Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellavaliedo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode four eighty Today. I want to talk about
Speaker 2: something that every business has, but not every business truly understands. Standards.
Speaker 2: We throw that word around all the time, standards of service,
Speaker 2: standards of performance, industry standards. But what does it really mean?
Speaker 2: How are standards created, who decides what they should be,
Speaker 2: and more importantly, how do we as leaders teach them
Speaker 2: in a way that our employees not only understand, but
Speaker 2: actually care about. So let's break this down. At its core,
Speaker 2: a standard is simply an agreed upon measure of performance.
Speaker 2: It's the bar that says this is the minimum expectation.
Speaker 2: For example, let's say the standard is to run a
Speaker 2: mile in eight minutes. Where did that number come from?
Speaker 2: Who decided that eight minutes was the threshold? The truth
Speaker 2: is standards are almost always created by a combination of
Speaker 2: historical performance, expert consensus, and customer expectation. Someone ran it
Speaker 2: before in a certain time, Industry experts debated what's reasonable,
Speaker 2: and eventually a consensus formed. Eight minutes is the measure
Speaker 2: of competence. So now let's apply that thinking to business.
Speaker 2: In a restaurant, maybe the standard is food delivered to
Speaker 2: the table within twelve minutes of ordering. In ems, maybe
Speaker 2: the standard is an ambulance unseen in under nine minutes.
Speaker 2: In aviation, it's a certain number of safety checks before takeoff.
Speaker 2: Every one of those standards was created based on a
Speaker 2: mix of data, safety, customer experience, and practicality. But here's
Speaker 2: where most leaders go wrong. They enforce the standard without
Speaker 2: explaining the story behind it, and if employees don't know
Speaker 2: the why, they won't care about the What imagine telling
Speaker 2: a new employee the standard is eight minutes, don't be late.
Speaker 2: They might comply, but they won't care. Now imagine telling
Speaker 2: them this instead, we set the standard at eight minutes
Speaker 2: because that's what research shows keeps customers satisfied, ensures quality,
Speaker 2: and aligns with the best in the industry. Anything longer
Speaker 2: and customers start to feel ignored. Anything faster risks mistakes.
Speaker 2: Suddenly that standard has meaning. It's not just a number,
Speaker 2: it's a benchmark with purpose. So how do we measure standards.
Speaker 2: The answer is simple, with consistency and clarity. If the
Speaker 2: standard is eight minutes, then we measure every attempt against
Speaker 2: that clock. No expectations, no moving the target mid game.
Speaker 2: That's where accountability comes in. People can't hit what they
Speaker 2: can't see, and they can't improve what isn't measured. Now,
Speaker 2: why do standards matter. Standards protect your brand. They create
Speaker 2: predictability for your customers and fairness for your employees. Without standards,
Speaker 2: you get chaos, and chaos never builds trust. Think of Starbucks.
Speaker 2: You can order the same latte in Pittsburgh or in
Speaker 2: Chicago and it tastes the same. That doesn't have happen
Speaker 2: by accident. It happens because someone created a standard for
Speaker 2: how much espresso, how much milk, and how hot the
Speaker 2: drink should be. And here's the final piece teaching standards
Speaker 2: so employees care. And this is where leadership matters most.
Speaker 2: You have to connect the standard to something bigger than
Speaker 2: the task. Instead of saying run an eight minute mile,
Speaker 2: say running this mile in eight minutes proves you're ready
Speaker 2: to handle the demands of the job and keeps you
Speaker 2: aligned with the best in the industry. It's not just
Speaker 2: about running It's about being ready, reliable, and trusted. And
Speaker 2: when you frame it that way, the standard stops being
Speaker 2: a rule and it starts being a badge of honor.
Speaker 2: So here's my challenge for you today. Look at the
Speaker 2: standards in your business. Do your employees know why those
Speaker 2: standards exist? Do they understand how they were created? Can
Speaker 2: they see how hitting that standard impacts the bigger picture?
Speaker 2: If not, it's time to start teaching differently, because a
Speaker 2: standard without purpose is just a number, but a standard
Speaker 2: with meaning is a culture. This has been the seven
Speaker 2: Minute Leadership Podcast and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot
Speaker 1: com