses; results!

Jules Ciotta

An organization would experience greater success by not accepting excuses.

Jim Collins' masterful book "Good to Great" helped organizations realize that personality mix is the most important instrument in the selection process.  Further, once you get the right people on the bus, you need to ensure that they're sitting in the right seats.

Now that we have our organization in place and our bus is moving positively forward, we will be both more effective and efficient if we set up a work environment that doesn't accept excuses ... any excuse.

EXCUSES SEEM HARMLESS
Excuses seem harmless but they are anything but harmless.  They are linked to organizational problems.  Excuses breed "Entitlement Thinking."  When an excuse is offered, it is judged as acceptable or not acceptable.  All excuses regardless of reason need to be not acceptable.  In this way, people will find ways of doing that rather than creating excuses for not doing. 

This requires a culture change.  It will require realizing that finding ways of doing is needed, and even though it will not remove all excuses, it will greatly reduce them and this, in turn, will improve the bottom line.

Authors James M. Bleech and Dr. David G. Mutchler in the book "Let's Get Results, Not Excuses," which prompted this thinking, state in this book:

"Where there are excuses, there will be undesirable results!  The habit of excuse-making is the habit that is breeding entitlement thinking.  It is the same habit that is killing American business!"

When you eliminate excuses, you get rid of all the other problems.  When you get rid of the other problems, you make room for the positives.  When you make room for the positives, you get results!

NOT GETTING RESULTS
One reason people don't get results is because they are allowed to make excuses.  Another reason people don't get results is because they are encouraged – almost "forced" by the system – to make excuses.  When the system is set up in such a way that failure is inevitable, excuse-making is unknowingly encouraged in that company.  This is because, given the choice between admitting to failure or making an excuse, most people most of the time will automatically give an excuse to spare themselves the pain.  Again, excuses are an indicator, a warning signal, of a systemic problem (or problems) in the company.  Where there are excuses, if we poke around a bit, we will find hiding other problems.  Excuses never travel alone.

Interestingly positive and energetic people rarely make excuses; however, pessimistic people do.  We won't eliminate pessimism in the workplace until we are rid of excuses.  An excuse-ridden culture can only be changed with proper leaders – not leaders who play it safe to be more promotable, but bold leaders who are more likely to ask for forgiveness rather than permission.  Bold leaders will manage the change needed and the environment of the excuses, since the elimination of excuses begins and ends with acceptance by leadership.

It must be remembered that making excuses is an automatic and spontaneous response to avoid pain and criticism.

MAKING THE CHANGE
To make the change to an excuse-free work environment, the leaders must be ready for the change, they must have a strong desire to win, and the commitment to do whatever it takes to excel.  The culture is not determined by the organization's vision and mission but by its resolve to be the best.  The value statement, "This organization will be an excuse-free work environment," must be committed to.

Excuse making is the one common denominator of all management problems.  When we get rid of excuses, we also get rid of our other problems.  This is both significant and important to the change process, and will help maintain the momentum gained once the excuses turn to action and the problems turn into results.

Jules Ciotta is president of Motivation Communications Associates. He can be reached at (770) 457-4100 or julesciotta@comcast.net.