Chick-fil-A Midtown Tulsa

"Why not your best?"  That is what our founder of Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy, used to ask Operators and Staff each day when they went to work.  Truett was more concerned about whether people were giving their best efforts than whether or not they reached a particular goal.  He knew that if he had a culture of excellence, that success would likely follow...and it did!

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Think through the following questions:

• What does it look like to give your best every day and to strive for excellence?  What situations do you find yourself maybe not giving your best or putting it on cruise control?

• How does your pursuit of excellence change the way you may view success?  Does it make it easier when you don't succeed to know that you gave it your best effort?

• Do you challenge your team to give their best?  Do you recognize their best efforts even if they fall short of a particular goal?

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Excellence is not measured by hitting a goal or performing better than your peers, but rather it is a measure of how you perform against your own potential.  Are you giving your best effort each and every day?  It also doesn't mean perfection...only that you are on a journey to get better.  Another way to view excellence is the idea of pursuing mastery in you role and work.  The pursuit of mastery is a journey of pursuing excellence and it will not only elevate your performance, but the performance of those around you.  Review the 3 concepts of pursuing mastery (you will not drift into mastery, mastery builds your competence and confidence, mastery better positions you to serve others).  

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Think through the following questions:

• What are ways that you can stay motivated to give your best and pursue mastery every day?  What can you do to motivate others to give their best?

• Do you feel competent and confident in the business?  If not, what areas do you lack competence and confidence and how can you begin to pursue mastery in those areas?

• Are there times where you don't feel able to help others or maybe they don't seek out your expertise?  Can you see how pursuing mastery might better position you to serve others in the business?

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TAKE ACTION

Almost every leader wants to win, but not every leader is willing to put the work in to create a winning culture.  If you want to see more success in your personal aspirations as well as within your team, then commit to pursuing excellence and mastery in all you do.  You may not always hit the goals that you are hoping for, but knowing that you gave your best effort will give you more peace of mind and will help to calm the critics when you don't always succeed.  Remember, creating a culture of excellence on your team is not easy.  It requires personal commitment as well as constant motivation for your team.  However, if you commit to creating a culture where everyone pursues mastery, not only will you see a high level of excellence, you will likely see more success personally and through your team.  See if over the next month you can begin to challenge yourself and your team to pursue excellence and mastery throughout their shifts.

• SELF - Identify one area of the business in which you are not as competent and confident.  Take the time over the next month to pursue mastery in that area of the business.  Lean on resources in the business including other leaders and training.  See if you can get to a level of mastery where you feel confident in helping someone else grow in mastery in that area of the business.

• TEAM - Challenge your team to try and pursue mastery in individual and team ways.  For example, if you have a team member who is having a challenge mastering a particular area of the business, then help them grow in that area.  Or try challenging your entire team to master a particular area of the business such as order accuracy, second mile service, or cleanliness and see if they can work together to ensure that your team excels in that particular area during a shift.  

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CHARACTERISTICS OF MASTERY

Gives best effort each and every day; finds ways to motivate themselves and others daily; continually pursues mastery in various areas of business; demonstrates a high level of competence and confidence within multiple areas of business; uses expertise in business to serve others on team; creates a culture of excellence amongst team; celebrates teams efforts and channels teams efforts to accomplish given goals

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES​

1. "A Legacy of Excellence" - A collection of thoughts from Truett Cathy

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